Polite Pigs Playing Cards: A Game of Good Manners

From the game itself: "Polite Pigs will familiarize children with the etiquette of responding appropriately in a variety of social situations. It is also designed to reinforce and habituate these responses through verbal repetition. Parents should enjoy hearing their children repeatedly ask and give permission to proceed as the game is played. The object of the game is to capture the most situation cards with the appropriate polite responses." Gameplay description: Cards are dealt to each player (child). The remaining cards form a draw pile. The dealer turns cards over from the draw pile until s/he reaches a "situation" card. (Others are mixed back into the pile.) The dealer announces the situation and the youngest player (presumably to help children learn politeness and pragmatics starting at a young age) figures out whether s/he has the appropriate response card. If so, s/he says so and takes the situation card as a matched pair with his/her response card. Else, the player takes a draw card and further, the game's rules require the child state, "Now you try, please" and the next player or opponent to respond, "Thank you" as an additional method of reinforcing politeness. If the next player has the corresponding response card, s/he may claim the pair. Otherwise, s/he draws a card and play continues so on and so forth. If a player is able to match a response card to a situation card, s/he become dealer. A series of formalistic polite exchanges must be had between the players and if any player forgets the appropriate phrase, such as, "May I give you a situation, please?" then the offending player must hand his opponent a response card or draw until he gets one to hand over. The winner is the one with the most pairs. Ultimately, this game focuses not only on physical game mechanics but social dynamics to reinforce its educational affect. The rules take into account that the players may fail to say required phrases, something akin to—but more complex than—the requirement in UNO to declare "¡Uno!" with one card left in hand.