Are You Ready To Get Down in the Funky Chicken Card Game?

Swing, bump, and spin in your quest to be one groovy funky chicken!

The party game Funky Chicken certainly features some clever packaging, putting its deck of cards inside a cloth chicken bag that looks pretty groovy. But does it play as fun as it looks?

Gameplay

Each player chooses a color and takes the deck of twelve cards that matches their color. You shuffle your cards and then place them in the palm of one hand. On the count of three, all players flip over the stack of cards in their hands.

Gameplay is simultaneous. Players shout out the name of the top card of their deck, trying to find another player who has a match. At any time you may move the top card to the bottom of your deck and continue with the new card that is currently on top.

When you and another player have a match, you perform the action dictated by the matching cards and then discard them. There are four action types on the cards. The bump: the two players meet and bump their hips together before returning to their original spots. Swing: the two players meet, lock elbows and swing around once before returning to their spots. Spin: both players twirl on the spot. And last (but certainly not least) the funky chicken: while standing in spot, both players fold their arms to their side, making flapping motions, and shout 'so funky!'

The first player to discard all their cards wins the game.

Review

Funky Chicken is an active, silly game that's both funny and raucous. Find the right group to play and there’s going to be lots of laughter and ridiculousness. Everyone's shouting out card names and making matches at the same time, so you might have a couple of people performing moves at once, so the more players, the better. This just adds to the chaos and the humor.

The game plays lightning fast, which makes it tempting to go several more rounds once you reach the end. It's also a game that's played best standing up, maybe around a coffee table for the discards, so that players are free to move about when need be. This is a neat element to the game and is a great way to throw some movement into game night.

Some players may not enjoy the physical contact aspects of Funky Chicken and there’s not really a way around that. But there are also a couple of fun variants included in the rulebook. There is a cooperative version, with players trying to beat the clock, and a silent variant in which players use hand motions to indicate their cards. If you have played North Star Games’s Happy Salmon, you know that it has very similar mechanics. The rulebook suggests combining cards from it and Funky Chicken to create your own customized deck of action cards, which is a fun way to add variety to both games.

The components are all good, from the fantastic packaging to the nice quality cards. If you are looking for a more active party game, check out Funky Chicken.

Pros: Quality components and packaging, fast game time, can be combined with Happy Salmon

Cons: Some players will not enjoy the physical contact aspects of the game, not ideal with three players

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.