Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs game review

Pass the Big Pigs game — Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs supersizes the fun.

Have you ever felt the urge to throw a pig?

That’s okay, because not many other people have either.

Regardless of whether you’ve felt that urge or not, you and your family can enjoy throwing foam pigs around in Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs!

In 1977, a game came out called Pass the Pigs where players would roll plastic pigs for points. Well, this latest iteration of the game by Winning Moves Games bumps the game up a level. Or maybe we should say 100 levels. Because these pigs look 100 times larger than the original.

The game play hasn’t changed at all, but we think the fun has.

How to play Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs

This section is going to be very short because playing Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs doesn’t require much explanation.

The goal in Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs is the same as in the original game of Pass the Pigs – be the first player to score 100 points.

Players score points on their turn by rolling 2 pigs and having them land in certain positions. Once the score is noted, the player can choose to go again or keep their score. If they choose to stop, they keep their score to that point and play continues to the next player.

If they choose to continue, they again roll the 2 pigs and 3 things can happen:

If their pig roll scores more points, those are added to their previous total and they can press their luck and continue again if they’d like.
If their result is a “Pig Out” (pigs land on opposite sides), the player gets 0 points for that round.
If their result is an “Oinker” (pigs are touching), the player loses ALL their points in the game so far.

Once a player reaches 100 points, they immediately win the game.

Scoring Points

Both Pass the Pigs and Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs make it easy to know how the pigs score points by providing a visual reference to the possible results. The dot on the right side of each pig also make it easy to spot positions.

Since the game is all about the points, here’s a rundown of how the pigs score points on a roll.

Sider = 1: Both pigs end on their same sides.
Trotter = 5: One pig ends on all four feet.
Double Trotter = 20: Both pigs are Trotters.
Razorback = 5: One pig ends on its back.
Double Razorback = 20: Both pigs are Razorbacks.
Snouter = 10: One pig ends on nose and both front feet.
Double Snouter = 40: Both pigs are Snouters.
Leaning Jowler = 15: One pig ends on nose, ear, and one foot.
Double Leaning Jowler = 60: Both pigs are Leaning Jowlers.
Pig Out = lose points for the turn: Pigs end on opposite sides.
Oinker = lose all points so far: Pigs are touching.
Piggy Back = out of the game: Pigs stacked on top of each other.

Can the whole family enjoy Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs?

Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs is definitely a game the whole family can play and enjoy. After all, it’s just rolling crazy pigs. It’s full of silly luck which anyone can enjoy.

The great things about this newest version is that the pigs can be rolled anywhere!

With the original Pass the Pigs, players go the typical game route and sit around the table where they calmly roll the pigs.

And that’s the way we first played Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs too.

Until we found it a lot more fun throwing them all around the house!

Since the pigs are made from soft and durable foam, there isn’t much harm in chucking them wherever you’d like.

It first started when we found the pigs bouncing off the table. We’d watch them land on the floor and still count the results. Then we skipped the table all together and went straight to rolling them on the kitchen floor.

But it didn’t stop there.

Game play ramped up quickly to throwing them in our mud room area where we could chuck them at the walls and doors and watch them bounce all around.

It brought a whole new level of fun and laughter to the game.

We’ll also note that with the big pigs (and with our throwing), unlike the original Pass the Pigs, they rarely (if ever) result in an Oinker (touching). And we have yet to get a Piggy Back result. So players rarely lose all their points or are booted from the game.

We’ve been impressed that the weighting of the foam pigs is balanced like the original in how the pigs can end up in their various positions.

Yet we worry about the durability of the big pigs. We’ve had plenty of foam stress-balls that lose a chunk out of them here and there. And we worry these big pigs may suffer the same fate eventually. But maybe that’s more due to our vigorous throwing them around the house.

However, so far, our pigs have gone unscathed. Sure they’re getting dirty. But they’re still all intact.

How does Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

When it’s out, Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs scores high on our “let’s play again” game meter for the simple reason that we love chucking these big pigs all over the house.

It’s not a thought-provoking, strategic game that draws us back for the mental challenge. Instead, it’s a silly, light-hearted activity that we can play over and over.

Since players can choose to keep pressing their luck, a single game of Pass the Pigs: Big Pigs doesn’t last very long. And that’s never enough to satisfy our foam pig throwing.

So calls to play “one more game” seem to continue for a while.

We didn’t get this reaction with the original Pass the Pigs game. But now that we’ve got stress-ball type pigs to toss, we’re throwing pigs a lot more.

If you’re looking for just a silly game to play with your whole family, why not give throwing some pigs around the room a try?