The rules in full

How to play Pass the Pigs

Read how a turn works, when to hand the little porkers across, and how the winner finishes.

A turn, start to finish

The whole game is one decision repeated: roll again, or keep what you have. Everything else is just reading the pigs.

Roll both pigs at onceOnto a flat surface, from the cup or straight from your hand. Both pigs go together, every time.
Read the pairLook up what the two landings are worth together. Two of the same landing pay more than the same two scores added up.
Decide whether to roll againPoints from the roll go onto a running total for the turn. There is no limit on how many times you may roll.
Bank, or lose the lotStop when you like and write the turn total into your score. Roll into a bad landing first and the turn total goes away.
Pass the pigs alongThe next player takes them. Play goes round until somebody crosses the target.

The scoring chart

What each landing pays

Both pigs are read as a pair. Matching landings pay far more than the two single scores added together, which is the whole reason to keep rolling.

What one pig adds to a mixed roll, what a matching pair is worth, and how often that landing turns up. A pig on its side adds nothing unless the other pig matches it.
Landing	One pig	Both pigs alike	Share of rolls
Sider (no dot)	0 nothing on its own	1	35%
Sider (dot)	0 nothing on its own	1	30.2%
Razorback	5	20	22.4%
Trotter	5	20	8.8%
Snouter	10	40	3%
Leaning Jowler	15	60	0.6%

See each landing drawn

Winning

First player to 100 points or more wins. Play finishes the round so everyone has had the same number of turns, and the highest score takes it.

Landing on exactly 100 is a house rule, not a printed one. It makes the last few turns much tenser and it is worth agreeing on before you start, not once somebody overshoots.

Three rolls to know first

The landings that cost you

Two of these end your turn. One of them ends your game. Read them once now and nobody has to argue about them later.

The three landings nobody wants, and what each one takes from you.
Roll	What you see	What it costs
Pig Out	One pig on its dotted side and the other on its blank side.	the whole turn score
Oinker also called Makin Bacon	The two pigs come to rest touching each other.	your entire score
Piggyback	One pig lands on top of the other.	your place in the game

What each one really costs

Somebody else at a table

Watching a turn instead of reading one

Reading the pigs takes a second in person and a paragraph in writing, so here are three people doing it on camera. The videos are not ours. They sit on YouTube, and nothing at all loads from YouTube until you press play, which is also why there are no thumbnails from the videos here.

Pass the Pigs - How to Play
Winning Moves Australia
From the company that publishes the game, and the quickest way to watch a turn happen.
How to play Pass the Pigs
Triple S Games
A run through the rules at the pace of somebody teaching a table.
How to Play Pass the Pigs (Complete Rules Guide)
Play-In Games
The long version, for when a short demo has left something open.

What comes in the box

The classic set has everything you need and nothing you do not:

A plastic Pig Sty cup with a lid
Two rubber pigs
A pencil
A score pad with the scoring crib printed on it
An illustrated instruction sheet

You can play with the pigs alone on any flat surface. The cup is a nice touch rather than a rule, and plenty of tables never use it.

Players: Two or more
Ages: Seven and up
A game runs: Ten to thirty minutes
First to: 100 points
In print since: 1977

Things the rules leave open

Editions do not agree on every point, and pretending otherwise would only start arguments at your table instead of ours.

How many people can play?

The box says two or more. Editions print different ceilings, from two to four on some boxes and up to ten on others, and nothing in the rules actually stops a bigger crowd beyond the wait between turns.

What age is it for?

The classic box says seven and up. Big Pigs says eight and up. The reading on the score pad is the only real barrier.

How long does a game run?

Somewhere between ten and thirty minutes, depending on how brave the table is. Greedy players finish faster or lose everything trying.

Do you have to land on exactly one hundred?

The printed rules say first to one hundred or more. Playing to exactly one hundred is a house rule, and a good one, but it is not what the box says.