Straight to the words
Pigs & Points

The vocabulary

Pig talk, a glossary

Browse clear definitions for all the playful jargon heard around the table during a lively swine match.

The game has more vocabulary than it has rules. Most of it is on the box, some of it grew at kitchen tables, and none of it is obvious the first time you hear it shouted across a room.

Bank
To stop rolling and write down the points from the current turn.
Double
Both pigs in the same position. Doubles pay more than the two scores added together.
Hog Call
A house rule where you announce a target for your turn before rolling.
Jowl
The cheek of the pig. The part it leans on for the rarest scoring landing.
Leaning Jowler
The pig propped on jowl, ear and foot. The best single landing in the game.
Makin Bacon
Another name for the Oinker, used on some boxes and by most tables.
Oinker
The two pigs touching. Wipes out the whole score, not just the turn.
Pig Out
One pig dot side up, the other blank side up. The turn scores nothing.
Piggyback
One pig resting on the other. In the classic rules the player is out.
Pig Sty
The plastic cup the classic set ships in. Some tables roll from it, some do not.
Razorback
The pig on its back with the legs up.
Sider
The pig flat on a side. The commonest landing and the cheapest.
Snouter
The pig balanced on its snout.
Sooee
The traditional American hog call, shouted at the table for no mechanical benefit whatsoever.
Spokespigs
What the classic box calls its two mascots, Hugh Pigfellow and Jack Pigfellow.
Swineherd
Table slang for whoever is holding the pigs.
Trotter
The pig standing on all four feet.

Names that are really the same thing

The roll that wipes your score is an Oinker on some boxes and Makin Bacon on others. The game itself started life under a different name and the two mascots have been on the packaging since. None of these change how anything is scored.

Where the names came fromSee the landings drawn

Carry on from here