Funky Chicken: Dance Like No One is Watching

How do you write about a game that is all about the experience of playing? Funky Chicken isn’t much to look at, but it is amazingly silly fun. Can you make a fool of yourself to get rid of your cards first, or will you be too chicken?

Funky Chicken is a sequel to Happy Salmon, designed by Ken Gruhl, Quentin Weir, and Satish Pillalamarri. It is part of the new Happy Planet line from North Star Games.

Gameplay

Happy Planet delivers Funky Chicken in much the same way Happy Salmon was delivered; via an appropriately shaped pouch. To play Funky Chicken, all you need to do is open up the cute chicken-shaped zipper pouch. Each player then chooses one of the colored decks (there are six available) inside.

Each deck contains three copies of four different actions: Bump, Swing, Spin, and Funky Chicken.

When the game starts, everyone flips the top card of their deck and looks for someone whose card matches with their own action, often by yelling out the action they have. It’s reminiscent of the game Pit, but less cutthroat and more funny. When two players match, they perform the action together. Then they discard that card and move on to the next one in their deck.

If you can’t find a match with anyone, you can move your current action card to the bottom of your deck and try to find a match for the next card.

Winner, Chicken Dinner!

When a player discards their last card, they must shout “Winner, winner, chicken dinner!” In the case of multiple people finishing their decks at the same time, the first person to shout wins.

Impressions

Funky Chicken is fast-paced, silly, and loud. We’ve found that it makes a good ice-breaker or filler game as well as a great way to get moving. The dance moves are so clearly illustrated that our three-year-old had no trouble matching them.

Since it doesn’t require a significant play surface, Funky Chicken can be played almost anywhere, provided there is enough room for the players to move around to perform their card actions.

Funky Chicken is the summer blockbuster movie; it’s not a deep, soul-filled strategy experience, but it doesn’t masquerade as one. It’s simply a silly, multi-generational game that can pit grandchildren against grandparents. (It slots right in with our recommended games for multigenerational play!)

Funky Chicken supports 3-6 players and the fun only gets more frantic as more players are added.

Also, because the mechanics are so similar, combine Funky Chicken with Happy Salmon to create an epic double-decked game of hyperactive move-matching. It really is fun for the whole family!

You can see for your self how much fun we had with Funky Chicken through this video of The Family Gamers enjoying a round as a family.

The Family Gamers received a review copy of Funky Chicken from North Star Games.