Game: There's a Moose in the House

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whoami — 2008-11-23T07:29:01+00:00

Thread: Moose in Arizona?

ChonChuuk — 2008-07-07T20:31:38+00:00

I picked up There's a Moose in the House at a Thrift Store a few weeks ago for $0.99. It looked exactly like the kind of game my daughters would enjoy. It sat on the shelf for awhile because we are in the process of moving, but yesterday we finally pulled it out. As I suspected, this was a big hit.

We played 2 games. One to get everyone familiar with the rules and then one "for real". The rules are fairly simple and only took a round or two for everyone to understand. Surprisingly, the hardest rule for everyone to remember was to draw a card first. They were so anxious to play that they would forget to draw.

The practice game turned in to "Pile on Dad" I ended up with 6 Moose in my house while my wife had 3 and my daughters each had one. They thought it was pretty funny.

The next game involved a little more strategy. Everyone was out to win (in a fun way) and would lay down Moose on the lowest person. I was lucky enough to draw all three Moose Traps and that helped me keep those pesky creatures out of my rooms. My youngest, on the other hand, seemed to draw all the door cards. When she got a room played on her she was able to slam the door and keep the Moose out.

In the end it came down to her and me, each with one Moose in our House. She had 3 closed doors to my one so she won on the tie breaker.

It always makes it more fun when one of my daughters win because they are so proud that they beat Mom and Dad.

In the end, this game was very enjoyable to play with the kids. It will see our gaming table again soon.

I do not think this would be nearly as fun if all of the players were over 14.

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ZiggyZambo — 2007-10-08T21:22:10+00:00

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ZiggyZambo — 2007-10-08T21:21:48+00:00

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holepuncher — 2007-03-28T03:45:51+00:00

Close up of each card

Thread: It's Okay to Slam Doors in This House

dagny21 — 2007-03-02T18:33:21+00:00

There's a Moose in the House is a silly, loud card intended for 2 to 5 players age 8 and up that involves 58 cards where players try to put moose in opponents houses while minimizing the moose in their own house.

Game Contents
There's a Moose in the House comes in a cute little box that shows a picture of a moose sticking his head through a window. Inside the box are 58 cards and a full-color rule book.

The 58 cards: 10 moose entering the house cards, 5 closed door cards, 3 moose trap cards, 5 empty kitchen, 5 empty bathroom, 5 empty living room, 5 empty bedroom, 5 moose in refrigerator, 5 moose taking a bath, 5 moose in front of the fireplace, 5 moose in a bed, (That's one moose per card, by the way).

Game Play
Each player should understand that the space in front of him is his "house." Shuffle the deck and deal 4 cards to each player. Each player looks at their cards but doesn't show them. The first player starts his turn by drawing one card and - hopefully - laying it down in front of one of the other players. If he cannot play a card, he has to discard and his turn is over.

On each turn, you can do one of the following things:

1)Play the first "There's a Moose in Your House" card on any player's house and tell him "There's a moose in your house!"

2)Play an empty room on any player's house who does not already have 3 empty rooms.

3)Play a door card on one of your own empty rooms and say "slam."

4)Play a moose in the room card on any player's matching empty room card if they already have a "There's a Moose in Your House" card.

Note: It's very important to prioritize placing a "There's a Moose in Your House" card to your opponent's houses. Until a player has a moose in his house, you cannot put any actual moose in his house. You can play empty rooms on him, but you can't put any moose in his house.

Play proceeds in a clockwise direction. Once player's have at least one empty room (and the all important "There's a Moose in Your House" card) you can then play matching moose in the house cards on him. Once you have an empty room, if you're lucky enough to get a door card, you can use your turn to close off one of your empty rooms. If at any time you have a "moose trap" card in your hand and a player puts a moose in your house, you can immediately play that card and remove the moose and the moose trap card to the discard pile, leaving the empty room still in your house.

Ending the Game
When there are no more cards to draw, play continues with each player trying to play out the last of his cards. At this point, if a player cannot play, he does not get to discard. He says pass and the next player tries to go. When all player's hands are empty, or no one else can play, the game is over.

Scoring
Each player counts up the number of moose in his house, and in his hand if he has any cards left. The player with the fewest number of moose wins. If there is a tie, then the player with the largest number of slammed doors wins.

Teaching Your Little One
First, sort the cards by type and show them to your child, then explain what each card does. Next, explain to them that they have an imaginary house in front of them. Finally, play a practice game where you can look at their cards with them and scoring doesn't count.

Time To Play
This game takes maybe 10 minutes to play. Once the deck has been gone through once, it's all over. Which makes it a good filler game.

Age Range
Gamewright has rated this game for ages 8 and up, which usually means a game should be fun for older children and adults. But, when I sat down to play this game with my husband, and later with my husband and a friend, we all found the game to be really boring, and not much of a game. However, we sat down to play it with our 6 year old, and he absolutely loved it. Since there is very little strategy involved in this game, it should be easy for a 5 or 6 year old to learn. It's almost all luck driven, with only the occasional strategic decision to be made. Which, unfortunately makes it boring to older children and adults.

Recommendations
Play this game with little kids, or play it with adults who are a little tipsy and you can have a good time. Don't wait until your child is eight years old just because that's what the box says. Play it now, while they're little, and have some silly fun.

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Kara31 — 2006-11-16T23:51:11+00:00

Thread: Re: Yikes! Moose in the tub?!

glory — 2006-10-20T04:10:30+00:00

My family likes to make fun of both my gaming addiction and competitive nature.
The only reason this game comes out is to give ole Dad a lesson in humility.
My family gangs up on me....yet teases me enough to make me believe I can sneak out a win....Never!
Oh well, losing and ridicule during gaming is better than no gaming.
Dave

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BugLaden — 2006-10-19T01:36:27+00:00

Shelby realizes she has a solid house against any invading moose

Thread: Yikes! Moose in the tub?!

BugLaden — 2006-10-19T00:53:51+00:00

I brought out There's a Moose in the House from Gamewright for the first time tonight. I picked this up at the local Walmart several weeks ago and have been waiting for a good time for it to hit the table, er... floor. Shelby (9) and Sophia (7) and I sat down in a cicle. After briefly explaining the rules, they still weren't quite sure of the object of the game and I repeated "Just make sure you have the least amount of mooses in your house at the end of the game." This seemed to satisfy them and off we went.

In no time all three of us had a Moose in the House card played in front of us so were fair game for Moose cards played into our empty rooms! The girls caught on quickly to the mechanics and started laying empty rooms on me or their sister, and had no problem playing moose cards to match the empty rooms!

Early in the game I seemed to be a big target and quickly accumulated rooms, and mooses to fill them. I wasn't drawing any door cards, so could not close the doors to the rooms being layed out in my house, nor could I find Moose Traps in the deck to fend off unwanted moose guests!

Shelby closed any rooms that were played to her house quickly with doors, and at midgame seemed poised to be a good contender at winning. But towards the end game she got at least 3 more rooms in her house which were quickly filled with mooses by her sistem and I.

Sophia played a good game. She kept the number of empty rooms to a minimum until after mid-game when Shelby and I realized how empty her house was. But Sophia seemed to close everything that was laid in front of her before they were filled with a moose.

End Score, # of mooses in house:
Sophia 3
Daddy 3
Shelby 4

Sophia and I broke the tie by counting the number of closed doors in the house.

# Doors
Sophia 4
Daddy 2

Sophia won!

Prizes? Every fall I buy a big 3lb bag of Hershey's Miniature candy bars from BJ's and use them as prizes for the girls and games we play during Fall and Winter. Everybody gets a candy bar at the end of the game for playing, but the winner gets an extra one. So Sophia was a happy camper.

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EJKemp — 2005-03-21T13:44:09+00:00

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EJKemp — 2005-03-21T13:44:09+00:00

Thread: User Review

Apocalypse Cow — 2005-03-14T18:17:41+00:00

Moose in the House is another fun kids game from Gamewright, full of furry antlered beasts in funny domestic locations.

The goal of the game is simple: Keep the moose out of your house! There are several different types of cards: Front Door moose cards, Empty Room cards, Moose in the Room cards, Doors, and Moose Traps.
The art on the cards is excellent, each blank room card showing a well detailed room in a quaint country home, including a living room, bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen, each with a color theme to make differentiation easy. The Moose in the Room cards show the same room, except there is a moose humorously placed in the room. In the bedroom, the moose is tucked into the bed, in the kitchen, he is rummaging in the refrigerator, and so on.

Gameplay begins with everyone being dealt 4 cards. Each turn, players pick a card and play a card, usually on other players. To build a "house", a player must have a Front Door Moose card, which is simply a picture of a moose coming in the front door. Once a player has one of these cards in front of them, additional empty rooms can be played on their "house", creating a vacant space for any wandering moose that other players may have. Rooms can be closed by playing Door cards, which prevent any moose from entering that empty room. Additionally, when a moose occupies a room, the player who is getting played on may play a moose trap card to prevent this from happening. If no cards can be played, the player must discard one card, and lose that turn. The game ends when all cards have been played or discarded. The player with the fewest moose in their house wins.

There are very few tactics in this game, but that is somewhat to be expected in a game for young kids. My four year old nephew plays it with no problem, as it requires no reading. However, it is still enjoyable for adults, as a "get your opponents" type of quick game. The rules suggest acting out the moose entering a room, or a door slamming shut to close a room, and that type of hamming it up does make the game more enjoyable. I have very few gripes about the game, other than the seemingly high density of Front Door cards, a total of 10 in a deck of less than 60 cards. A few of these could have been converted to Door cards, and play would be a little better.

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cbrua — 2004-08-09T19:49:57+00:00

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arneson — 2004-06-13T16:29:12+00:00

The game box