Zig-Zag: the Card Game

"Zig-Zag" is easy to learn and fun to play.

My grandchildren and I have been playing this game for about two years. It is versatile and very good for language development. Players can decide if they want a short game ("Zig") or a medium game ("Zig Zag") or...perhaps.... a very very long game ("Zig Zag Zag Zig....")

The instructions for making the game are also quite versatile.

You can print the cards on card stock and try the game out immediately.

Or you can go for a deluxe set.

PDF pattern

Printer

Card stock

Scissors or paper cutter

Two decks of old cards (optional)

Double stick tape (optional)

H

I have included two different PDFs for your printing pleasure.

One set has lines to guide your cutting.

The other set has no lines.

Choose wisely.

(Information on the next step will allow you to make a wise choice.)

If you do not have a paper cutter, use the printed lines to help you cut apart the cards with scissors.

If you DO have a paper cutter, you may prefer to print without guide lines.

THE PROBLEM:

11.5 divided by 6 gives us 1.9166667...which is not easy to spot on a ruler.

Fear not! Here is one way to make the cutting easier:

1. Print ONE page of the "lined" cards.

2. Cut one of the middle columns from the sheet-of-cards-with-lines.

(You may ask: WHY a middle column? I will answer: some printers do not line the paper up precisely. The column at the far right may not be the same as the one on the far left.)

3. Place the column on the paper cutter.

4. Line it as if it were going to be cut.

5. Place a piece of tape on the left side, right on the "bed" of the paper cutter.

6. Use the tape as a guide when cutting.

NOTE: If you are making a deluxe set, your cutting does not need to be precise. More about that later.

For a more pleasant playing experience, I recommend using double stick tape to fasten the little printed images to a stand-sized playing card.

I keep a roll of 2.5 inch double stick tape available at all times.

I am a die-hard crafter.

I like tape.

It IS possible to cut apart each card and then use double stick tape on the back of each individual card....

but it's a lot faster to put tape across the entire page, and then cut the cards apart.

Use a craft knife and a cutting board.

Unfortunately, 8.5 divided by 2.5 does not give a whole number.

Fortunately, I have more than one size of double stick tape.

If you do not, fear not. Trim.

You do not need to worry about precision of you are making a deluxe set.

Use your craft knife to trim any sticky edges.

(I seldom do a super-neat job when I am in a hurry to share one of my great ideas on Instructables.)

My mother-in-law likes to go to the casino.

The casino offers free used cards.

These are great for crafters.

To make the Zig Zag stands, cut a piece of card stock to this size: 3 inches by 8.5 inches.

Make several of these. It is fun to have several colors, but not necessary.

Fold the card stock in half, lengthwise.

Then fold it into thirds.

Use the picture to guide you. It should look like a wonky "Z."

Use tape to tape the ends.

Or, if you like staples, use staples.

Or, if you want it really fancy and craft-sy, stitch the ends.

(NOTE: In my haste to get this Instructable written, I did not take time to make a craft-sy Zig Zag stand. Perhaps I will add one to a later step. Perhaps I will not. If you read the instructions to the very end, you will see my ultimate decision.)

You are now ready to play Zig Zag.

You shall learn the rules by observing a sample game.

(Or you can go to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlmmeEelSUk)

Go Yellow!

Go Orange!

Once the cards have been dealt, Yellow player takes a turn.

The first card available in the deck is a bear.

Yellow has a lion card, so the bear can be added to start a group of animals.

Yellow places the bear card above the lion card, in the area known as the Yellow playing field.

Yellow has completed a simple turn.

Orange has a card with garlic, so Orange plans to form a group of things that can be eaten.

Orange adds the card to the Orange playing field.

Yellow cannot use the spray paint.

So Yellow places the card sideways in the Yellow discard pile.

Orange could choose the spray paint, but Orange wants that candy card!

Orange adds the candy to the "things that can be eaten group" and completes a group.

Orange places the group in the Zig Zag stand and...

Orange puts the Eiffel Tower card in the Orange playing field.

Orange has completed the turn and the next card goes to Yellow.

It is now Yellow's turn.

Yellow does not have a place for the beer, so it will be added to the Yellow discard pile.

When it was Orange's turn, Orange discarded the goat.

So now Yellow has a choice between the discarded goat and the deck card, lungs.

Yellow forms a group of animals with the goat.

Yellow puts the animal group into the Zig Zag stand and adds the next card from the deck to the Yellow playing field.

I missed a photo and I've already spent about ten hours on this project.

So here's what got missed: When Yellow added that "lungs" card to the Yellow playing field, the next card was a wild card.

Orange took it.

The next card was the "shakes."

Yellow's gonna take them!

Yellow takes the shakes and adds the card to create a pair of "things that begin with the letter s."

There are many different ways that pairs and groups can made.

a. A group can be declared based on how an item is used (things that can be eaten)

b. A group can be declared with a category name (animals, plants)

c. A group can be declared based on the first letter of the word itself.

d. A group can be declared based on any other concept that all players agree upon! (In a classroom situation, when children are learning to read, a group might be declared on "words that have the long a sound")

Orange has rejected the scorpion.

Yellow can pick up the scorpion to complete the group of "things that begin with s."

Yellow now has a second group!

Yellow puts the group in the Zig Zag stand and adds the deer to the playing field.

The parrot is available to Orange...

When Orange rejects the parrot, it sets Yellow up for a double play.

A double play occurs when a player takes and plays the discard and then takes and plays the deck card.

Yellow has won the game!

The game works just fine with more players. When there are more players, the discard is available to the all other players, in clockwise order.

We have played with five players and it was a lot of fun. There are seldom more than five players available at Grandma's house, so I don't know how many more would be practical.

It is also fun to play for to obtain SIX groups (zig zag)

or nine groups (Zig Zag Zag)

We have not played with more than that!

NOTE: We first played this game with a set of cards from the commercial game "Pickles to Penguins."

I was looking for a game that was simple enough for four-year-olds, and the original "Pickles" rules were too tricky for us. We made up our own rules and they work very well. If you like the game and want more cards, you might want to buy the commercial game.

When I first started to write this Instructable, I planned to use photos of real objects in my home.

I quickly changed that plan after taking a dozen pictures of a pair of scissors... all which came out with unfortunate shadows.

So I went to Pixabay and selected images from one of my favorite members: Clker-Free-Vector-Images.

Full credit and thanks to this member!