Happy Families

This article is about the card game. For the British television comedy programme of the same name, see Happy Families (TV series). For the play by John Godber, see Happy Families (play). Happy Families (CBBC TV series)

Happy Families is a traditional card game played in the UK, usually with a specially made set of picture cards, featuring illustrations of fictional families of four, most often based on occupation types. The idea of the game is to collect whole families. This is done by asking another player whether they have a certain card. If they don't have it, it is their turn to ask. If they do, they have to pass it to the first player, who can ask again. Play continues until a player matches all of his or her cards into family groups. The game can be adapted for use with an ordinary set of playing cards.

The game was devised by John Jaques II, who is also credited with inventing tiddlywinks, ludo and snakes and ladders, and first published before the Great Exhibition of 1851. Cards following Jaques's original designs, with grotesque illustrations possibly by Sir John Tenniel (there was no official credit), are still being made.

A series of children's books based on the characters (including several never used on the cards such as Mrs Wobble the Waitress) was written and illustrated by Allan and Janet Ahlberg.

Family members

The names of the family members are structured in a formal way:

• Mr X the Y
• Mrs X the Y's Wife
• Master X the Y's Son
• Miss X the Y's Daughter

Family names

Family names, which vary from edition to edition, include:

• Hearty, the Captain
• Snuffet, the Undertaker
• Hardwatch, the First Mate
• Snoot, the First Class Passenger
• Deck, the Swabhand
• Stiches, the Sailmaker
• Bacon, the Butcher
• Block, the Barber
• Block, the Builder
• Bones, the Butcher
• Brush, the Artist
• Bud, the Florist
• Bun, the Baker
• Bung, the Brewer
• Chalk, the Teacher
• Chip, the Carpenter
• Chop, the Butcher
• Constable, the Policeman
• Creep, the Crook
• Dose, the Doctor
• Dip, the Dyer
• Field, the Farmer
• Flea, the vet
• Green, the Grocer (most likely a greengrocer)
• Grits, the Grocer
• Hose, the Fireman
• Jumbo, the pilot
• Mug, the Milkman
• Pint, the Milkman
• Parcel, the postman
• Pipe, the plumber
• Sole, the Fisherman
• Soot, the Sweep
• Stamp, the Postman
• Tape, the Tailor
• Teeth, the dentist
• Tuckin, the Chef
• Pots, the Painter

The eleven families indicated by italics are from Jaques's original edition.

CBBC

CBBC also showed a children's TV series based on the Happy Families Card Game, including the characters from the game.Happy Families (CBBC TV series)

External links

• History of the John Jaques company