Happy Families
BGG rank
BGG #31,269
BGG rating
4.8

Happy Families

1851

Rules assistance for Happy Families

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–4 players
  • 10–30 min
  • 4+
  • Complexity 1.1/5

Rules assistant for Happy Families

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Happy Families is a board game released in 1851 for 2–4 players, 10–30 minutes per game, and ages 4 and up. It was designed by Marie-Christine Exbrayat and Marc Schlaboski and its main mechanics are Set Collection and Memory.

Similar games

About the game

This game is very similar to the The Game of Authors. The biggest difference appears to be that the names of the missing set cards are not provided on at the bottom of each card. The game can be used to teach job names to children. This game was designed in England and was originally published for the Great Exhibition by John Jaques & Sons. The outside of the box described the name as Happy Families while the inside of the box describes the name as Merry Families. Each quartet consists of four family members -- a father, a mother, a son, and a daughter. The fathers are Mr. Daub the Painter, Mr. Dough the Baker, Mr. Pill the Doctor, Mr. Sand the Grocer, Mr. Saw the Carpenter, Mr. Snip the Barber, Mr. Stain the Dyer, Mr. Smut the Sweep, Mr. Thread the Tailor, and Mr. Tub the Brewer.

Publishers

  • (Unknown)
  • (Self-Published)
  • ASS Altenburger Spielkarten
  • Miro Company
  • N.W. Damm & Søn (Damm)
  • Clementoni
  • Louvre Editions
  • F.X. Schmid

Questions and answers

Happy Families supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.