TWIL: How to actually play my father’s favorite game, Pigmania

There was a game called Pigmania that our family just loved, especially Dad.

Essentially, you rolled these little plastic pigs like dice, and while there were many rules, the real goal was to roll the pigs so they were touching. That roll position was called “Makin’ Bacon” and in our house that won you the game.

I found the rules online and was shocked to see Dad, famous for adhering to THE RULES, did not follow the written Pigmania rules.

As you can see, THE RULES explicitly say you are to be penalized for that roll, and that also you could earn points by “shrieking ‘Soeee’” then accurately predicting the next roll. In our house you shrieked Sooey for no reason other than Dad said, otherwise you would be in violation of THE RULES. He would call you out for not shrieking loudly enough.

I found a long interview with the inventor. That game went through many permutations. Evidently Pigmania was one of the first. Perhaps a later version loosened up a bit.