Animal Poker: Heidelbar Games

Climb the Corporate Ladder — If You Can Hold On to It

Every round starts the same way: someone's at the top, someone's stuck at the bottom, and the cards in your hand are the only thing standing between a corner office and another shift as the office intern. Animal Poker captures the chaotic, mildly infuriating, deeply satisfying feeling of office politics — except everyone at the table is a cartoon animal, and the backstabbing is entirely sanctioned.

About the Game

Published by Czech Games Edition, Animal Poker is a fast-playing card game set inside Animal Inc., a corporate hierarchy where your rank at the table changes everything. The premise is simple: get rid of your cards faster than everyone else and you'll climb the ranks. But here's the catch — the higher-ups at Animal Inc. get to swap their worst cards for your best ones before each round even begins. If you're stuck at the bottom, you're handing over your strongest cards before you've played a single one. Sound unfair? That's entirely the point.

Gameplay flows through rounds of card shedding. The current boss leads, playing one or more cards of matching value. Everyone else must match or beat it — or pass. Whoever clears their hand first rises. The trainee, meanwhile, tidies up the mess everyone else left behind. Roles shift, alliances mean nothing, and that intern who's been quietly watching? They're about to make a move. The game runs as many rounds as the group agrees on, making it easy to squeeze into a short session or stretch into a full evening of backstabbing.

Who It's For

Animal Poker plays 3 to 5 players and suits ages 10 and up. It's a light game — rules take minutes to explain, rounds move quickly, and the laugh-out-loud moments come naturally from the situation rather than from any complicated setup. It's a strong pick for family game nights when you want something with a bit more edge than a standard card game, or as the opener for a longer game night when the group is still finding their stride. It also travels well — the whole thing fits in a compact box.

What's in the Box

The game comes with a clean, illustrated deck featuring Animal Inc.'s cast of corporate creatures, each rendered with the kind of personality that makes the theme land every time someone gets demoted back to trainee. Component quality is solid for the format, and the card design makes it easy to read ranks and values at a glance — important when the pressure is on and the boss is watching.

• Fast-playing card game with a climbing-style mechanism
• Roles shift each round based on performance — the hierarchy is never safe
• Higher-ranking players get card exchange privileges — and the lower ranks pay for it
• Adjustable length — play as many rounds as the group decides
• Illustrated with a corporate animal theme that earns its laughs

Specifications