Tarantel Tango

About this board game

Tarantel Tango is a fast-paced card game for 2–5 players that takes about 20 minutes to play. Players race to get rid of their face-down stacks by placing animal cards around a five-sided Tarantula tile while copying sounds, following placement rules, and reacting quickly.

The game includes 120 animal cards featuring dogs, cows, donkeys, goats, cats, parrots, and five special tarantula cards. Each player receives a share of the cards and forms a personal face-down stack. Cards are played clockwise around the central tile, with every turn demanding concentration and speed.

• Imitate the animal shown on the previous card when it displays one or two spiders.
• Stay silent when the previous card does not require an imitation.
• Place the next card one slot onward—or two slots onward when the previous card shows two animals.
• Smack the table when a tarantula appears to chase it away.

Players have no more than two seconds to complete the required actions. If someone makes a mistake or is too slow, they must take all the cards on the table into their own stack, and a new round begins. This creates a lively balance between remembering the rules, reacting to the latest card, and avoiding costly errors.

Additional expert rules make the challenge even more demanding. Donkeys can require cards to be placed on them because they are too stubborn to move on, while curious dogs can reverse the direction of play from clockwise to counter-clockwise. With its animal noises, sudden hand-smacking, and shifting instructions, Tarantel Tango turns a simple race to empty your cards into a tense test of speed and attention.

Released in 2009, Tarantel Tango offers a compact, energetic card-game experience for family and party-game sessions.