The Very Clever Pipe Game

About this board game

The Very Clever Pipe Game is a card game for 2–4 players that plays in about 20 minutes. Players take turns placing pipe cards onto the table, creating connected sections from a variety of six-outlet configurations.

Each card features white and black pipes. As the network grows, players aim to construct a completely closed-off section of pipe in their color. When that happens, the player takes all the cards from that section, turning completed pipe areas into scored cards.

• Cards with white and black pipes
• Six-outlet pipe configurations
• Closed sections that let players claim cards
• Two different floors beneath the pipes for expanding the game to four players

The cards also include two different floors, which appear underneath the pipes. These floors can be used to expand the game into a four-player affair, adding another way to use the card designs while retaining the central pipe-building concept.

After all the cards have been played, players compare the cards they have scored. The player with the most scored cards wins, giving the game a clear final objective after the shared pipe network has been developed.

Originally released in 1996, The Very Clever Pipe Game was re-released in 2002 as part of the Hip Pocket Games series. That edition uses a reduced deck of 48 cards instead of the original 120, making the different releases easy to distinguish while preserving the game’s card-based pipe construction and card-claiming system.