We’ve been following the A Dog’s Life Kickstarter campaign for a couple of weeks now, and are happy to see they’ve already met their funding goal! With just 10 days left, you should take advantage of the special Kickstarter sets – either the basic Special Edition, with 7 hand-painted dogs to play, or the Collector’s Edition with 25 hand-painted dogs to play. And because they’ve already unlocked three stretch goals, including a deluxe game box, an extra pooch (Tillman, the Bulldog on a Skateboard), and a round playing die! More stretch goals are in reach, including extra playable characters.

To get a good idea of the charm of the game, we cracked open our set, and took these pictures of the actual playing pieces for the Special Edition:

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And here’s a look at the full set:

“A Dog’s Life is a family tabletop board game for 2-6 player, aged 6 and up. As a dog, you have to find something to eat on your own, searching for tidbits in trash cans and begging for leftovers from restaurants. In the process, you must keep away from the dog catcher. Sometimes, you’re lucky enough to find a bone, and you’ll have to rush to your den to bury it before another dog steals it from under your nose.”

On each turn, your doggie character has to find food, or they get too tired, and may lose all their bones and end up at the dog shelter. Your doggie can move around town, and take certain actions (begging food, piddling on buildings, fetching newspapers) based on the cards you draw and the goals you’ve set. But watch out for the dog catcher, who may pick you up if you’re not looking! The most important thing is to find bones and get them back and buried at your den. The first doggie to find and bury 3 bones at their den wins the game!

This is a good game for families, and the rules are easy enough for kids to get quickly, but with enough variety, and a reasonably-quick play time, that it doesn’t get boring. Plus, the whole piddling-on-buildings thing gets a lot of laugh. And making each player bark like their character each time they move brings howls of delight. There’s also plenty of teachable moments in the game that will help kids understand their pets and other dogs a little better. There’s even a section at the end of the game manual about the real lives of dogs, and which encourages people to adopt from shelters – a very worthy message!

A Dog’s Life is a perfect family game, especially for those of us who are dog lovers. It’s live on Kickstarter now, where you can get the game for a starting pledge of $49. Or, if you’re really passionate about your dogs, the Collectors’ Edition includes 25 hand-painted dog figures for expanded play. And, as of this writing, they are only $1,500 from their next stretch goal – adding Maymo the Beagle as another playing pooch!

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