Take over a dog-friendly pub in your quest to pet the most dogs. Learn how to properly pet the pups and collect a variety of pets, all while being good patrons of the bar. If you’re caught without a drink, you’ll be passive-aggressively shamed by the waitstaff.
Pet the dogs better than your friends and don’t be shamed. Should be a relaxing evening, right?
Welcome to the Pub!
1-8 players | 30-60 minutes | Pet-collection
Hair of the Dog is the trendy new spot for dog owners to bring their pets.
Sadly, no one in your friend circle has a dog. It’s a real problem. You need to pet one; you all do.
Luckily, the Hair of the Dog pub will let you in, as long as you’re buying drinks. Your group heads there with a singular mission: pet all the dogs.
Of course, it’s not enough just to pet the dogs. You need to win: to be the undisputed best at hand-to-dog contact. To do so, you must get a variety of scratching styles from unique dogs. The dogs at this bar are picky and all have different criteria you must meet before they let you pet them. You also need to be a good patron of the establishment by buying drinks. Failure to be a good customer will result in the staff shaming you for selfishly taking up space.
Pet the dogs better than your friends and don’t be shamed. Should be a relaxing evening, right?
Gameplay
In Hair of the Dog, you are competing to pet the most dogs. Between 1 and 8 players will be running around a dog-friendly pub, trying to pet different dogs. As you pet dogs, they’ll get more riled up. You’ll need to soothe them by meeting one or more conditions, such as having a squeaky toy or being near their favorite server, before anyone can pet them again. You’ll have to learn what those conditions are by either carefully watching your friends or, worse, asking people through awkward conversation.
Players take turns navigating the bar and performing actions, such as trying to pet a dog, grabbing a dog toy, or walking without falling over. Each action costs a sip of beverage. Players should be wary of running dry, as the waitstaff doesn’t care for freeloaders and will passive-aggressively shame the player.
After players move themselves, they get to move a server and raise a glass. Toasts force people into the social contract of drinking more, leaving them at risk of shame.
To succeed at dog petting, players must balance progress with temperance, trade dog secrets in hushed tones, and trick others into being caught with neither a dog nor drink.
Please note that this video uses prototype components. The actual game pieces are shown below.
Downloads
Rule Books
Need a quick refresher? Download the rule book and module guide. Settle that debate.
Rule Book (JP) (Bonus Modules coming soon)
Print and Play PDFs
All of the dog-petting action with none of the third-dimension. The Hair of the Dog print-and-play includes PDFs for the base game and all the modules.
This PDF is pay-what-you-want. Click here to give a PayPal contribution.
Reviews and How-to-plays
“As an avid dog-lover and lover of breweries […] this game fit right in.”
“Hair of the Dog’s hyper-relaxed theme and setting contrasting with it’s potentially cutthroat gameplay makes for a very unique experience in general that would be a hit for the right audience.
Fantastic game. Super chill and perfect for a night with friends.
The groups I had playing at RJGCon were fully engaged in playing, laughing, toasting and having the waiter screw over the next guy, given the opportunity.
“We have no cuter game in our collection.” (Polski)
Interesting in reviewing Hair of the Dog? Like all good dogs, we’ll respond when we hear our names. Contact us today!