How to play Eat Poop You Cat

by jmgariepy · June 6, 2021

No one is certain where the name ‘Eat Poop You Cat’ comes from, though it’s likely one group’s final result in this party game of mixed communication.

Number of players: Five or more. A twenty person game is perfectly reasonable.
Equipment: A pen and a small notebook. If you don’t have a small notebook, a little craftiness can pull one together from a few sheets of paper, a pair of scissors, and a couple staples.

Rules of play:
1.) Choose a player to go first. That player opens the notebook to page one and writes a sentence, some song lyrics, a non-sequitur, or anything else really as long as there’s enough odd detail to work with.
2.) That player passes the book to another player. The second player reads what was written on page one and draws that thing on page two. The artist can not use letters or numbers to express concepts.
3.) That player passes the book, with the book open to page two. The third player looks at the image on page two *without* turning the page back to page one, and writes what the picture is supposed to represent.
4.) That player passes the book along, with the book open to page three. The fourth player looks at the words on page three, and draws a picture on page four without turning back to any of the previous pages.
5.) Continue like this until all players have either written something, or drawn something.
6.) The last player hands the book to a narrator, who reads aloud each written section, then shows off each successive picture.

Note #1: Eat Poop You Cat isn’t a game you win. In fact, if the final picture resembles the words on the first page, it can be a let down. Feel free to be intentionally obstinate. If you’re unsure what you’re looking at when interpreting a picture, don’t choose a safe response when a daring guess would be more fun.

Note #2: You can run multiple Eat Poop You Cats at the same time. In fact, many groups think that’s how you’re *supposed* to play, each player simultaneously passing an Eat Poop You Cat to the left at the same time. This is a great way to play. But I wouldn’t rule out the idea of passing a single Eat Poop You Cat around while there’s a party going on. Most party games require active participation, but Eat Poop You Cat can make for a fun side activity.

Note #3: Eat Pop You Cat notebooks make for cute mementos to chuckle over when you find them buried in a bottom drawer. That makes this an ideal activity for events where things tend to get saved like graduation parties or baby showers. I still have an Eat Poop You Cat at home from Halloween, circa 2007.