Tabletop Game Review: Throw Throw Burrito

Throw Throw Burrito is called a “dodgeball card game” and it’s made by the makers of Exploding Kittens, a super fun game that my teens enjoy playing. And it is exactly what it says it is: a card game with a bit of dodgeball thrown in. It’s like a library sanctioned food fight without real food. Here’s how it works.

Each player gets a small pile of cards, which is your hand. You will have two piles of cards, a personal discard pile on your right, which the player to your right will discard into. And your personal discard pile on your left, which the player on your left will draw from. You play around the table and you will pick up a card from the pile on your right, add it to your hand, and then discard to the pile on your left. You are trying to get matching card groups of three and it’s a quick playing game with everyone drawing and discarding at once. There are no turns here, you just go and keep going. You have to pay attention. When you get a group of 3 matching cards, you lay them down as if you were playing Goldfish or Rummy.

Two burritos, which are basically squishees, are placed in the middle of the table. These are your “dodgeballs”. When you get 3 of a kind you place those out of your hand. If you get a brawl, duel or war card the dodgeball – or dodge burrito to be more precise – part comes into play.

For a burrito duel, you pick a player and have a good old fashioned back to back count to three dual Aaron Burr style, but with a squishee burrito. It’s all fun and games. No one gets hurt because it’s a squishee.

If you play a burrito brawl, the player to your left and right are now in a burrito brawl. Both players grab and throw, no formal duel is involved.

For a burrito war, everyone just grabs and throws. If you get hit, you grab a burrito x out of the pot. It’s basically like a strike. More info about this in a moment.

If you grab a burrito when it’s not your turn to grab a burrito or if you get hit with a burrito and lose a duel or brawl, you get a burrito bruise. It’s basically like a strike. Each strike is worth 1 point and you deduct these points from your total number of points at the end of the game to determine the winner.

If all of this sounds confusing, fear not because there are detailed game instructions here with a short video: https://www.throwthrowburrito.com/how-to-play

This is a fun game that I recommend for library programs. Be forewarned, there is a physical aspect of the game so you’ll want to have it in a separate space that allows for the burrito throwing and the raucous laughter that comes with playing.

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