Wacky Wizard Games, an imprint of veteran publisher Wise Wizard Games, made a name for itself in 2024 with its excellent family game Star Realms Academy. It’s a game that brings the deck-building mechanic to a younger audience. So my ears perked at Gen Con this year when they told me about Push Push Penguin, the latest family game from Wacky Wizard Games.

It has cute penguin art, some fun components, and easy gameplay. Will this be another hit from their family friendly imprint or should it be pushed into the sea? Let’s find out.

Gameplay Overview:

The goal in Push Push Penguin is to be the player in second place when the game ends. That’s right, second place because whoever is first gets eaten by the Orca. Well, the game says, “scared away”, but we really know what’s going on. I saw March of the Penguins.

Roll 2 dice and pick one to use.

The game is played out over a series of rounds. At the start of the round, each player secretly rolls their two dice and chooses one of them to use for movement for the round.

Then, once they are all revealed, players will move their penguins (in turn order) a number of spaces matching their chosen die result. If they land on a fish, they get a fish token (which can be used for a reroll). If they land on a slide, they take a shortcut down the path. And if they land on another penguin, they bop them forward one space. There are also Seal spaces that have them rolling a die with variable results (extra movement or fish).

The round ends with the lead player rolling the orca die, which moves the whale standee up to 3 spaces towards the penguins.

Rounds will go by in this manner until a penguin encounters the orca tail. When that happens, the player rolls the Seal die, and if they get an orca tail (1 in 6 chance), they survive and hide in the back of the pack. If not, they are eaten, and whoever is in front of the pack wins.

Second place is where you want to be.

Game Experience:

Push Push Penguin is a sneaky little game. It starts off as a simple roll and move down a path, collecting fish, and feels like a race to the end. While that’s true, it’s not its whole story. In the early part of the race, order doesn’t really matter. You can be in the front or the back of the pack, and there is no risk to you. But once you close in on the whale tail, all bets are off.

And that’s really where the game gets most interesting. As the penguins all bunch up on the ice flows, suddenly your die results and positioning really matter. A simple bump from a previous player may mean moving into the mouth of the whale vs relative safety. And that’s also where Push Push Penguin is most interesting. When you are on those spots, jostling for position, there is a lot of tension in the game.

If you reach the whale tale, you have one chance to save yourself.

We’ve had players get knocked into the whale marker, use 5 fish tokens on rerolls, and make it on the very last one (to cheers and groans from the players). That’s also the reason why Push Push Penguin is best at the higher player count. With 2-3 players, there won’t be a ton of bumping around, and the game is just kind of along for the ride. Yet, when you are playing with 5-6 players, the path gets crowded, and suddenly, position matters. You can plan out your turn, but there is a good chance you will be bummed, perhaps a few times, before you even get to go.

In most games, that would be frustrating, as you can’t really plan out your turns. But the enjoyment in Push Push Penguin comes from the chaos of the pack. This is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and you shouldn’t either. The play time is about 15 minutes, and that feels spot on. Roll the dice, cause some havoc, try not to get eaten. I also like that the player in second place is the winner, as it stops players from playing too safely (just having out in back). Although it would have been cool to have a few random events to hurt anyone who is hiding too much.

Final Thoughts:

While Push Push Penguin doesn’t have quite the sheen on it that Star Realms Academy does, it was still a lot of fun. My kids enjoyed it and even requested to play it a few times without me prompting them. It’s not a game where they are going to learn life skills, and it isn’t the best at lower player counts. But if they just want to have some fun and cause a little chaos, Push Push Penguin is a great option.