Party game article

What Is OrganATTACK! and How Do You Play?

Welcome to the operating table. Deploy ailments, play cures, and eliminate your friends’ vital organs in OrganATTACK!, a fast, funny card game where medical facts collide with gleeful sabotage.

A card game with guts

OrganATTACK! is a competitive “take that” card game for 2–6 players. Each player guards a row of cartoon Organ cards while trying to remove every rival organ with matching Afflictions, wild attacks, and tactical surprises. The last player with at least one organ still in front of them wins.

From The Awkward Yeti’s strange anatomy

The game was created by The Awkward Yeti, the creator-owned comic world behind Heart and Brain. Its expressive organ characters turn real medical terminology into mischievous tabletop comedy. Nearly 13,000 Kickstarter backers helped bring the original game to life, and the characters, artwork, and OrganATTACK! intellectual property belong to The Awkward Yeti LLC.

Prepare the operating table

Shuffle the Organ deck and deal every Organ card as evenly as possible. Players place their organs face up so the whole table can see the available targets. Shuffle the Attack deck, deal five Attack cards to each player, and leave the remaining cards as a draw pile. The player holding the Organ Wild card begins; play then moves clockwise.

One turn, one decisive move

On a normal turn, play one card, resolve everything written on it, and draw back up to five cards. If no card helps—or patience feels wiser than surgery—you may discard and replace up to two Attack cards instead. Instant cards are the exception: when their text allows it, they can erupt outside your turn without using your normal move.

Unleash ailments

Affliction cards show which organs they can target. Gallstones belong on the Gallbladder; Thyroiditis attacks the Thyroid. A normal organ is removed after it receives two valid Afflictions. Wild Afflictions can strike more freely, while especially powerful effects such as Necrosis can remove a normal organ in a single move. The Organ Wild is tougher and follows its own printed rules.

Play cures, resistance, and chaos

A good hand is more than a tray of diseases. Cures can remove Afflictions, Resistance cards can protect vulnerable organs, and tactical or bureaucracy cards can interrupt an attack, redirect the danger, or rearrange the table’s plans. Because most turns allow only one move, every choice carries a delicious dilemma: protect yourself now, or finish somebody else’s organ first?

The last organ standing

Lose your final Organ card and you are eliminated. The game ends when only one player still has an organ in play. That survivor wins—whether they triumphed through careful defence, ruthless timing, temporary alliances, or the miraculous endurance of one very stressed pancreas.

Choose the right patients

The current edition is listed for ages 8 and up and 2–6 players, and no medical knowledge is required. Its bright cartoons sit beside the names of real diseases and conditions, including serious ones. Check that everyone is comfortable with the theme before dealing, and treat the humour as fictional card-play rather than real medical advice.

Common questions

Do you need medical knowledge to play OrganATTACK!?

No. The organ icons and card instructions show which plays are legal. The real terminology adds flavour and may teach a fact or two, but it is not a quiz.

Is this article the official rulebook?

No. This is an independent introduction from Party Pulse. Use The Awkward Yeti’s official game page and gameplay overview for the current edition, and follow the cards and rulebook included with your copy.

Is OrganATTACK! suitable for every family?

The publisher lists the current edition for ages 8+, but also notes that discussion of medical conditions may be uncomfortable for some players. The right choice depends on the people at your table.

Official OrganATTACK! references

Official game page and current edition details Official gameplay video overview The Awkward Yeti official website

How to Choose a Party Game for Your Group?

Find the Party Pulse game that fits your group’s size, mood, and appetite for friendly chaos.

Read article