Great game for kids.  You deal 4 cards face down side by side to each player.  When we play with younger kids, we always turn up the end cards.  When playing with older kids, we don't.  One card is then placed face up next to the draw pile.  You can either pick up that card or draw one card and then exchange that card for one of your own cards, if you wish.  You then discard and the play moves on to the next player. The object is to have the lowest total when adding all your cards together.  When you believe you have the lowest total, you say rat-a-tat-cat and everyone gets 1 more turn. Everybody adds their cards up and you keep a tally. Part of the fun is not knowing what's on the cards not showing and then trading it out for what you believe to be a low card, only to find out you just discarded an even lower card, which the next player will most likely pick up.  Watch where that player places that card because it will come in handy if you pick a swap card, which allows you to swap one card with one card of another player. There are peek cards, which allow you to peek at one of your turned down cards.  And there are also draw 2 cards. I have also bought "There's a Moose in the House" and "Sleeping Queens".  We like these games also, but the kids like Rat-A-Tat-Cat the best.