Similar to Authors and the Dr. Busbe card games, The Game of the Happy Family is a matching game. Like McLoughlin's Mother Goose card game and others, this is a simpler version for younger children. The card faces shows characters from several families and players attempt to match them, keeping them as they match. The player with the most at the end wins. Packed in a more deluxe wooden box with applied paper labels, this card game lacks some of the racial and ethnic stereotype images that are often found in other games such as Dr. Busbe. This game uses happier anthropomorphic animal families.