Getting Started
These are the basic rules to play for the first time.
Step
One
Start with all tiles facedown.
Pour all 48 tiles from the bag onto a surface. Flip all tiles facedown so you can only see the orange “Pick Up Locks” logo. Mix up the tiles and arrange them in a grid.
Take turns flipping two tiles.
Whoever is the youngest goes first. Choose two tiles and flip them over. You’re trying to find a key and lock that go together. For example, a heart-shaped key goes with a heart-shaped padlock.
Step
Two
Step
Three
If you make a match, keep them.
If the two tiles do match, then you get to keep them and continue turning over two tiles at a time. But, if they don’t match, you need to turn those two tiles facedown again and play passes to the next player.
Collect the most tiles to win!
When the last tiles are taken, the game is over. Now, each player counts up the tiles they have collected and whoever has the most tiles wins the game! And if it’s a tie, you get to play again!
Step
Four
Match Keys & Locks… and more!
Or, You Could Watch A Cute Video…
Go Wild!!!
Each bag of Pick Up Locks includes two WILD tiles! You can optionally mix these tiles into the game! If you find them while you’re picking, you can use them to match any other tile! It’s so wild!
Child’s Play
As a parent, you can scale the game to what is comfortable for your child. Instead of playing with 48 tiles, try playing with only the 24 dotted classic tiles. Or, try making matches more exciting by simply matching shapes, colors, or patterns.
Pick Up Locks contains 2 different patterns, 4 different colors, and 6 different shapes – perfect for any age!
Paddy’s Punch
Prepare 24 bathroom cups filled with Paddy’s Punch or your favorite juice. Now, split the tiles into two groups of 24. There are no turns. Players race to make 12 matches each. After each match, that player must drink a cup. The first to drink 12 cups wins!
Note: If you trade out the punch for water, you can get the proper amount every day in a fun, Paddy way! But, if you do want my punch, I’ve put the the secret recipe somewhere on this site! Can you find it?
Solitaire Link
Spread all 48 tiles out facedown. Turn two tiles over at a time looking for matches. However, after you make a match, you can only count it if the pair has a link with the previous match by shape, color, or pattern.
You can change the difficulty of the game by using less tiles, only allowing specific kinds of links, or by forcing proper matches to have two links instead of one. Once you figure out how to clear the board, you can keep playing to get your best time!
Mahjong Mayhem
Arrange the facedown tiles in such a way that they are all pushed together touching each other, typically in a grid shape. Play Pick Up Locks normally, except instead of choosing any two tiles, you can only choose tiles that are on the perimeter.