In Animal Shuffle, players are trying to gather a set of animal fluffy toys from a multiplayer claw catcher. On their turn, each player can move to one of a number of specified spaces on the 9x9 grid, so as to catch the hidden prize that lies there.

Players only know the color of their catch, and not its nature (rank). They can also only keep 6 prizes in their hand, so that they must choose which ones to keep to be able to build a valuable (poker-like) collection.

Each move must lead to a catch, and the game ends when a player can't make a legal move. The player with the best set in hand wins the game.