🏁 Grand Animal National · Laugh-out-loud

GRAND ANIMAL
national

A Grand National for pubs, run by comedy animals. Pick Derek the Duck, Sharon the Tortoise, Barry the Snail, or one of a dozen others. Race plays out on the big screen. Tap to boost during boost windows. Trivia at every fence. 15 minutes of pure pub chaos.

5 sec

Players to join

Players supported

Comedy animals

18 min

Typical run time

Start free 15-day trial → ▶ See how it works

How it plays

Pick your animal. Lose your dignity.

Grand Animal National is the Epicly game that exists because we asked: what if a pub game was just stupid? You pick a ridiculous animal, you race them over a National-style course, you tap furiously when prompted, and you scream when Sharon the Tortoise overtakes Derek the Duck on the home straight. There is no skill ceiling. There is barely any skill floor. It's 18 minutes of unhinged fun.

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Pick Your Animal

Each player gets a roster of comedy animals — Derek the Duck, Sharon the Tortoise, Barry the Snail, Margaret the Ferret, and 11 others. Pick one. Names, no two players the same.

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The Off

Race starts on the big screen. Animals canter (waddle, in some cases) along the course. Whole pub watches the same TV screen. The animation is intentionally daft.

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Tap to Boost

Random boost windows appear on phones — "TAP NOW!" Tap as fast as you can during the window to surge your animal forward. The pace of tapping is genuinely the game.

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Fence Trivia

At each fence, a trivia question appears. Get it right, your animal clears. Wrong, your animal stumbles (delightfully animated). Trivia matters more than tapping in close finishes.

Why it lands

Why we built a deliberately silly game.

Most pub entertainment skews serious — quizzes, leaderboards, bragging rights. Grand Animal National exists for the moments when a venue wants the opposite. It's the game you play after a normal quiz to send guests home laughing. The game you put on for a stag do. The game that makes someone post the screen recording on TikTok.

🦆

15 named comedy animals

Derek the Duck. Sharon the Tortoise. Barry the Snail. Margaret the Ferret. Each fully animated with character. The animal names are 30% of the game's charm.

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Tap-to-boost mechanic

When boost windows open, players tap their phone screens as fast as they can. The frantic atmosphere this creates is the actual social product — phones blurring, people laughing.

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Trivia at every fence

Pure tapping would be too random. The trivia questions at fences mean knowledge matters too — but they're short, sharp, multiple-choice. Speed + smarts both count.

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Genuine close finishes

The platform balances tap speed and trivia accuracy so finishes are typically 2-3 lengths between top 3. Whole pub watches the photo finish on the big screen.

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15-20 minute format

Deliberately short. Run it as a starter before a longer game night, as a closer to send guests off laughing, or as the whole event for a group with limited time.

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Spectator chaos

Eliminated and finished players love watching the close finishes play out. The animal animation invites mockery, cheering, and the kind of pub noise venues actually want.

Perfect for

Where Grand Animal National does its best work.

🍺

Pubs needing energy

Slow Tuesdays where a noisy game changes the atmosphere fast. The kind of game that makes passers-by look in.

🎂

Stag/hen weekends

Format calibrated for groups who want to laugh, not concentrate. Picks a winner before the next pub crawl stop.

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Sports bars

Race format fits bars whose regulars like races. Run it between actual sport on the big screen.

🍴

Restaurants with bars

Quick enough to play while waiting for mains, daft enough to break ice between strangers seated together.

Questions, answered

Grand Animal National FAQs.

Is this actually a serious entertainment product?

It is and it isn't. The platform is serious — same engine as our other games, same player counts, same reliability. The game itself is deliberately ridiculous. That's the point. Pubs need both kinds of entertainment.

How long does a race take?

15-20 minutes including animal picks, the race itself (about 4-5 minutes of actual track time), and the leaderboard/replay. Short enough to run twice in an evening.

Do players win anything?

Hosts can attach prizes — drink tokens, dessert on the house, named board recognition. The platform handles winner notification. Most venues run it for the chaos, not for real prizes.

Do guests need to download an app?

No. Players scan a QR code or enter a short game code at epicly.live in any phone browser.

How many people can race at once?

Up to 30 players in a single race. Each picks a unique animal. Bigger venues can run consecutive races to fit larger groups.

Will my older customers think it's daft?

Yes. That's also why it works — the daftness is shared across generations. We've seen 70-year-olds shouting at Derek the Duck. It's the great equaliser.

What hardware does the venue need?

A screen the room can see (the animation matters here), a connected device, and venue WiFi.

How much does Grand Animal National cost?

Included in every Epicly subscription. No per-game charge. Every venue gets a 15-day free trial.

GRAND ANIMAL
national

Pick your animal. Lose your dignity.

Why we built a deliberately silly game.

Where Grand Animal National does its best work.

Grand Animal National FAQs.

Grand Animal National is one of many.

Try Grand Animal National free for 15 days.

GRAND ANIMAL national

Pick your animal. Lose your dignity.

Why we built a deliberately silly game.

Where Grand Animal National does its best work.

Grand Animal National FAQs.

Grand Animal National is one of many.

Try Grand Animal National free for 15 days.

GRAND ANIMAL
national