Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel © 1999 Michael and Aristides Demetrios.   Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel Dig It! Action Game The Fast Flipping Game Click here to order Need Rules? For Ages 3 to 6 2 to 4 players Playing time: about 15 minutes Cooperative and competititve game plays No reading required Contents: 1 Dump truck tray (easy assembly required) 40 Dirt pieces 36 Popperville people pieces 4 Wild Mike and Mary Anne pieces 4 Plastic steam shovel flippers Rules of Play Based on the classic book Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton.   Join Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel Mary Anne, in their race to dig a cellar in just one day. Use your steam shovel flippers to fling pieces of dirt into the back of the Popperville Trucking Company dump truck. Each time your dirt hits its mark another Popperville towns person joins your crowd to watch you dig. The first player to collect a crowd of 5 Popperville people wins! Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne, his steam shovel pal, are true classics of children's literature. We decided to blend the great "I can do it!" attitude of Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne with a twist of Gamewright humor. To keep the fun going, we created an irresistible dirt flipper, that will keep kids amused for hours. The game play brings the narrative of the book to life. As each player digs away, creating the foundation for the new town hall, they collect a group of Popperville people to root for them. As with all games, inventing your own rules can be special fun. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel Virginia Lee Burton's beloved classic, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, has inspired GAMEWRIGHT to produce new games based on the book. The classic book has sold close to two-million copies since its original publication in 1939, and it remains one of Houghton Mifflin's top selling children's titles year in and year out.