Go Fish: Difference between revisions

Go Fish

Players	2-5
Setup time	1 min
Playing time	5-15 minutes
Chance	Medium
Age range	3+
Skills	Strategy

For other uses, see Go Fish (disambiguation)

Not to be confused with the card game Literature, which is also commonly called "Fish".

Go Fish (or simply Fish) is a simple card game. It is usually played by two to five players, although it can be played with up to ten.

Basic game

Using a standard 52 card deck, seven cards are dealt to each player, or nine if there are four or fewer. The remaining card pack is shared between the players, usually sprawled out in a non-orderly pile referenced as the "ocean" or "pool".

The player whose turn it is to play asks another player for their cards of a particular rank. For example, "Steve, do you have any threes?" Players can not ask for a card they are not holding, and cannot ask for an entire suit. The recipient of the request must then hand over all cards of that rank, if they have any. The next turn then goes to the player to the left of the current player.

If the player who was asked has no cards of that rank, they say "go fish", and the asking player draws a card from the ocean. The turn then passes to the player who was asked.

When one player has four of the same cards of a given rank, they form a book, and the cards are placed face up on the table.

The game is not over when a player runs out of cards. That player simply draws a card from the ocean, and the turn passes to the next player in the rotation. The game ends when all cards have been used, and all books have been obtained. Whoever has the most books wins.

Variations

There are a number of variations of these basic rules:

• Each player only gets one turn even if the call is successful.
• Players form pairs instead of books of four.
• Players form books of three, enabling any other player to place the same number card down as their own. For example, if John places down three 5s, and Annie has the last 5, she can play it to get points.
• Extra conditions are added under which a player's turn continues. For example, if the card fished from the pack matches the rank that was asked for, or if it completes a book.
• With three or more players, all players must respond to each call. A player draws a card from the pack only if no opponent has a card of the requested rank, and then the turn passes clockwise.
• Players ask for a specific card instead of a rank. A player must still have at least one card of the named rank in order to ask, and must expose that card when asking. This is similar to Happy Families.
• In the event that a player runs out of cards he should draw a new hand from the top of the pack.
• If a player runs out of cards he must wait until the game is over and cannot gain any more cards or books.
• When a player is told to "Go fish!" they then draw a card directly from their opponent's hand, not from the card pack. Then the player who has been "fished" draws a replacement card from the pack and play continues.
• Instead of cards being placed in a stack, they can be spread out to form a "pond" on the table.
• "Fisherman's Luck" variation: If the card drawn is what the player asked for, then it is shown to the other players and then the player draws another card.
• "KP" variation: The game ends when any player runs out of cards. Players count their pairs but deduct one pair for every card they are holding. The player with the highest number of pairs AFTER the deductions is the winner.
• "KP Advanced" variation: Same as above, but if the last player to ask for a card is not the first person to run out of cards, then the asker of the card is exempt from having to take deductions.
• "KP Tournament" variation: After each round of a KP variation game, players receive a point for every pair. However, if they have more cards in their hands than they have pairs, they go into negative points during deductions. First player to 52 points wins the tournament.
• If the other players got all their matches and one player has a card left while no more Go-fish cards to draw, he loses the game.

Strategy

If, when fishing, a player draws a rank they did not have, they should ask for it on their next turn. Otherwise, they should rotate among the ranks that they already hold. In the more difficult variants, strategy often requires memorizing what cards each player possesses. Unlike many card games, Go Fish is very much dependent on the honor system; lying about the contents of one's hand is difficult to prevent.

Special card decks

Instead of using a standard 52 playing card deck, various speciality decks have been manufactured including the 169 count playing card Kids Classic Go Fish Card Game by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. ISBN 1-57281-308-3, Other specialist card packs which can be used to play Go Fish type games have also been produced including the Safari Pals packs which uses animal characteristics to form the sets.

A game similar to Go Fish exists, called Quartets

See also

• Literature (card game)

External links

• Rules of Card Games: Go Fish