Canny Minds Blog

Go Fish

Posted on 22. Jun, 2009 by Jenny in Card Games, General

Go Fish is a fun, addictive and simple game of memory and strategy, superb for kids and great for older
ages!

No. of players:

2 – 6

Aim of game:

The players have to collect sets of four cards of the same number, for example, four Kings.

How to Play:

If there are two players, each is dealt 7 cards. If there are 3 or more players, each receives 5 cards. The rest of the pack is left face down in the centre.

Players take turns to try and collect sets of 4 cards of one number. This is done by each player asking one other player if they have a certain number. For example, at Player A’s turn, he may ask Player B (or C or D or E) if they have any Kings? If Player B has a King he HAS to give it over to Player A and if he has more than one, he has to give all of them over to Player A. If Player A gets his King, he gets another turn and may ask the same person or any other for another card.

If Player B does NOT have any Kings, he says ‘Go Fish’ and the player asking him for the King (Player A) will pick up a card from the deck in the centre. The next player then takes his turn.

The player asking for a specific card HAS to hold that card already in one of the suits. For example, Player A has to hold a King in order to ask for another King from Player B.

If the player is told to ‘Go Fish’ and then picks up the card that he asked for originally from the deck (eg. the King), then he has to show the card to the rest of the group and may have another turn, seeing as he eventually got the card he asked for in the first place.

When a player gets a set of four cards of the same number, he places it down on the table.

The Winner?

The game is finished when the pack is exhausted and the winner is the player with the most sets out of the 13 lying on the table.

Lastly, if a player runs out of cards during the game, he may draw the top card of the pack but has to wait until the next go until he can play his turn. This leads to a problem if a player runs out of cards early as (especially in 2 player games) the other player can continually bully him out of his cards!

Strategy:

Players should remember what cards the OTHER players are asking for so if you are to pick up a card that someone has continually been asking for, then you know they have the others of this number!

Players should also protect their almost completed sets of 3 as it is heartbreaking to have them taken by the other player when so close!

Written by Andrew (22/06/2009) 

Photo courtesy of Incurable_hippie 

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