Go Fish or Fish is a card game for approximately three to five players, often played by children. It might be similar to a game called Andare e piscere which was current in Italy at the end of the 15th Century, of which no contemporary description survives.[2]
The game can be played by two players or more, up to about five[3][4] or six.[2][5] Five cards are dealt from a standard 52-card deck to each player,[2] or seven cards if there are only two or three players.[4][6] The remaining cards are placed face down, usually spread out in a disorderly pile.
The player whose turn it is to play asks any other player for their cards of a particular rank. For example, Ed may ask, "Peter, do you have any eights?" Ed must have at least one card of the rank he requested.[6] Peter must hand over all cards of that rank if he has any. If he has none, Peter tells Ed to "go fish" (or simply "fish"), and Ed draws a card from the stock and places it in his own hand. Then it is the next player's turn—except that some players allow Ed's turn to continue if the card that he draws is the rank he last named,[5] or if it completes a book.[3] When any player at any time has four cards of one rank, they form a book, and the cards must be placed face up in front of that player.[6][5] Play passes to the left,[4][3][6][5] or to the player who was unsuccessfully asked for cards.[2]
The winner is the first player to lay down his entire hand in books of four cards.[4] Some rules allow that if two players go out at the same time—for instance, if Peter makes a book with the last cards in his hand by taking the last cards from Ed's hand—the asked player may win if he is the one who collected more books.[2] Other rules specify that the winner is whoever has the most books when the first player runs out of cards.[5] Alternatively, play may continue until all thirteen books have been made, with players who run out of cards drawing from the stock before taking their turn; the winner is then the player with the most books at the end.[6]
Variations
There are a number of variations of these basic rules:
A player gives only one card when asked.
A player forms and lays down pairs instead of 4-card books.
A player asks 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 reveal that card when asking. This is similar to Happy Families.
If the other players got all their matches and one player has a card left while no more go-fish cards to draw, the player with the remaining card loses the game.
Books are saved by each player, face down. When the main play is finished, a further stage of play starts, with the player who has the most books. That player may ask another player for a rank that they remember that player has; if correct they win the pair; if incorrect, play passes to the next player. The winner is the player who has eventually collected a pair of every rank.
Jokers can be used to create a pair by asking another player if they have any jokers in their hand. Two jokers form one pair.
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 which cards each player possesses as a player asking for a card is a tell that they have one or multiple versions of said card rank. Unlike many card games, Go Fish depends on the honor system; lying about the contents of one's hand is difficult to prevent.[citation needed]
It is often beneficial for the player to conceal the cards they hold in order to prevent other players from knowing which cards they can ask for. This can be accomplished by consistently asking different players for the same rank of card.[citation needed]
Special card decks
Instead of using a standard 52 playing card deck, various specialty decks have been manufactured including the 169 count playing card Kids Classic Go Fish Card Game by U.S. Games Systems. Other specialist card packs which can be used to play similar games have also been produced including the Safari Pals packs which use animal characteristics to form the sets and packs which use personalized names to form the sets.[citation needed]
Go Fish also paved the way for a similar, particular kind of card game called Quartets.[citation needed]
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