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This article has been tagged since October 2006.
For the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, see Go Fish (Buffy episode).
For the lesbian-themed film, see Go Fish (film).
Go Fish, also called Fish, is a simple card game popular among children. It is usually played by two to four players, although theoretically it can be played with up to ten. "Go Fish" is also an expression used to dismiss someone or an idea as absurd; Just like "turn the other cheek" there are alternate intrepretations and spoofs found on the net.
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Contents
- 1 Origins
- 2 The basic game
- 3 Variations
- 4 Strategy
- 5 External links
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Origins
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This article has been tagged since January 2007. |
The basic game
Five cards are dealt to each player, or seven if there are only two players.
The player whose turn it is to play asks another player for his/her cards of a particular rank. For example, "Jill, do you have any threes?". A player may only ask for a rank of which he already holds at least one card. The recipient of the request must then hand over all cards of that rank. If the player who was asked has no cards of that rank, he says "Go fish" (or simply "Fish"), and the asking player draws the top card from the pack. The turn then passes to the player who was asked.
When one player has two cards of a given rank, they form a pair, and the cards are placed face up on the table. The game ends when all twenty-six pairs are formed, and the player who won the most pairs wins.
If the player whose turn it is has no cards left in hand, the game is not over, but he simply draws the top card from the pack and the turn passes.
Variations
There are a number of variations of these basic rules:
- Players may play for books of four instead of pairs. When you have all 4 cards of a given rank, they form a "book" and are displayed face up on the table. The game ends when 13 books are formed, and whoever has the most books wins.
- 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 pair.
- 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.
- Another variation is that players still ask for a rank and play for books of four, but only one card is handed over in each call instead of all cards of the rank that the player holds.
- In the event that a player runs out of cards he should draw a new hand from the top of the pack.
- Another variation is that if a player runs out of cards he must wait until the game is over and cannot gain any more cards or books.
Strategy
The strategy is pretty straightforward. If, when fishing, you draw a rank you don't have, you should ask for it on your next turn. Otherwise, rotate among the ranks you already hold. In the harder variants, proper strategy requires remembering who has what. Unlike many card games, Go Fish is very much dependent on the honor system; lying about the contents of one's hand is hard to prevent.
