Go Fish

Overview

Go Fish is the card game almost everyone learns first — and it hides more thinking than its reputation suggests. Four players each hold a small hand, and the rest of the deck lies face down and scattered across the table as the pond. You take turns asking a specific opponent for a specific rank, and every question you ask tells the whole table something about what you are holding. Collect all four cards of a rank and you have a book. Thirteen books are won every game, and whoever takes the most of them wins.

How to play

Everyone is dealt five cards and play starts to the dealer’s left. On your turn you pick a rank you already hold, choose an opponent, and ask them for it. You may never ask for a rank you do not hold yourself — that rule is what makes each ask a piece of public information.

If the player you asked holds any cards of that rank, they must hand over every one of them, and you immediately take another turn. A good read can chain several asks together before you ever lose the turn.

Asking and fishing

If the player you asked has none of that rank, they tell you to go fish and you pull one card out of the pond. If the card you fish happens to be the exact rank you asked for, it is shown to everyone and you take another turn. Otherwise the card joins your hand quietly and the turn passes to the left.

If your hand runs empty you fish a card at the start of your turn to get back in. Once the pond is also empty, a player with no cards is simply skipped.

Books and winning

The moment you hold all four cards of a rank, the book is laid down automatically and those cards leave your hand. Completed books line up along the table so you can always see who is ahead.

The game ends when all thirteen books have been claimed. The player with the most books wins, and equal books is a tie — so a single late book can decide the whole game.

Strategy and tips

Listen to the asks. Every player must hold a rank to ask for it, so anyone who asks for sevens is telling you they have at least one seven — and that is exactly who to ask when you pick up a seven yourself.

Watch the handovers too. When a player gives up three kings, those kings are now in a hand you can see the shape of. Asking the right player is a free extra turn, and stringing extra turns together is how games are won here rather than by luck alone.

Late in the game, think about what you reveal. Asking for a rank you are one card away from booking tells three opponents to hold that rank back if they can.

Controls

Click a card in your hand to choose a rank, then click the opponent you want to ask. When you are told to go fish, click any face-down card in the pond to pull it, or use the Fish button to take one at random. The Books button shows every book claimed so far, and the settings menu covers sound, your avatar, the table background and the card backs.