Popularly referred to as just Fish, Go Fish is a pretty cool game of cards, most commonly played by six to two players within five to fifteen minutes. The standard rules to play the game are quite simple, and most standard card decks are great for playing this game – in fact, it takes only a few minutes to learn the rules and start playing!
So why don’t you grab some of your friends and start playing? But before that, scroll down to find out how to play Go Fish!
How To Play Go Fish? A Step-By-Step Guide To Playing Go Fish:
If you have played go fish online, then you know that it’s a super fun game, especially when played with friends. It’s same as learning your usual card games like Teen Patti. The best part? It’s so easy to learn this game – you can play with two to six people and win the game if you get 4-of-a-kind matches and lay down your cards first.
Moreover, there are several cool ways in which you can play with all your hands without getting bored of this classic game. So keep reading and stick around to find out more.
Starting Go Fish:
According to the Go Fish rules, participants have to select one person among themselves for shuffling and dealing the cards in the first round. After that, you can easily select someone randomly depending on what the majority wants. Make sure all of you are taking turns as the dealer – nobody should be stuck doing that alone.
This is how the game starts,
- The dealer shuffles and deals all the cards among the players. For example, if around two to three people are playing, then every player will get seven cards. But in case of four or even more players, every player will get five cards.
- Once you get your cards, check them out but make sure you can keep them hidden from others.
- Spread all the remaining cards face-down at the center – this will create your ‘fishing pond.’ Make sure there’s no peeking at the fishing pond. In case there’s a lack of space, stack all the cards on top of each other. Then, while saying go-fish, people can pick the top one from the stack.
- The player who sits on the dealer’s left goes first, making it an important reason as to why it’s important to be the dealer. That way, all players will get the opportunity to appear first at this point.
Taking Turns:
You can begin the Go Fish game simply by asking any player for specific cards. You have to make sure you have taken a quick look at your cards and ask for cards, you have different multiples of, which in turn will heko you quicker matches. For instance, in case you have two jacks with you, you need another two in order to make matches.
The thing that you must remember in this context is that you must always ask only one player at a time. Also, you must remember that you can’t ask about more than one rank at once. The term ‘rank of card’ basically refers to the number, and just not the card suit. It does not really matter whether a player has jack of diamonds or jack of hearts – in case they do, it will pass to you.
Players can ask for specific cards only when you have at least one or even more of the same in your hands. For instance, you can not ask for fours, if you do not have a four. While doing so, remember that the moment you will ask for specific cards, the rest of the players will find out that you have the particular card.
This can be easily used to your advantage if you can try keeping track of which player has what cards.
Saying Go Fish:
Don’t ask, ‘how to play go fish?’ and instead keep reading because this is perhaps the most important part of learning this game of cards.
If you have cards of a particular rank with you, you must give it away to the player who got it right. For instance, if a players asks you whether you have any kings, and it turns out you do then it’s best to give away all the kings to that player. You cannot keep any of these cards with you, and you technically cannot lie.
It is possible that you can get lucky more than once and end up finding all the cards you require for making matches. In that case, you can take multiple turns consecutively without staying ‘Go Fish’ and passing the turn – you can even ask a different player or the same player about different cards.
You can say ‘go fish’ when you stop having any cards, some player is asking you about – this is perhaps the most entertaining aspect of this game. If the player had asked you for all your kings and you did not possess any, for example, then you have to say ‘go fish’ – the turn automatically passes.
Select a single card from your fishing pond once you say ‘go fish.’ It is not a bad thing to pull ut cards from the very elusive fishing pond, especially when the game begins. It not just gives you so many more cards for playing purposes, it also helps you to obtain more number of matches. Remember that you must keep thecards you are pulling, even if you don’t want them.
Winning Go Fish:
Now that we have arrived at the stage of winning the game, just check out, how it all plays out!
- You can easily get rid of cards from your hand by laying down four-of-a-kind matches. You cannot hold matches – the moment you get hold of one, you must lay the same down for everyone to see. Then there are variations of Go Fish where players getting rid of all their cards first ends up winning.
- Once you have laid down one match, its best to take one more turn. In case you lay down another match, your turn automatically continues. This will give you the chance to begin working on the next match – make sure no other player takes you cards away before you are done.
- When you will be able to get rid of all the cards in your hand, you will simply win the game.
- Once the fishing pond becomes empty, even if there’s no clear winner, the game will come to an end.
And It’s A Wrap!
So now you know how to play Go Fish, what are you waiting for? Grab your friends, or close ones and start playing today. This game is not just fun to play, it also happens to be a game that you can learn easily. So go play, and don’t forget to share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences about the same in the comments below.
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Barsha Bhattacharya is a senior content writing executive. As a marketing enthusiast and professional for the past 4 years, writing is new to Barsha. And she is loving every bit of it. Her niches are marketing, lifestyle, wellness, travel and entertainment. Apart from writing, Barsha loves to travel, binge-watch, research conspiracy theories, Instagram and overthink.
