Fish

Fish is a memory and strategy card game. It is also known as Canadian Fish, Literature, and Extreme Go-Fish.

Gameplay

Set-up

First, the four 8's in the deck are removed, leaving 48 cards. This game can be played with either 6 or 8 players, on teams of 3 or 4, respectively. The 48 cards are made into 8 "half-suits". They are first divided into suit (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) and then into "high" (9-A) and "low" (2-7).

Objectives

As in regular Go-Fish, the objective of this game is to obtain all the cards of as many half-suits as possible.

Cardplay

On each turn, one player of one team asks a player of another team a question that goes along the lines of, "Do you have the 2 of spades?" In order to ask someone if they have a certain card, the player must have another card in that same half-suit different from the card being asked. In this scenario, the player has either the 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 of spades, but not the 2. If the player guessed correctly, he/she receives the card and then proceeds to ask again. If not, the turn goes to the person being asked.

Claiming

The game is won (or loss) by "claiming" a half-suit. This occurs when a player believes that his team holds all the cards of some half-suit. Moreover, the player must know where each of the cards of the half-suit lie. A typical claim would be along the lines of, "I have the 2 and 3 of spaces, teammate A has the 4 and 5, and teammate B has the 6 and 7". An incorrect claim occurs when the player incorrectly guesses where one or more of the cards of the half-suit lie. If the claim is correct, the team with the player making the claim wins that half-suit, and the other team wins the half-suit otherwise. At the end, the number of half-suits won determines the winner.

Strategies

There are many different strategies that can be used for Fish, but like Bridge, these must be relayed to teammates and opponents. Some possible strategies are

• sticking with one suit so as to make it easier for players to remember information as well as for safety (an incorrect guess can lead to an opponent winning back the cards the player had gained)
• following through with the same opponent (always make sure the opponent is out of a suit before moving on)
• locking people out, e.g. when one of your team members has 3 low spades and one of the opponents has 3 low spades, these two players should not be asked anything unless there is 100% certainty that they are carrying a desired card
• responding to a suit that was asked of you (someone asks you for a 2 of spades, you have the 4 of spades, so you ask back for, say, the 7 of spades)
• "signaling" to your teammates what cards you have by asking, in order from top down, the cards you don't have
• REMEMBER THINGS THAT HAVE OCCURRED!!!!!