Go Fish — rules card

Print this page on one sheet, one side only, in landscape. Then:

  1. Crease each FOLD line and fold the sheet up like a concertina.
  2. Crease the two FOLD & TEAR edges and tear the spare paper off against the crease.
  3. The top and left edges are the sheet's own — leave them alone.

No scissors, no double-sided printing. 4 panels, 4x1 accordion.

If the print preview shows a tall page, set the orientation to landscape by hand — some browsers ignore the page setup this sheet asks for, and the fold marks only line up on a wide sheet.

Go Fish 2 to 4 players · a 32-card short pack, or the full 52 THE IDEA • Collect all four cards of a rank — four sixes, four queens — and lay them down as a BOOK. • When every rank has been booked, whoever has the most books wins. A tie is a tie. THE DEAL • Two players get seven cards each; three or four players get five each. The rest is the POND. • If a book turns up in the deal itself, it is laid down straight away — nobody had to play for it. YOUR TURN • Ask ONE player for ONE rank. You must already hold a card of that rank yourself — you cannot fish for something you have never seen. • If they have any, they hand over EVERY card of that rank, and you go again. • If they have none, they say "go fish" and you draw one from the pond. Your turn ends. • Unless you drew the very rank you asked for — a WISH. Then you go again. THE RULE THAT MAKES IT A THINKING GAME • Once the pond is empty you may not ask a question you have already been answered. If Sam told you they have no sevens and nothing has moved since, they still have no sevens. • Any card changing hands clears every remembered refusal — the table has changed, so the answers might have too. • A dead ask is greyed rather than hidden, so you can see the question you are not allowed to repeat. RUNNING OUT • If you book your last card and it is still your turn, you draw a new hand from the pond. If the pond is empty, play moves on. • The game is over when every rank is booked — not when the pond runs dry. WHAT NOBODY CAN SEE • The public record — who asked whom for what, and whether they got it — never contains a card nobody has seen. • The opponents play from that record and their own hand. There is no seat at this table that can see yours. WORDS THIS GAME USES Book — All four cards of one rank, laid face up. The thing you are collecting, and the only thing that scores. The pond — The undealt cards, face down in the middle. Also called the ocean, the pool or the stock. Go fish — What you are told when the person you asked has none of what you wanted. Draw a card. A wish — Drawing the exact rank you just asked for. It is announced out loud in the real game, so everybody knows — and you get another turn. A dead ask — A question you have already been answered, which the rules stop you asking again once the pond is dry. WHERE THESE CAME FROM Pagat.com — Go Fish. A children's folk game with no authority at all. Pagat records the common form; nearly every household has its own. w.richardpringle.com/games/go-fish/ ▲ FOLD ▼ ▲ FOLD ▼ ▲ FOLD ▼ FOLD & TEAR