Go Fish

Players and equipment

Two to six players and a standard 52-card deck. Suits do not matter — only ranks. A rank is the number or the picture on the card: the four sevens are one rank, the four kings another, and there are thirteen ranks in the pack. Children can play from about four, once they can hold a fan of cards and know their numbers. Three or four players is the best game.

The deal

Five cards each, or seven when only two or three are playing. The rest goes face down in the middle as the pool. Look at your cards and keep them to yourself. If the deal has given you four of one rank already, lay them down at once.

Play

The youngest player goes first, and after that the turn moves to the left. On your turn, ask one named player for a rank you already hold at least one of: "Alex, do you have any sevens?" If they have any, they hand over all of them and you ask again — your turn continues as long as you keep getting cards.

If they have none they say "go fish" and you draw the top card of the pool. Draw the very card you asked for and your turn carries on; draw anything else and it passes to the left.

You may only ask for a rank you hold, so nobody can fish for cards they have not got, and a player who is asked must hand over every card of that rank, not just one. If your hand is empty at the start of your turn, draw one card from the pool before asking. Whenever you hold all four cards of a rank, lay them down face up in front of you.

Scoring

Each set of four

1

Laid down face up as it forms

There is nothing else to count, which is the whole charm. A set of four is often called a book, and a book is a book whether it came together on the deal, from asking, or from a lucky fish. The cards left in your hand at the end count for nothing, for or against you.

A worked game

Three players, so seven cards each and thirty-one in the pool. Sam is youngest and goes first.

Sam holds two sevens and asks Alex for sevens. Alex has one and hands it over. Sam now has three and asks Mum; Mum has the fourth, so Sam lays the book of sevens down and asks again — kings this time. Mum has no kings and says "go fish". Sam draws a two, not a king, so the turn passes to Alex, who has heard all of that and knows Sam holds a king. And so it goes round, sets going down as they form, until the last rank is laid.

Sam

4

Sevens, threes, nines, queens

Alex

5

Aces, fours, sixes, jacks, twos

Mum

4

Fives, eights, tens, kings

Four and five and four make thirteen, which is every rank in the pack, so the game is over and Alex wins by one book. Nobody has a card left, and if anybody did it would make no difference.

Ending

Play until all thirteen sets are down. If the pool runs out first, play carries on with whatever is in hand until nobody can ask. Whoever laid down the most sets wins.

Listen to the asking

Every question at the table tells you something. A player who asks for kings holds at least one king, and if they were told to go fish they still hold it a moment later. So when you pick up a king yourself, you know exactly who to ask. Good Go Fish is mostly listening, and a child who remembers who asked for what will soon be beating the grown-ups.

Ask for what you have most of

If you hold three of a rank, ask for it: one more card makes a book, and the fourth is either in somebody's hand or in the pool, so you lose nothing by trying. A rank you hold two of is the next best question. Asking for a rank you hold only one of tells the table you have it and gives you the smallest chance of a book, so save those questions for when you have nothing better.

Give as little away as you can

Your question is public, so ask for the rank you are closest to finishing rather than the one you would most like more of. When two players have both asked for eights and you pick one up, you know where the others are — but they now know you hold one too, so go and get them before somebody comes for yours.

Watch the pool

Early on, a fish is a real chance of drawing something useful, and the turn passing is no great loss. When the pool is nearly gone, every card you want is in somebody's hand and the game is entirely about memory. Count the books on the table too: with eleven down, only two ranks are left in play and there is not much to ask about.

Playing with small children

Let the youngest go first, and let them stand their cards in a holder or lean them on a book. Say the rank out loud when a card is handed over. Play the pairs version below for a first game, and do not worry about hidden cards; the game works perfectly well when a four-year-old shows the table their whole hand, and they will learn to hide it when they notice it is losing them cards.

Pairs instead of books

A set is two of a rank rather than four, laid down as soon as you hold a pair. Twenty-six sets instead of thirteen, the game is over in half the time, and a hand of five nearly always has something to lay down. The version for the youngest players.

Happy Families

The same game with its own pack of picture cards, sold as Happy Families in Britain: eleven families of four — Mr Bun the Baker, Mrs Bun the Baker's Wife, Master Bun the Baker's Son, Miss Bun the Baker's Daughter — and you ask for a named card rather than any card of a rank. The whole pack is dealt out and there is no pool; a player who has not got the card you asked for says so and the turn passes. A complete family goes down as a set.

Authors

The American version, first sold with the portraits of writers on the cards but played just as well with an ordinary pack. All the cards are dealt out, there is no pool, and you ask a player for one particular card — the seven of hearts, say, rather than any seven. If they have it you take it and ask again; if not the turn passes. Ends when all thirteen books are down.

Two packs

For six players, or for a game that is over too quickly, shuffle two packs together and deal five each. A book is still four of one rank, so there are twenty-six books to be made and eight cards of every rank in play, which means a rank can be asked about long after somebody has already laid a book of it.

Go fish ends your turn

The turn passes as soon as you have to fish, whatever card you draw. It stops a lucky player running away with a whole turn of asking and makes the game a little slower and a little more even, which some tables prefer with a wide spread of ages.

Empty hand ends the game

The game stops the moment any player has no cards and the pool is empty, and the books are counted then. Quicker, and it means that a player who has laid everything down does not sit and wait for the others to finish.

How many cards do you deal in Go Fish?

Five each when four or more are playing, and seven each for two or three. Everything left over goes face down in the middle as the pool to fish from.

What age is Go Fish for?

From about four. A child needs to know the numbers on the cards and to be able to hold a hand of five, and a card holder solves the second problem. Play the pairs version for a first game — two of a rank makes a set — and move on to books of four once they are used to it. Adults enjoy it too, because it is mostly memory.

Can you ask for a card you do not have in Go Fish?

No. You may only ask for a rank you already hold at least one of, so you cannot fish for aces on the off chance. That rule is what makes the asking worth listening to, because every question tells the table what the asker is holding.

What happens when you run out of cards in Go Fish?

If your hand is empty when your turn comes, draw one card from the pool and then ask for it. If the pool is empty too, you sit out until the game ends; your books still count. Running out of cards is not a loss and it is not a win — the game goes on until all thirteen sets are down or nobody can ask.

Do you have to give all your cards of that rank?

Yes. If somebody asks you for sevens and you hold two, they get both. Handing over one and keeping one is the commonest way of cheating at Go Fish and the commonest way of being caught, because the player who asked will be looking for that second seven for the rest of the game.

What if the pool runs out?

Play carries on with the cards in hand. When you ask and are refused there is nothing to fish, so the turn simply passes. The game ends when every set is down, or when nobody can ask any more, and the most sets wins as usual.

Can two people play Go Fish?

Yes. Deal seven each and play as normal. There is only one person to ask, so the game becomes entirely about remembering what they have asked you for, and a lot of fishing early on. Three or four players is a better game, but two works perfectly well.

How do you win Go Fish?

By laying down more sets of four than anybody else. Nothing else counts: the cards in your hand at the end are worth nothing, and running out of cards does not win or lose. The same number of sets is a draw.