Game: Gone Fishing!

Image

Fantas — 2008-08-26T14:06:54+00:00

Insert that does its job.

Image

Fantas — 2008-08-26T14:05:27+00:00

Close up of fisherman's start tile, nice detail.

Thread: Re: Moving fishermen.. am I missing something?

fractaloon — 2008-05-15T04:48:49+00:00

I finally figured it out. Each fisherman can only go around the board once. The slower you move, the more times you'll be able to cast your line.

Image

fractaloon — 2008-05-05T11:10:29+00:00

English box back - HQ scan

Thread: Moving fishermen.. am I missing something?

fractaloon — 2008-04-23T03:16:35+00:00

After reading the rules, I get the feeling there's something missing. The rules state you can only move the fisherman in a clockwise direction when activating him. It also says he has to move at least 1 space. That's all I see regarding movement at activation though.

It seems there isn't any point in only allowing clockwise movement if I can just choose to move all the way around the board in a clockwise direction and ending up one space away in the opposite direction.

Is there actually a limit to how many spaces the fisherman can move? Or maybe he can't ever pass the other fisherman?

Note, this isn't regarding the move after playing a catch tile. That one is very specific and states how far the fisherman can move.

Image

Teppolainen — 2008-03-31T22:35:50+00:00

Box back - Finnish edition

Image

Teppolainen — 2008-03-31T22:28:33+00:00

Box front - Finnish edition

Thread: Re: Like Real Fishing, Except No Beer

carnifex — 2007-12-05T01:26:08+00:00

Well, I think the beer part could have been fixed by a quick run down to the local shop, right?

Thread: Re: Like Real Fishing, Except No Beer

KentuckyKid — 2007-12-04T23:58:51+00:00

Like Real Fishing, Except No Beer

I found it very dry and boring.

But...if it were like real fishing, wouldn't it be wet and boring?

Thread: Like Real Fishing, Except No Beer

badweasel — 2007-12-04T18:12:05+00:00

Introduction:
I was at my local gaming store yesterday and C, employee who demoes games and runs Board Game Night, decided we should play through some of the unplayed demo copies they had. He brought out Giza, Dividends, Dungeoneer, Pimp: The Backhanding, and Gone Fishing!. I decided on Gone Fishing! because none of the others looked interesting except for Dungeoneer, but that was supposed to be decent and we were looking for something bad to reinforce our concepts of good games.

Components:
The game consists of two wooden fishermen, a nice board with a 4 x 4 grid, and several tiles and catch items. All of the pieces are well made and should stand up to repeated play. The box easily holds all of the pieces in place.

The possible catch items are: 10 fish (two each of 1, 2, 3, 4 point fish and one each of 5 and 6 points), 5 pieces of trash and one diver. The trash are worth zero points but are removed from play when caught. The diver is also worth zero points but he is not removed from play after being caught and stays in the pond to foul the anglers up.

The angler starts with 14 tiles, three each of 1, 2, 3, and 4 tiles, one reveal tile, and one no movement tile. The fish player starts with three: move red angler 1 space, move yellow angler 1 space, and switch two tiles.

Rules:
The game's rules are simply laid out in a nice four page full color booklet. The players each take a turn as the anglers and try to catch as many fish as possible.

There are two anglers each who is allowed to make one complete circuit of the pond. Once they reach their starting point that angler is done fishing for the day. The starting place is decided by the player who is controlling the anglers.

On the anglers' turn, the player may move one of his anglers as many clockwise spaces as he wishes. The fish player then turns around one of the four items in the row. The angler then has the choice to catch either the offered item or one of the hidden items. To catch the item he needs to spend one of his number tiles corresponding to the distance away from the shore. The angler then needs to pay for his catch by moving as many spaces as he chose to catch.

After the angler turn is over, the fish player has the option to move up to 3 tiles on the board. The tiles can be shifted only to empty spaces and only along vertical or horizontal rows. The fish player may then play one of his three tiles. The angler player may only play his tiles if he chooses NOT to make a catch for that turn.

Once both anglers are finished, the total points of the fish are added up and then a point is subtracted for each unused fish player tile. The players then switch sides and the fish player now controls the anglers and tries to beat the previous angler's score. Whoever scores the most points is the Angler King.

Thoughts:
The game plays as a kind of advanced memory with one player controlling the board. I found it very dry and boring. The only entertainment came from the taunting provided by C and me, as well as from any onlookers. I can see how the game could find an audience among people with children as the game requires the player to have some memory of the board and conserve their catch tiles so they can fish the distance required for a desired item.

It is exceedingly simple for more advanced gamers and doesn't have enough going on to keep anyone coming back for a second game. It has all the sitting around and waiting of real fishing, but it doesn't have the payoff of landing that big catch as no real skill is involved. Oh, and it doesn't have beer to make up for its shortcomings.

4/10

Image

moxtaveto — 2007-05-13T14:20:39+00:00

German edition

Thread: Re: Rules Confirmation can long cast catch close fish?

Spielguy — 2006-07-17T02:56:21+00:00

I'm pretty sure it has to be exact. That is the way we have played it.

Thread: Rules Confirmation can long cast catch close fish?

qzhdad — 2006-07-16T23:25:42+00:00

Do the casts need to be exact? In other words can the fisherman use a 4 to catch fish of his choice in a row?

I am pretty sure that the exact tile must be used, but wanted to confirm.

Also, what do folks think of playing with this change? The fisherman would still have to move the full distance, but could take any fish in range.

Image

Araneuz — 2006-03-28T12:37:27+00:00

Board

Image

Araneuz — 2006-03-28T12:18:33+00:00

Overview

Image

Araneuz — 2006-03-28T11:56:36+00:00

Fishingcard

Image

fsumarc — 2006-01-13T17:27:25+00:00

Gone Fishin' box back

Thread: Re: User Review

msaari — 2005-09-22T06:50:20+00:00

After few more games, I'll have to reconsider: Gone Fishing! is a fairly simple game, in the end. From a gamer point of view, it probably isn't worth much attention. However, if you're looking for something easier for example for kids to play, I can still recommend Gone Fishing! I'll probably keep my copy to play with possible kids in the future, even if it isn't going to see much action with my gamer friends.

Thread: First go at Gone Fishing

Mosse — 2005-06-16T06:04:35+00:00

My brother J had bought the finnish version of this game (Koukussa by MarekToy) in a department store in Helsinki and brought it out to the cabin where we were spending the week. Time to break it open and give it a go!

First turn where something was fishy...

Mr J said he had read through the rules, so he went on to explain the rules and we were on! I was the fisherman and mr J controlled the fishes. After my turn I just felt something was wrong. It seemed the game was simply broken and boring. Mr J was already getting very disappointed about his purchase, and I felt something just had to be wrong. Kosmos would not have released a game this bad. They just couldn't have.

So I insisted on reading through the rules myself. Good thing I did. Mr J had overseen almost all of the rules! Basically the way we played it was I moved the fisherman and played a card revealing a fish, after which mr J moved the fishes around. That's it. No revealing a fish card prior to fishing, no moving the fisherman forward after fishing, and even the moving of the fishes went wrong. The whole bluffing aspect of the game was null! And after all, it is the bluffing that makes the game!

So I explained the real rules to him, and we started over!

First time playing the real game!

With the rules cleared up, we started over with me in control of the pond while mr J tried his luck at fishing. I usually suck at memory games, but am still capable to enjoy games where memory is just an aspect instead of the whole point of the game.

It was to be a tight race, with mr J pulling out for the final win.

Tally: mr J 24 - 20 me

Verdict: Rating: 7 out of 10 - a very nice filler game.

This is my opinion, and I'll stick by it!

Thread: Session Report

Reverend Pete — 2005-04-28T23:26:05+00:00

Played with my wife after purchasing it upon reccommendation of my FLGS proprieter. Melissa started as the angler, but proved to be very unlucky on her first three 'catches.' She pulled all junk after I offered her small fish in the rows. She also used up all of her '1' tiles right away, so it was easy to keep my fish near her anglers so they wouldn't be caught. She ended her fishing day with only 9 points (she also found the diver...twice.) I surpassed her total on my go around as the anglers. All in all, a good game I will enjoy playing again. (And I know Melissa won't make the same mistakes twice.)

Thread: Session Report

skeletodoc — 2005-03-31T19:03:40+00:00

Played the fish and the angler...........lost by a point [25-24]. The key in the game is to move the 3 fish pieces around to confuse the angler. Try not to have rows with too many "point" fish and have more rows with "junk" pieces especially since you have to show one tile to the angler.Also try not to play too many 4 point cards early or you'll move too fast. As the angler, you can stand pat and use both your extra tiles ......they help and you don't lose points at the end for not using them. The game takes 15 minutes ,has a cute theme, and keeps you on your toes.

Thread: User Review

msaari — 2005-03-12T05:07:48+00:00

Gone Fishing (aka Petri Heil) is the latest offering in the Kosmos two-player series. It's an asymmetrical game of fishing: one player controls two fisherman, while the other player controls the fish. The game has two rounds, and the roles are switched in between.

The lake is a four-by-four grid. Fish player fills it with cards depicting fish with values from one to six, junk and a diver. Cards are small cardboard squares, with holders to keep them upright. The fisherman can't see the faces of the cards.

Fisherman player places his or her two fishermen somewhere on the piers surrounding the lake. It doesn't matter where they start, as they go once around the lake during the game. Each pier affects of row of the lake, either horizontal, vertical or diagonal. When a fisherman stands on a pier, he can fish from that row.

Rounds are divided to four phases. First one of the fisherman must move at least one pier clockwise. There's no limit to movement, but generally moving little is a good idea - that gives one more opportunities to fish.

After the row has been selected by moving the fisherman, the player controlling the fish must reveal one card on that row. It can be any card, junk or fish, but not the diver. Here's room for bluffing and sneaky moves.

Now the fisherman must choose, which square he or she wants to take. To do that, he or she must play a card. Cards (well, small cardboard chits) have numbers from one to four, and there's three of each. Cards can be used once, after which they're discarded. Thus, it's a good idea to think a bit, before one goes and wastes opportunities.

Whatever the player gets from the lake is kept aside for the rest of the round - except the diver. Diver is useless like junk, but returns to the lake to plague the fisherman. After checking his or her catch, fisherman must move an amount of steps indicated by the fishing card. Playing big cards makes the fishing day pass fast.

Last thing before next attempt: fish player gets to move three fish cards in the lake, mixing and shuffling them a bit. This way the fisherman can't memorise everything. There are limits to the moving, so everything isn't randomised after each turn, but it's not straightforward either.

And that's how it goes, turn after turn. Fisherman player can use both of his or her fisherman in any order he or she wishes. The fishing day is over, when both have made a full round around the lake. After that, points are tallied. Roles reverse, and the previous fish player tries to beat the score set by the first fisherman.

There are also some special cards for both players, allowing useful actions (for example move a fisherman forward, peek at a fish), but these I've found of little concern yet. They are tools for more advanced players and better left untouched in the first game to keep things simple.

After the initial descriptions I heard, I thought Gone Fishing! would be a more simple game, but I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoy the asymmetrical nature of the game, as it presents interesting and different challenges to both players. Playing the fish is more fun, but fisherman has an exciting role as well. While fish player gets to bluff, fisherman must guess, estimate and even deduct (especially when there are few cards left).

The game art is friendly and well done, but that's what you expect from Franz Vohwinkel. Components are quite functional and serve their purpose well.

This is a bit of a quick review after just one play, but I'd say Gone Fishing! stands up to most games in the Kosmos two-player series. It's probably not in the sharpest peak, but right now it is one of the more interesting games in the series. Will that last, remains to be seen, but I'd certainly recommend the game to anyone interested in the theme. While the game has little to do with actual fishing, I find the theme still works quite well. Gone Fishing! should also be a fairly good family game.