Game: Go Fish

Thread: Go Fish with Three Card Books

asutbone — 2008-06-12T15:58:08+00:00

I like playing Go Fish. There, I said it. Most people just roll their eyes at me when I suggest the game, but I really only recommend it when all we have is a deck of cards, and no one can decide on a game.

That being said, I don't really like playing with 2 or 4 card books. With 2, it's too easy to make a book, and with 4, it can get frustrating to have three like cards in your hand, then someone snatches them away the first time you forget to ask for the cards. So, I play with 3 card books.

The rules don't change much, except when you get three cards of the same value, you play them in front of you. Whenever someone (anyone) gets the fourth card, they can play it immediately in front of themselves. Three fourth cards makes another complete book.

When one player goes out, the others must subtract the cards left in their hand from the cards they have played. If they have more cards in their hand than on the table, they get zero for the round. Otherwise, everyone counts up their number of books (partial books do count to your score - a third of a book, two thirds of a book), and the player with the most wins. This is not necessarily the first person to go out.

I think this adds a lot to the game, and while still just mindless filler, I think this is a pretty good way to pass the time.

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gittes — 2008-04-05T00:32:30+00:00

Makin Groceries, the New Orleans themed Go Fish Game

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virx61 — 2008-03-27T15:04:57+00:00

Littlest Pet Shot version of Go Fish

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gittes — 2008-03-14T19:00:33+00:00

Four cards from a Go Fish game with New Orleans products.

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gittes — 2008-03-13T00:48:49+00:00

Eight cards from a Go Fish game with New Orleans products.

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projectmatter — 2008-01-13T01:40:29+00:00

Mr. Potato Head Go Fish! cards 5-9

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projectmatter — 2008-01-13T01:37:45+00:00

Mr. Potato Head Go Fish! cards 1-4

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cdefrisco — 2007-12-18T17:58:27+00:00

I Spy version (1998) some cards (oversized, nicely made)

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cdefrisco — 2007-12-18T17:56:58+00:00

I Spy version (1998) high-rez front & back

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m_hamburg — 2007-12-09T05:45:43+00:00

Cards from special Fisher Price deck featuring pull toys.

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Daddys_Home — 2007-10-10T20:48:19+00:00

Special Deck

Thread: Re: Great starter game for little ones

smithhemb — 2006-02-21T02:30:02+00:00

I think Go Fish is a much better starter game than Candyland. Not only does it have memory and turn-taking practice, but it's also decent language practice (asking polite questions clearly addressed to a specific individual) for 3 and 4 year olds.

Maisy Letter Go Fish (which matches capital and lower case letters and has an object that starts with each letter on the card) was our favorite when our daughter was that age, but, alas, it's OOP. Lately, I've been playing I Spy Go Fish most weekday mornings with a preschool-aged friend of mine and it's a real kick to watch him draw, look at the card, and then realize he knows who has the match. His mom was born in Chile and she didn't grow up with this game, so her first child missed out on it. I was delighted to get a chance to teach the younger one.

FWIW, with our daughter we found that cardholders were a real help.

Thread: Re: Great starter game for little ones

gilesclone — 2006-02-20T22:20:35+00:00

I have to agree, this is a great starter game.

Of all the card games I played when I was very young, this one is perhaps the best children's card game. War is endless and has no strategy involved at all, and Old Maid is just horrible. But this game teaches counting and has some real strategy behind it (not deep admittedly but hey we're talking games for 5 year olds here).

There are some "adult" games that aren't as deep as this one (LCR anyone?).

Thread: Great starter game for little ones

Gecko23 — 2005-05-27T17:09:14+00:00

Go Fish is probably one of the very first card games a lot of children, especially in the US, will ever play.

The game itself can be played with a standard deck of cards, though commercial cards are available in a huge array of styles. Some commercial decks feature both numbers and images, some just images. The cards with simple images are probably best suited to small children who don't know their numbers yet, the mixed better for those who still need practice.

The game is very simple, each player gets a hand of 6 cards or so, the rest going between them as a stock. Some people play with them in a stack, others like to spread them out. The goal is completing books - four matching cards of the same rank. First player to empty their hand wins.

Play proceeds with a player asking another player of their choice for a card they need to add to a book. The only restriction is that they must already be holding a card of that rank before they ask for it. If the player asked has any cards of that rank, then he gives them all to the asking player. The asking player can then ask any other player, including the one just questioned, for another card.

If an asked player doesn't have a requested card, then they say 'Go Fish', and the asker draws a card from the stock.

Any time a player completes a book, they lay it down.

This game will help teach young players several things: set matching, turn order, some strategy as well. (i.e. if Joe has been asking for 2s, and I just got a 2 on a 'go fish', then I can ask him next turn and get more 2s!)

Not to mention the obvious benefit of practising with numerals.

And the fact it usually only takes 10-15 minutes at most.

And finally, the fact that this can be played with any old deck of cards. Even if the deck is incomplete, you can take out the partial ranks and it'll still be plenty to keep a toddler entertained.

My four year old requests this game fairly often, it requires skills he's comfortable with, and he loves to make people 'Go Fish!'.

Thread: I Spy Go Fish

Denise — 2005-02-04T10:51:17+00:00

I play this version with my 4 year old daughter and just want to pass along this caveat. All the pairs have cards that show basically the same same object on different backgrounds. This makes things a little tricky, but two cards in particular are rather misleading -

- there is a pair of seashells and a pair of pinecones. One of the seashell cards shows a pinecone in a bowl with the seashell, leading my daughter to ask for and receive my pinecone card when she should have been asking for the seashell. We did not catch the error until the next seashell card came up.

- there is a card with a doll in the background & a toy cow in the foreground. I spent half the game asking for a cow until my daughter drew the other doll card & asked for a doll & I had a sudden moment of realization

Buyer beware! There are probably a lot better decks to use for Go Fish - we will be using the Usbourne Fairytale Snap deck here from now on, and send I Spy to the next garage sale.