Go Fish is a simple combination card game that is usually played by two to six players. The objective is to empty your hand first by collecting books of four cards of the same rank.
Go Fish is particularly popular in English-speaking countries and is often used to teach children the basics of card play and strategy.
Start the game by shuffling a standard deck of 52 playing cards and dealing five cards to each player (or seven cards if there are two to three players). The remaining cards form a draw pile.
The player to the dealer’s left goes first and asks any other player for a specific card rank, for example: “Do you have any Fives?”
- If the asked player has the rank, they must pass all their cards of that rank to the asking player. The asking player then gets another turn to ask.
- If the asked player does not have the rank, they say “Go Fish”, and the asking player takes a card from the draw pile. Now, the next player in clockwise order gets to ask.
When any player at any time has four cards of the same rank, it forms a book, and the cards must be placed face-up in front of that player.
The game ends when one player runs out of cards or no more cards are left in the draw pile. Now you evaluate who has the most books. That player wins the round!
If you enjoy combining cards into groups, and maybe even sequences, feel free to give our games at the Rummy Palace, Gin Rummy Palace, and Canasta Palace a try!