How to Play Go Fish: Rules with Interactive Tutorial
Go Fish is a "book collecting" card game played by 2 to 6 players, where each player aims to collect sets of 4 cards of the same rank, called "books." Players start with 5 cards each (7 in a 2-player game).
When it's your turn, you need to ask another player if they have a specific card, for example, a 9. If they do, they must give you all cards of that rank, and on top of that, you get another turn. If they don't, they tell you to "Go Fish!" and you have to draw from the pond (the collection of cards in the center). The game ends when any player's hand is empty, and the player with the most books wins.
Below you'll find a complete explanation of the rules, and above, you can play an interactive tutorial to help you learn how to play Go Fish. Whichever way you choose, you'll get acquainted with the rules in no time.
Once you're ready, you can Play Go Fish Online for free at World of Card Games. You have the option to play against other people online or with friends. We recommend playing a couple of games against our bots before playing against other people, but that's up to you.
Let the Go Fish fun begin!
Objective
The objective is to collect the most number of "books".
A "book" is a set of 4 cards with the same rank, such as 4 Jacks or 4 Sixes.
Deal
Each player is dealt a hand of 5 cards (7 cards in a 2 player game) from a standard deck of 52 cards.
The remaining cards are dealt into a pile at the center of the table. This known as the "pond".
A random player is chosen to go first.
Play
On a players turn, they first select any card from their hand. For example, a Jack. They then select another player to ask if they have any cards of the same rank. For example, "Rob, do you have any Jacks?".
If the asked player has any cards with that rank (Jacks in this case), they must give them all to the asking player. The asking player then gets to ask again.
If the asked player does not have any cards of that rank, they say "Go Fish!". Now the asking player draws a random card from the pond in the middle, if any remain. If they draw a card with the rank they asked for, they get to ask again. Otherwise play proceeds to the next player, in clockwise order.
When a player collects 4 cards of the same rank, this is called a "book". These cards are removed from their hand and they score 1 point.
Game End
The game ends when any player's hand is empty.
The player with the highest score (most number of books) wins!
History
Go Fish first appeared around the mid 19th century.
