Play Go Fish
Go Fish online against one to three computer players. Ask for cards you already hold, collect sets of four, and keep an eye on who has asked for what: the computer is watching too.
Ask who?
Your hand
Tap a group of cards to ask for that rank.
Game log
Who has asked for what
| Player | Known to hold | Recent asks (newest first) |
|---|
Settings: players, computer memory, speed
How to play Go Fish
- Deal. With two or three players, deal 7 cards each; with four, deal 5. The rest go face down in the middle as the pond.
- Ask. On your turn, ask one player for a rank you already have at least one of: "Ada, do you have any sevens?"
- Collect. If they have any, they give you all of them and you ask again, the same player or someone else.
- Go fish. If they have none, they say "go fish" and you draw one card from the pond. Your turn then passes to the left, unless you drew the rank you asked for.
- Books. As soon as you hold all four of a rank, lay them down. That is a book.
- Winning. The game ends when all 13 books are down. Whoever has the most books wins.
Rules this game uses
- Lucky draw. If you fish the rank you asked for, you show it and ask again. Some families end the turn after any draw; we went with the version that gives a small reward for a good guess.
- Only ranks you hold. You cannot ask for a rank that is not in your hand. That is what makes the asks useful information for everyone else.
- Out of cards. If your hand is empty when your turn comes, draw one card from the pond first. If the pond is empty too, you sit out. A player with no cards cannot be asked.
- Nobody to ask. If every other hand is empty, you draw one card from the pond instead of asking.
- Ties. With 13 books and more than two players, a tie for most books is possible. Tied players share the win.
How the computer plays
The interesting part of Go Fish is memory. When you ask for sevens, everyone now knows you hold a seven. Normal computers remember the last 8 things that happened at the table and ask whoever they know holds a rank they have; otherwise they ask for their biggest group. Easy computers forget everything and ask at random. They cannot see your hand or the pond, and the panel above shows you everything they could know.
A tip that works against people too: asking for a rank tells the table you have it. If you are one card short of a book, the player you just told may ask you for it first.
Go Fish questions
How many cards do you deal in Go Fish?
This game deals 7 cards each when two or three people play and 5 each with four. The rest of the deck is spread or stacked face down as the pond.
Do you get another turn if you fish the card you asked for?
Here, yes: if the card you draw is the rank you just asked for, you show it and ask again. Some families end the turn after any draw, lucky or not. Both are common; agree before you start when you play at home.
What happens if you run out of cards in Go Fish?
When your turn comes and your hand is empty, you draw one card from the pond and then ask as usual. If the pond is empty too, you are finished and play skips you. Nobody can ask you for cards while your hand is empty.
Does the computer cheat at Go Fish?
No. It never looks at your hand or the pond. On normal it remembers the last 8 things said out loud at the table (who asked whom for what, and who drew), the same things you can read in the panel under the game. On easy it remembers nothing and asks at random.