News & Updates:

Like the website?
Recommend Us To a Friend

PLAYING THE CARD GAME AUTHORS

This game is very much like Go Fish, but can be played very seriously and with great skill.

All 52 cards are dealt out, even though they may not come out even. At his turn, a player asks for a single card by naming both its rank and its suit. For example, a player may say, "Bill, give me the Jack of Spades." A player's turn continues if he gets the card asked for, but the turn passes to the left as soon as he asks for a card that the player doesn't hold.

Skillful Playing: When a player asks for cards and gets them but does not put down a completed book, you can tell that he has either 2 or 3 of that rank. For example, suppose John asks for Queens and gets 1 Queen from the player that he has addressed. John does not put down a book of Queens, but asks some new question and is told to "go fish." You now know that John held at least 1 Queen to give him the right to ask for Queens. He has received a Queen, which gives him a total of either 2 or 3 Queens.

In the same way, you know something about a player's hand, even when he asks for a card and gets nothing at all. For example, suppose Bill asks somebody for 9's and is told to "go fish" at once. You know that Bill must have at least one 9 in his hand.

Little by little, you can build up information about the cards the other players must hold. If you know that another player has Queens, but you have no Queens yourself, the information does you no good. If you have a Queen yourself, however, you are then allowed to ask for Queens, and if you ask the right person because of the information you have, you may get an entire book and put it down in front of you.

Related terms include redemption card game and kid card game.