Fish is a card game that I really enjoy. It’s a 3v3 team game that provides lots of challenge, and can be seen as a much harder version of Go Fish.
I’ll first explain the rules. We take turns asking opponents for a specific card to complete sets. If you get it correct, you can ask again. If you get it incorrect, then it’s that person’s turn. You don’t know what is in your teammates hands, and you can complete a set whenever it’s your turn by having the full set as a team and declaring exactly which card belongs to which teammate. You can only ask for a set if you have a card in the set, meaning that you reveal information whenever you ask about the card. Furthermore, you can’t speak as to who has which card, and have to memorize each “transaction”. (Sets are 1-6 of each suit, as well as 8-K of each suit, making for 8 sets of 6 cards each. There are no 7s.)
The majority of the fun / main aesthetic from this game is with the Challenge. There’s a lot of difficulty in trying to remember who has which cards. You’re not just focused on your turn—you’re mentally tracking what your opponents AND allies have in their hands, as well as what information they’ve revealed. The Dynamics that result from gameplay are very fun. It makes for a incredibly engaging game where either team can win at any moment, a team can fail at any stage of the declaration process, and memory can fail. This makes for a very cognitively challenging, but fun experience. The mechanics make understanding the game easier, and provide for patterns that are recognizable. It’s primary mechanics are deduction, limited communication, card tracking, and memory, and is a strong foundation for the dynamics and aesthetics that build on it (developer’s POV).
Thanks for reading my fun analysis for Fish!
