NUMBER OF PLAYERS 3 to 6This is the quintessential kids’ game. The rules are simple, the game play is quick, and—perhaps most important of all—kids are allowed to tell their parents (emphatically and in no uncertain terms) to GO FISH!
NUMBER OF PLAYERS 3 to 6
HOW TO DEAL Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal each player five cards.
WINNING The player who collects the most four-of-a-kind sets wins the game.
HOW TO PLAY The player to the left of the dealer starts by asking any other player for a specific rank of card. The only restriction is that you must already have at least one card of matching rank in your hand. If you’re holding a 9, for example, you may ask a player for his or her 9s. If the player has any, you get all of them.
Otherwise, the person says “Go Fish,” which means you draw a card from the stock and your turn is over. That is, unless you happen to draw the card you were just asking for (in this case, a 9), in which case you show it to everybody and get another turn.
At the start of your turn, play any four-of-a-kinds in your hand. Simply show the set of four to the other players and place the cards face down in front of you. The game ends as soon as one player runs out of cards, or the stock pile runs out of cards.