Go Fish is a game that is far older than I am. I remember the first time I played Go Fish with my grandmother and it was a great deal of fun. This past weekend, I sat down with my daughter and for the first time we played Go Fish together. We were playing with Dora playing cards to give her some familiarity with the cards and my husband sat with her on her side for the first couple of rounds to give her some backup support if she needed it.
Needless to say, she loved the game – we’ve played several times since our first hands and she’s actually won a few hands of her own. It was really amusing to watch the little wheels turn in her mind as she grasped the ideals and she started to learn a little strategy. While the game of Go Fish does not require a huge amount of strategy, there is some and there’s just enough to whet the appetite of a child.
The Rules: If you haven’t played in a while, Go Fish begins by shuffling the deck of cards. This is usually a job for the adults. But you can take the time to begin teaching them how to shuffle. You deal out five cards to each player. You can have up to four players comfortably most of the time. You look at the five cards you have and if you have any matching pairs, you lay them down – face down or face up.
The youngest player goes first. They begin by asking one of the other players if they have a card – in this case, it would be a number. For example, do you have any 2’s. If you are using a regular deck of cards, you may have them specify – do you have a red 2 or a black 2 –you can play Go Fish by suits, but that’s a lot harder and can take a lot longer.
If the player who was asked has the 2, they pass it to the person who asked. If they don’t have it, they say Go Fish and the player who made the request then draws a card from the deck in the center. Play continues clockwise around the table until one player is totally out of cards. The first person to run out of cards, wins.
Age: 4+
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