Designed by: Bernhard Lach,Uwe Rapp,Wolfgang Kramer
Fat Fish is a card game with simple rules but tough decisions.
The deck is made up of fish cards in five colours valued from 1-6. Players each receive ten cards and deal themselves a hand of four. In the middle of the table three cards are laid face-up as the start of a row. On your turn, you must add at least one card to a row, but can sometimes add more; you can only add cards to one row, but cards must be laid next to their own colour if possible. Possibly best explained with an example: if the cards furthest right in each row (any others are ignored for placement purposes) are red, yellow and green, then I could choose any row to add purple or blue. But if I add red, yellow or green, they must go next to their own colour.
The moment any player lays the fifth card in a row, they pick them all up. The numbers on the cards equal points, but there’s a catch here too: you can only score one card of each colour, and any duplicates count as minus points! So the ideal row to pick up is one with five different colours and no duplicates. If you happen to pick up a row with cards all the same colour, you get to keep two cards for points, and three count against you.
That’s the basic game, and once you’re wrapped your head around the rules – not necessarily the most intuitive, and there is a penalty card for playing incorrectly (-5 points!) – you can add in the Fishing Licences. These bring significant depth to play, as they reward players with points for certain things: picking up a row for no points, for instance, or picking up a row with just two colours. Now it’s not just about getting the best rows – you can win the game by concentrating on the licences. When all cards are played, the game is over and most points wins.
Players can find themselves picking up rows they really didn't want, but it's such a light and abstract game it'd take a very thin skin to feel affront.
Pretty absent, though because the landscape of the fish cards is constantly changing, every turn has the potential for a moment's pause.
It's a game with a fair bit of luck, but not devoid of tactical play. With less players especially, one can take a risk and hope to pick up a big points haul, or go for a safer return straight away.
Pick up and play quickly, and the licences vary from game to game.
2-6
Players
10+
Years
15-30
Mins
Sam says
I first played this with five people, without the licences, and it was more of a flat fish - your choices seemed to be pretty much dictated by circumstance. But Joe and I then played head to head, both without and without the licenses. Both improved the game dramatically, as there was more control with fewer players and more subtlety to play with the licences up for grabs. Not to the point where it sprang into my mental favourites list, and the penalty card for getting things wrong feels a bit harsh to me - but a neat little game. Best with 2 or 3 I would imagine.