Designed by: Ken Gruhl,Quentin Weir
Happy Salmon is a kids or family game that is frantic and fast-moving.
Each player begins with an identical deck of cards, and when the game starts you flip over the top one. The cards ask you to do one of four things with another player – high five, fist-bump, change places, or ‘happy salmon’ – putting your arms adjacent and briefly slapping each other like a fish tail. The catch is, the other player must be looking to do the same action too, so everyone is yelling* at the same time the action they’re looking to complete. If you can’t find a partner, quickly put the card to the bottom of your deck and flip the next one! As soon as you’ve completed a card, you simply drop it on the table/floor. First to get rid of all their cards wins!
*You can also play the game silently, where there are actions to show what card you have.
Ah, Happy Salmon. So silly - so much fun. It's a great ice-breaker rather than an actual sit-down game, but none the worse for that. 90 seconds of frantic noisy (or silent) chaos, then reset the decks and go again. The silent version is just as good, and even funnier to watch.
Almost none. I suppose fragile players might take offense at being overlooked, but it's not a game where that kind of thing happens deliberately.
Absolutely none.
None.
You can't play it too many times without being exhausted, and it's not a game that provides any real variety. But it is very funny - and almost as much fun to watch as play.
3-6
Players
4+
Years
5-15
Mins
Sam says
Once in a while this is a great laugh, and adults get the same kick out of it as the very young. You can play it in two minutes and teach it in about 20 seconds. Absurd, frantic, and silly!