Go Fish

How to play Go Fish online

Go Fish is a matching card game about collecting books: four cards of the same rank, one from each suit. This browser version uses a standard 52-card deck. You receive seven cards, the computer receives seven, and 38 cards remain in the pond. You always take the first turn.

Click a rank group in your hand to ask the computer for that rank. If it has matching cards, you receive all of them and may ask again. You can request a rank you currently hold; suits do not change the request.

Drawing from the pond and passing the turn

When the computer has none of the requested rank, you draw one card if the pond is not empty. This edition then passes the turn, including when the drawn card matches your request. Some other Go Fish versions grant another turn for that matching draw, so check the rules of the version you are playing.

You may instead click the pond directly on your turn to draw one card and pass without asking. When your hand is empty, draw one from the pond. This game does not refill an empty hand back to seven cards.

Four-card books and winning the game

As soon as a hand contains all four cards of one rank, the book is collected automatically and removed from the hand. The book counters show the score for both players. Remember which ranks are complete so you can focus on the cards still in play.

Play continues until all 13 books are complete. The player with more books wins. Play Again starts a new shuffled deal; there are no paid draws, boosters or online opponents.

Choose a computer level

Easy picks from its held ranks at random. Medium favors a rank with more cards in its hand. Hard adds the source game’s tracked-rank selection to that count-based choice. All three levels use the same asking, drawing and book rules.

Watch the ranks requested by the computer and count the matching cards in your own hand. A three-card rank can be close to a book, while a successful request may let you ask for another useful rank before giving up your turn.

Play on desktop, phone or tablet

Click with a mouse or tap a rank group on a touchscreen. Keyboard users can focus a card or the pond and press Enter or Space. Card groups display their rank and the number of copies in your hand.

Guest checkpoints stay in this browser. Sign in on FoolFish before opening the game to sync an account save. Save options let you choose between local and account progress if another device has a different game. The saved deal keeps both hands, the remaining pond and completed operations together.

More free card games

Try Hearts for trick-taking and penalty points, or choose Golf Solitaire and TriPeaks Solitaire for higher-or-lower card sequences. These games have different goals and their own rule explanations.

Fish Go Fish adds short one-, three- and five-book targets against the computer. Browse free card games for matching, solitaire and trick-taking games.

A Go Fish strategy example: remember when the clue changed

Suppose you hold two sevens and one queen. The computer just asked you for queens, and you handed over your queen. If you later draw another queen, you now have a reason to ask for that rank: the earlier request established that the computer held at least one queen then. Check what happened in between, because a completed book or an exchange can make an old clue obsolete.

A three-card rank is close to a book, but the fourth card might still be in the pond. A successful request keeps your turn, so an informed request can be more useful than choosing the largest group automatically. Memory helps you select a question; it cannot remove the uncertainty of a shuffled deck. The Go Fish rules and worked-turn guide compares table play with the rules of this browser edition.

Why a Go Fish deck of cards makes 13 books

The standard 52-card deck has 13 ranks and four suits. A book collects the four suits of one rank, so a complete game accounts for 13 books, not 26 pairs. If you already hold the seven of hearts and seven of clubs, asking for sevens collects any remaining sevens the computer has; you do not ask for just one suit.

You can use the same rank-and-suit distinction when learning Go Fish with a deck of cards away from the screen. Agree on the matching-draw rule before dealing: this FoolFish Games edition passes the turn after a failed request even when the drawn card matches. For short one-, three- and five-book targets, try Fish Go Fish.

When to choose Fish Go Fish

Compare Fish Go Fish with this edition: Go Fish plays its regular deck-and-books contest. Fish Go Fish foregrounds one-, three- and five-book stopping goals, providing a shorter route from the first request to a result.