BACKSTAB FISH

OBJECTIVE OF BACKSTAB FISH: The objective of Backstab Fish is to sets of cards.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 to 10 Players

MATERIALS: Two Standard decks of 52 cards, 4 jokers, and a flat surface.

TYPE OF GAME: Fishing Card Game

AUDIENCE: All Ages

OVERVIEW OF BACKSTAB FISH

Backstab Fish is a fishing card game for 4 to 10 players. The goal of the game is to collect more sets of 4 than any other player.

SETUP

A dealer is chosen randomly and shuffled the deck. Each player is then dealt 7 cards to their hand. The remaining cards are placed centrally and create a draw pile.

For this game, the aim is to collect 4 cards of equal rank. Suits are not factored.

GAMEPLAY

The player left of the dealer begins. On a player’s turn, they may ask another player for a specific number of cards of a specific rank. For example, a player may ask another for 3 aces. A player can only ask for a rank of card that they hold at least one card of.

The player will either give you exactly the number of cards of that rank you ask for or if they have less than you asked for or none at all, they will tell you to “go fish”.  If told to go fish, the asking player will then draw one card from the top of the draw pile.

Before the end of their turn, a player may decide if they wish to place any sets of 4 they have completed, in front of them. They may choose to keep them in hand if they wish, but risk losing them to another player.

Once a player passes their turn, the player who was just asked for a card, whether or not they had the cards to give, starts their turn.

If a player runs out of cards in hand, they draw 7 more cards from the draw pile.

The game continues until the draw pile is emptied and all players’ hands are emptied as well.

SCORING

Each set of four a player has made is worth one point.

END OF GAME

After scoring the game ends and scores are compared. The player with the highest score wins. If there is a tie all tied players win.

Amber Crook
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