How to play Go Fish

Objective

Collect more books than anyone else: each book contains all four cards of one rank, such as four sevens. This page follows Bicycle’s rules for 2–5 players. Emptying your hand does not win.

Setup

Use a standard deck without jokers. To choose the dealer, deal each player a face-up card; the lowest card deals, with ace high. Shuffle the full deck and let the player on the dealer’s right cut it.

Deal clockwise, starting left of the dealer:

• 2 or 3 players: seven cards each.
• 4 or 5 players: five cards each.

Keep hands hidden. Stack the remaining cards face down as the stock. The player left of the dealer starts.

Turns

Ask one opponent for a rank already in your hand: “Sam, do you have any sevens?” They must give you every card of that rank. If you receive cards, ask again; you may change opponent or rank.

If they have none, they say “Go fish.” Draw one card. Show it and ask again if it matches your request; otherwise your turn passes left, unless you completed a book.

Whenever you complete a book, show all four cards and place them face up beside you. Bicycle gives another ask for completing a book, even if the drawn card was not the requested rank.

Empty hands and an empty stock

If your hand is empty, draw one card when your turn comes and ask for its rank. If the stock is empty too, sit out; your books still count.

When the stock runs out, keep asking. An unsuccessful request ends your turn without a draw. Continue until every book is complete.

Worked example

You hold 7♣, 7♦ and Q♠. Sam holds 7♥ and 7♠. Ask Sam for sevens: both cards come to you. Put the four sevens beside you as a book. You can now ask another opponent for queens because Q♠ remains in your hand.

Later, you ask for queens and hear “Go fish.” Drawing Q♥ lets you ask again. Drawing 3♣ normally ends your turn. But if you already held the other three threes, that draw completes a book, so Bicycle’s book-completion rule gives another ask.

Winning

Stop when all 13 books are on the table. The largest book count wins. Card values do not matter: four aces and four twos each make one book.

For example, counts of 6, 4 and 3 use all 13 books; the player with 6 wins. With counts of 5, 5 and 3, use a shared win for the tied leaders. This is our tie convention; Bicycle supplies no tiebreak.

Common mistakes

• Asking for a rank absent from your hand.
• Giving only one matching card instead of all of them.
• Laying down pairs in a four-card-book game.
• Ending play when the first player runs out of cards.

Variants

Pagat’s main account deals five cards each with three players and can end earlier. Its variants include continuing until all books are made and collecting pairs. Agree the version before dealing; this page keeps Bicycle’s deal and ending together.

For another family card game with a different goal, try UNO, where players race to empty their hands.

Prefer drawing from another player’s hand? Old Maid uses blind draws and two-card pairs, with the last unpaired queen deciding the loser.

Common questions

How many cards do you start with in Go Fish?

Seven each with two or three players; five each with four or five.

Do you collect pairs or four of a kind?

Four of a kind here. Pairs belong to a separate variant.

Can you ask for a card you do not have?

You must hold its rank. With a queen, you may ask for queens, but not kings.

Do you keep playing after drawing a card?

Only if it matches your request or completes a book under these Bicycle rules.

What happens when the draw pile is empty?

Keep asking. A failed request passes play left; there is no draw. Finish all 13 books.