When I decided to design my own game, I thought that I would pick an underwater theme, since it seemed to be underrepresented in the board game world. Since then, I've seen almost ten board game titles hit the market having to do with the ocean, fish, etc. But even though this may have dashed my own thematic thoughts, I'm still pleased with the fishy theme - it's one of my favorites and makes for good artwork and gameplay. Somethin' Fishy (SimplyFun, 2005 - Oliver Igelhaut) is one of these games, with beautiful cards and a fish-eat-fish theme.
In many ways, the game reminds me of the next logical step up from Gopher It, another game about pushing your luck. That's pretty much the extent of Somethin' Fishy - seeing just how far you can tempt your destiny. There's a lot of luck involved, but for many people the thrill of seeing just how far they can go before getting bit is worth the time it takes to play this fairly short game. Adults that I've played the game with have found it amusing and worth playing a few times. Teenagers, on the other hand, have loved the game, and it is very well received in my school board game club.
One hundred and forty cards are mixed up in a big pile in the middle of the table. Another pile of twenty cards with a different backing is shuffled and placed in a pile near the table. The player who last went fishing goes first, with play going clockwise around the table.
On a player's turn, they draw one card from the middle of the table and place it face up in front of them, forming their "fish line". Any fish that they add to their fish line in the future they place at the end of the line. The cards on the table are made up of four different types of fish (angel, grouper, trigger, and tang), which come in three types (small happy, large happy, and hungry). There are also three shark cards.
If a player draws a happy fish of any type or size, they add it to their fish line, if - and only if - it matches the last fish in their line by type or by size. If it doesn't match, they pass the fish to the person on their left, who must match the fish to the last fish in their line by type and size. This continues until the fish is added to one person's line, or until it goes all the way around the table, in which case it is discarded. The player who drew the happy fish then has three options:
- They can end their turn.
- They can take all the fish in front of them, putting them in a stack in front of them into a score pile. (also ending their turn)
- They can draw again.
If a player draws a hungry fish, they place the fish immediately at the back of their fish line, where it "eats" (discards) all of the fish in front of it until it comes to a fish of the same type (family doesn't eat family) or eats all the fish. The eaten fish and the hungry fish are placed in one of four discard piles on the table (one for each type of hungry fish). If a player at any point in the game gets three or more of the same type of fish in their string, they receive the matching hungry fish pile in the middle of the table, adding it to their score pile. If a player draws a shark, it eats ALL the fish in their string. Either way, a player drawing a hungry fish or shark has their turn ended immediately.
When all the cards have been drawn from the middle of the table, players begin to draw from the stack of twenty cards. Play continues until a card is revealed that has a "net" on it. (There are four in the deck.) The game ends, with players counting the number of cards in their scoring piles - any fish in their string do not count. The player with the most fish is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: It's a big stack of little cards that come in a small square box with cardboard insert. The cards themselves are beautiful with pretty if cartooney fish printed on each one. The fish are extremely easy to distinguish from each other, although the small tang fish look medium sized when compared to the other small fish. The hungry fish come with wide, open mouths - adding to the theme of the game. The small cards are just the right size - sometimes a players' line gets so long that it stretches half way across the table. The cards are being pulled from a large central pile, so the fact that they are of high quality is nice.
2.) Rules: As with all SimplyFun games, there is one page of quick rules - rules that pretty much give the gist of the game. I do think that the regular rules, which are six more pages, should be gone over by a new player - just so they can examine the color examples and illustrations. Still, the game is very easy to teach; it's a simple matter of learning to draw cards until you decide to stop.
3.) Push your luck: The game is simply guessing how far to go before drawing another card. There is absolutely zero strategy as far as I can tell - one simply decides whether to pull a card or not. Yes, I'm sure that a player can see what fish have been turned over so far and gauge their percentages, but that's about the only thing they can do. You have one choice each turn - draw or don't draw. Stop or don't. This doesn't make the game less fun, per se - but there will be many who aren't pleased with the lack of options.
4.) Benevolence: Sometimes a player does well simply because another player helps them out. If a player continues to draw cards that don't match them, they can really build up the player to their right's string. Sometimes players will get the three fish they need to snag a particularly large stack in the middle of the table because of a player to their right. At this point, when I've played, all the other players are chanting STOP DRAWING CARDS to the player being so nice to their neighbor!
5.) SimplyFun: For those who don't know, SimplyFun games are sold via parties and demonstrations at people's homes, via a representative. This is an excellent example of a game that is quick to play, simple, and fun - the kind of games played at these gatherings.
6.) Fun Factor: The game's fun comes primarily in seeing just how far you can press your luck. Sure, the theme and the colorful cards add some to the experience, but overall - it's all a game of "chicken". I've seen one player draw about twenty cards in a row without drawing a hungry fish or shark, and I've seen a player draw a hungry fish as their first draw three times in a row. This luck can be frustrating to players; but if players go into the game with a light attitude, perhaps this won't bother them.
Wow, I realize that there's really not a lot to say about with this game! In the game, players are presented multiple times with the same choice: draw or not draw. They have to deal with luck, good or bad, with pretty much no information to go on. In a very lighthearted fashion, this can be a fun thing (especially since the game takes only about fifteen or twenty minutes.) For others, who at like at least some variance to their games, this might be annoying. If you like simple fillers that offer you a simplistic choice, then you might want to check out this SimplyFun game.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.tomvasel.com
