YO! Fish

Yo Fish! is a game for 3 or 4 players and involves laying cards in a grid and scoring points based on adjacencies.

Needed to play:
Deck of 48 cards, 4 score cards and 8 wooden cubes

Setup:
1. Give each player a score card and two cubes. Players place one cube on the 0 space of their score tracks and keep the other aside for later scoring in the tens columns of the score track.

2. Shuffle the deck of 48 cards and remove the following number of cards from the game:

3 players - remove 6 cards
4 players - remove 5 cards

3. Deal 6 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards in a draw pile. Draw three cards from the draw deck and place them in the center of the table with a card space between each.

4. The youngest player is the Starting Player.

To Win:
Have the most victory points at the end of the game.

Play:
Beginning with the Starting Player, and proceeding clockwise, players may take one of two actions on their turn:

1. Play a card face up and adjacent (left or right, above or below) to any previously played cards in the playing area. For each card that is adjacent to the card played (left or right, above or below), and matches the color of the played card, gain one victory point. If none of the adjacent cards match in color, gain victory points equal to the value of the played card.

2. Play a card face up on top of a previously played card. These cards must never match in color and the card being played must have a higher value than the one it is covering. Gain victory points equal to the sum of both cards (the card played and the one below it) and then remove both cards from the game.

The current player then draws a new card from the draw deck to place in their hand. If the draw deck is empty, the player will not draw a new card. It is now the turn of the player to their left.

Game End:
After all players have played their last card and their hands are empty, the player with the most victory points is declared the winner and all the fish can yo!

Advanced Game:
Before the game begins, deal one card to each player from those removed during setup. These cards will be kept hidden by players during the game. At the end of the game each player will receive additional victory points equal to the largest number of adjacent cards whose color matches the player’s hidden card. Two or more players may have the same hidden card color.