In Fishing, you try to catch as many tricks as you can over 8 rounds, and every card you catch counts as 1 point. The cards you catch become your hand for the next round. If you didn’t catch enough tricks, you fill up your hand with fresh cards from the ocean stack. New and more powerful cards keep swimming into the game as the rounds go on. The player with the most points wins, but how many fresh cards will you need to succeed?

Gameplay Overview: Fishing is Friedemann Friese’s clever spin on trick-taking, where this round’s catch becomes next round’s hand. The first round feels like a classic card game: you follow the color that was led, and the highest card wins the trick. From there, new cards from the ocean stack arrive in waves. You’ll see higher-value fish, a green trump suit, zero cards that let you snag a card from the trick, and special buoy cards you can play at any time. Buoys let you steal the lead, choose which color has to be led, make players pass cards, or even grab every card in a trick. The real puzzle is balance. Catching lots of tricks earns points now, but you also have to think about what you’ll have to play with next round. It’s quick to teach, especially if your group knows Hearts or Spades, and it’s full of laughs and table talk. This little box has earned a big following among trick-taking fans.