1: Shuffle a regular 52-card deck and deal five cards to each player.Three to six players suits the game best. Two players get seven cards each.
2: Put the rest of the deck face down in the middle as the stock.Spread it out a little. This is the pile players fish from.
3: The player on the dealer's left starts, and turns pass to the left.Sort your hand by rank first, so you can see what you are collecting.
4: On your turn, ask one player for a rank: "Sam, do you have any sevens?"You must hold at least one card of the rank you ask for.
5: A player who has that rank hands over every card of it. Then you ask again.Ask the same player or another one, for any rank you hold.
6: A player who has none says "Go fish." Draw the top card of the stock.Drew the rank you asked for? Show it and take another turn. If not, keep it and the turn passes left.
7: Four cards of one rank make a book. Show the book and lay it on the table at once.A deck holds 13 books: one for each rank, ace to king.
8: The game ends when a player runs out of cards or the stock runs out.Count the books. The player with the most wins.
Go Fish is a card game for two to six players and one regular deck. A book is all four cards of one rank, such as the four 9s, and whoever lays down the most books wins.
Read the full guide
Playing the Go Fish card game, turn by turn
Say you hold a 7 and a king. Ask one player for 7s. If they hold any, every one comes to you and you ask again: any player, for any rank in your hand. If they say "Go fish" and the card you draw is a 7, show it and take another turn.
Two players, and Go Fish with pre-K kids
Two players changes the deal to seven cards each. Pairs, for young players trades books of four for pairs: the Go Fish games to play with pre-K and kindergarten kids, who can match two cards long before they can hold out for four.
Listen to every question at the table. An ask tells you a rank that player is holding.
Fished a rank you did not have? Ask for it on your next turn.
Questions and answers
How do you play Go Fish, the card game?
Deal five cards each. On your turn, ask one player for a rank you hold. They hand over every card of it, or say "Go fish" and you draw one. Four of a rank is a book, and the most books wins.
How do you play the Go Fish card game with 2 players?
Deal seven cards each and leave the rest as the stock. Play is the same, with one player to ask. Play until every card is in a book and nobody can tie, because 13 books cannot split evenly.
What are the rules of the Go Fish card game?
Three rules settle most arguments. Ask only for a rank you already hold. Hand over every card of a rank you are asked for. Lay down a book as soon as you have all four cards.
How many cards do you get in Go Fish?
Five each, or seven each when two play. One rule book also gives seven cards to three players. The pairs game deals seven to everyone.
1: Shuffle a regular 52-card deck and deal five cards to each player.Three to six players suits the game best. Two players get seven cards each.
2: Put the rest of the deck face down in the middle as the stock.Spread it out a little. This is the pile players fish from.
3: The player on the dealer's left starts, and turns pass to the left.Sort your hand by rank first, so you can see what you are collecting.
4: On your turn, ask one player for a rank: "Sam, do you have any sevens?"You must hold at least one card of the rank you ask for.
5: A player who has that rank hands over every card of it. Then you ask again.Ask the same player or another one, for any rank you hold.
6: A player who has none says "Go fish." Draw the top card of the stock.Drew the rank you asked for? Show it and take another turn. If not, keep it and the turn passes left.
7: Four cards of one rank make a book. Show the book and lay it on the table at once.A deck holds 13 books: one for each rank, ace to king.
8: The game ends when a player runs out of cards or the stock runs out.Count the books. The player with the most wins.
Show all 31 rows (23 more)
Two players 7
1: Deal seven cards each. The other 38 stay face down as the stock.Both rule sources give two players seven cards, not five.
2: Take turns asking each other for a rank you hold.There is one player to ask, so every ask tells them a card you hold.
3: Cards handed over mean another ask. "Go fish" means draw one card.The turn passes unless the card you fish is the rank you just asked for.
4: Lay down each book of four as soon as you hold it.A book can come from the stock as well as from the other hand.
5: Out of cards while the stock still has some? Draw a new hand of five.A variation one rule source gives. Take the whole stock if it holds fewer than five.
6: When the stock is gone, keep asking until every card is in a book.With two players every ask now works: the cards you are missing can only be in the other hand.
7: Thirteen books cannot split evenly, so one player always wins.Our note: played to the last book, a two-player game never ends in a tie.
Pairs, for young players 8
1: Play for pairs: two cards of the same rank go down together, face up.A variation both rule sources give. Pairs come quickly, which suits ages 4 and up.
2: Deal seven cards each and stack the rest as the stock.One rule source deals seven in the pairs game. Five is easier for small hands (ours).
3: Before the first turn, everyone lays down the pairs they were dealt.The player with the most pairs on the table goes first.
4: Ask one player for a card that matches one in your hand: "Do you have a 4?"They hand over one matching card, and the pair goes down right away.
5: No match? They say "Go fish" and you draw one card from the stock.A pair made by the card you fished goes down too.
6: Out of cards? Draw a new hand from the stock and keep playing.One rule source gives a new hand of seven. Take what is left if the stock is short.
7: When every card is paired, count the pairs. Each one is a point.A full deck makes 26 pairs, so two players can tie at 13 each.
8: A shorter deck (ours): use only the aces to 6s, which is 24 cards.That makes 12 pairs. Deal five each and play the same way.
Rulings for the usual arguments 8
1: You may ask only for a rank you already hold.Both rule sources say so. Asking for a rank you lack is not allowed.
2: Asked for a rank you hold? Hand over every card of it, not just one.Nobody can check a hand, so the game runs on honesty.
3: A lucky fish earns another turn only for the rank you asked for.Some tables also give the extra turn when the fished card completes a book. Agree first.
4: After "Go fish" the turn passes to the left.Some tables pass it to the player who said "Go fish." Pick one way before the deal.
5: Two ways to win: the most books, or the first hand laid down in books.The standard sheet counts books. Say which way you are playing before the first ask.
6: Stock gone and cards still in hands? Play on with no fishing.A variation: when the player you ask has none, the turn passes. Stop when all 13 books are down.
7: For older players: ask for one exact card, such as the seven of diamonds.You still need a card of that rank in your hand to ask.
8: Playing several hands: score a point for each book.Play to a target everyone agrees on, such as 10 points.
How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-10-09, in our own words. Go Fish is a traditional card game with no governing body, and rule books differ in the details. The standard game (a regular 52-card deck; five cards each, seven when two play; the rest face down as the stock; asking one player for a rank you already hold; every card of that rank handed over; the call of go fish and one card drawn; four of a rank as a book; the end when a hand is empty or the stock runs out; the most books winning) was checked on 2026-10-09 against English Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, Go Fish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Fish, and against the card game rules site Pagat: https://www.pagat.com/quartet/gofish.html. The extra turn for fishing the rank asked for, the turn passing to the left, the new hand drawn from the stock, play until every card is in a book, the pairs game with seven cards each, asking for one exact card and a point a book to an agreed target are as Pagat gives them; pairs in place of books, the extra turn for completing a book, the turn passing to the player who was asked, the first empty hand as a way to win and the honor system are as Wikipedia gives them. Rows marked ours are this site's own suggestions and are not official. Card counts were worked out from a 52-card deck. The page is written for ages 4 and up. It needs no boxed deck, and nothing is played for a stake: books and pairs only keep score. Licence: own work