How to cheat at go-fish

balooneybob · 05-11-2007, 09:34 PM

This is my instructional essay for english, due on tuesday *random unimportant piece of information*.

No plagarism or whatever...

To properly cheat at âGo-Fishâ, one must first understand the rules they are to break. âGo-Fishâ is a game which uses a deck of 52 cards. At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt seven cards; these cards form the playerâs hand. The player to the left of the dealer begins by selecting an opponent to ask for a certain card number, for example a âsixâ or a âkingâ. If the player asked has the requested card they must give the card to the original player, and the original playerâs turn continues. If, however, the player asked does not have the specified card then they instruct the asker to âGo-Fishâ, which means the asker must add a card from the deck to their hand. The playerâs turn will end when this happens, and it will be the player to their leftâs turn. This process will be repeated for the duration of the game.
The object of the game is to collect more sets than your opponents. Once a player has two or four (depending on pre-agreed game rules) of the same numbered card, they remove those cards from play. The game finishes when all the cards have been removed from play, and a winner is determined by counting up each playersâ sets. Hopefully, if you have followed the steps outlined in this essay, that winner will be you!

Whilst there are no set rules for âGo-Fishâ it is general knowledge for all card games that you do not look at an opponentâs cards. This courtesy should most certainly be ignored if you wish to truly succeed at âGo-Fishâ, for this is the most effective way to cheat at the game. There are several strategies you can use when attempting to look at an opponentâs cards, the simplest being; age-based opponent selection. This is when you select young opponents, as they do not focus their full attention on the game. Often they even hold their cards facing towards you. This method is not recommended, as it does not benefit your âGo-Fishâ reputation and could even be detrimental towards it, if potential future competitors witness the match and notice your unsavory tactics. It is far better to use more subtle methods, as they will likely go undetected, and as such players will trust your honesty rather than mistrusting you to the extent that they make it near impossible for you to see their hand.

A method proven to be unnoticed 93%* of the time is to look at the reflection of your opponentâs cards, in a strategically located reflective surface. To do this your opponent must be located in front of an appropriate surface such as a glass cabinet, or at night time a window can be quite effective. Obviously it is impractical and suspicious to drag furniture around every time you begin a game of âGo-Fishâ, so the best way to achieve your goal is to locate your opponent in front of the reflective surface. This can be done by dealing whilst your competitor is out of the room. Face yourself towards the surface with space in between for the game zone and for your opponent. Then simply deal cards to the desired location of your opponent, and when they return they will seat themselves behind the pre-dealt cards 98%* of the time!

Another proven method of cheating is to look at your opponentâs cards when they leave the room. While this method works well, it should not be your only strategy! Your opponent will not necessarily leave the room every game, and often older players will be wary of such tactics and carry their hand with them, others simply forget to put their hand down when they leave. The knowledge gained will only be helpful temporarily, until your opponentâs cards are replaced with others throughout the course of the game, and as such it is often only used by the unprepared cheater.

There are many more strategies that can be used to cheat at âGo-Fishâ, and often with a basic knowledge you can develop and implement your own variations, to better suit your cheating needs and abilities. Hopefully this guide has improved your âGo-Fishâ skills and greatly increased your win ratio.

*statistics are approximation only