Customer Reviews

Mayfair Games Hey That's My Fish Deluxe

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a game that is incredibly simple to learn. Basically, there are tiles (ice) that the penguins stand on. The penguins are placed on the tiles one at a time as folks take turns placing their penguins. The penguin must stand on a tile that has only one fish on it (for the first turn). Each player has multiple penguins (a different amount of penguins depending on the # of players) The penguin can move straight ahead as far as it wishes but can not hop over other penguins. As soon as a penguin is moved, the last tile it was standing on is collected by the owner of the penguin. Each of these tiles have anywhere from one to three fishes on it. At the end of the game, the number of fish are counted up on the tiles, and the person with the most fish wins. As the penguins are moved, each player tries to isolate the other players from the tiles by taking away tiles around them. The players also try to land on tiles with the most fish on them. The game changes each time because the tiles are randomly laid out in the general shape of a square, so the placement of the tiles with the most fish changes each game. That's pretty much it. It's simple enough for my 6 year old niece to learn and enjoy, and has enough strategy that my 9 year old niece loves it too. A simple game with strategy. Good fun!

I got the deluxe edition, which comes with the nicer penguins, and was glad I did. They are colorful and very well constructed. Definitely worth the extra money.

A brilliant game is one that a 6-year-old can play yet a 66-year-old will find hard to master. And Hey, That's My Fish! is just that game.

COMPONENTS

Like most "Eurogames," the pieces in this German-made game by Mayfair are about as high quality as you'll find. You get 60 two-inch-wide hexagonal game tiles that are used to create a board that never plays the same twice. Each tile has a double-sided illustration of an ice floe containing one, two, or three fish. The tiles are linenized paper affixed to thick cardboard. Sixteen two-inch-high penguin figurines (in four colors, each color with four unique poses) fill most of the box. Each penguin is hand-painted.

GAME PLAY

When was the last time you could explain the rules of a strategy game in less than a minute? Randomly place the 60 tiles in a rough square. Each player takes one set of four colored penguins and places one penguin on any of the tiles that contain one fish. Each player adds one penguin in turn until all are placed.

Each turn, a player moves one penguin piece any distance across the floes in a straight line. The only limit is open water or meeting another penguin. The tile the penguin moved from is removed from the board and is kept by the player. This creates open water. The object is to gather the most fish, as depicted on the tiles the player's penguins landed on.

POSITIVES

* Nearly anyone can play this game, as the rules are so simple

* Excellent randomness, ensuring no game is identical

* Great tension as the board begins to disappear and penguins get stranded

* Playing with four players can be insane, but any number of players is fun

* Game pieces are extremely well made and durable

* Fast game play, with a game lasting under ten minutes in most cases

* Brain-wrenching strategy

* A fantastic alternative for those bored with Monopoly and all the other game night "usual suspects"

* Penguins!

NEGATIVES

* Not inexpensive (though you do get a durable game that has high replay-ability)

* Setting up the 60 game board tiles in a good configuration (with the number of fish spread evenly) sometimes seems to take as much time as playing the game itself

* As with any game that uses a tiled board system, the board alignment can get wonky, which makes for nonstop tile realignment if people don't remove the tiles carefully

CONCLUSIONS

Hey, That's My Fish! is the kind of game anyone can enjoy. Best of all, anyone can win. I've seen kids beat adults handily. And because it plays quickly, many chances for revenge exist. Best of all, this game is not one most people will have encountered before, giving it a great freshness. For a family game night, Hey, That's My Fish! can't be beat.

This game is great. I like strategy games, but I hate games with too many rules. Simple to learn, but lots to think about, those are my favorite games. This is a great example. Over Thanksgiving, we played it with my 6 year old niece. I again got swept up in the strategy, and she liked it so much she asked Santa for her own copy for xmas.

Many adults will see this game - which kids enjoy! - and think "oh, there's penguins and they're catching fish... this is gonna be a real blast for me...", but beware: a great game of strategic thinking is disguised under those cute penguin figurines.

This is a game that adults and children can play together that children will enjoy and adults could be stumped by "analysis paralysis" (i.e., "if I move this here, then they could go there and cut me off... maybe if I go here? no, wait!" etc., etc., until someone finally yells, "just MOVE already!")

Seriously, this is a fun game that adults will appreciate as a classic like chess or backgammon, while kids will forget they even have Candyland in the game closet anymore.

This game is fairly quick and very easy to learn. Our kids range in age from 26 to 8 years old. We have game nights whenever the older kids come home and had quite a bit of fun playing this one. I would recommend this game for everyone young and old.

A great game was xmas present for my 8 year old, but my 4 and 6 year olds love it, too. Fun for adults, too. A really creative strategy game which is not too hard, fast moving, and makes you want to play again. Five stars!

This is a great family game. I play it with my 8 year old and 10 year old. The rules are simple, so it is easy to get started, and young children can play. It is a game of strategy, so it becomes more challenging as the children get older.

Bought this for Christmas and we played it over and over again. My kids loved it, ages 17-10. My husband and I played it alone. It is great for strategy solving and overall just a fun game.

First, the bad: With a price > $30, I'd expect higher quality materials in my games. The tiles that the fish come on are printed on thick, card-stock type paper which I have my doubts about with regards to the longevity of the tiles. To add to the low quality feel, the tiles are in perforated sheets that you have to break apart yourself upon opening the box. Really?

It would be great if the game pieces were printed on plastic instead, especially at this price.

That said, the penguins did feel very solid; that only sort of makes up for it.

Second, the good: It's a very fun game with easy to learn mechanics. I purchased this game along with a few others to have for family and friends when they come over for the holidays. It didn't receive the most play time (Blokus did), but everyone thoroughly enjoyed this game as well.

It seems easy at first blush, but there is definitely an element of strategy involved in terms of trying to carve off islands of ice. It's not as mindless as simply trying to land on tiles with more fish (hint: you won't win often if you play that way).

I'd say that this game is best played with 2-3 players. With four players, the board is a bit crowded and the penguins don't have much room to move. It seems that it would have been better to include maybe 16-20 more tiles for 4 players.

One lesson learned: don't play this game with investment bankers; they're too good at strategizing how to capture the most resources.