Dice Fishing: Roll and Catch! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Crux of the Game
• Game Setup
• How to Play
• Prioritizing Wagers
• Fish Card Types
• Conditions Symbols
• Dice Types
• End of Game
• Advanced Rule
• Fish Card Reference
• Freshwater Fish Expansion

Contents

• 15 Fish cards
• 5 Player screens
• 1 Rulesheet
• 25 6-sided dice (D6)
• 5 10-sided dice (D10)
• 5 20-sided dice (D20)

Crux of the Game

Each player is a dice fisherman in the competition, which lasts 10 rounds. Every round, a fish card with its requirements is revealed. Players secretly wager how many and what types of dice they need to win the card before their bids are simultaneously revealed.

Starting with the player with the fewest dice, players roll to see if they meet the card requirements and catch the fish. The first to do so wins the fish on the card along with its points. The player with the most points wins and can claim the title "King of Dice Fishing!"

A fish card shows, from top to bottom: the number of points, the type of fish, the required target number, and specific conditions.

Game Setup

1. Dice (fishing rods) Each player takes all the dice of one color and one player screen. Hide the dice behind the player screen. These dice are used as fishing rods, the means by which you will catch fish.

2. Fish cards (fish) Shuffle all fish cards, deal 10 cards face-down to the center of the table. This is the fish deck. Put the remaining cards back in the game box. Fish cards represent the fish players are trying to win. Each has a different requirement that a player needs to meet in order to win the card.

How to Play

1. Reveal the new fish card. At the start of the round, turn the top fish card face up.

2. Make your wager. Each player simultaneously decides how many (and which) dice they would like to use to catch the fish in the card by placing those dice behind their screen.

3. Reveal your wager! After all players selected their dice, all players lift their screens at the same time and reveal their dice.

4. Fish! The player making the lowest wager (i.e., selected the fewest dice) rolls their dice.

5. Catch! If the total of dice roll meets or exceeds the number on the fish card, that player wins the fish card (lands a catch!). Otherwise, player with the next lowest wager will fish (repeat step 4). The round is over when a player lands a catch and a new round will start (step 1). If all players have fished and no player has succeeded, the round ends and the current fish card (along with any fish cards carried over from previous rounds) is placed underneath the next available fish card in step 1. Whoever wins the next round will also win all the fish cards underneath the top one. If this happens in the last round, the game ends and no one wins the remaining fish card(s).

Tips If you want to be the first to roll your dice, you need to wager with fewer dice. However, the more dice you wager, the more likely you will be able to land the catch should the players ahead of you fail.

Prioritizing Wagers

1. The player with the lowest wager (i.e., fewest dice) can attempt to fish first!

   Example: Red picks 4 dice, Blue 3, and Green 2. Green will go first since he wagered he can land the catch with the fewest dice. If Green fails the catch, Blue goes next, and if Blue fails, Red will have a chance to roll.

2. If the number of dice is the same, the player who wagered fewer special dice (D10 or D20) goes first!

   Example: Red and Blue each wagered 3 dice. Blue selected 3 6-sided dice, while Red selected 2 6-sided dice and one D10. Hence, Blue will go first.

3. If multiple players have the same number and type of dice, they roll at the same time!

   Example: Both Green and Blue wagered two 6-sided dice, they roll their dice simultaneously.

Simultaneous rolls If only one player meets the requirement, that player gets the fish card. If multiple players meet the requirement, the player who is closest to the requirement wins the fish card. For example, if the requirement is 7, and Green totals 10 while Blue totals 8, Blue wins the fish card.

If players are equally close to the requirement, add that card to the next round! Turn the next card face-up and place it on top of the previous card. The player who wins the next fish card also gets the previous card.

Fish Card Types

There are many types of fish cards. Card 1 only requires a player's total to meet or exceed the target number ("9").

Card 2 requires a player's total to meet or exceed "17" and also hit certain specific conditions (two dice with the same number).

Even if a player's total meets or exceeds the target number, if the result does not meet the required specific condition, the player cannot win fish card.

Conditions Symbols

• Exact dice faces shown (e.g. two dice showing specific pips): One of your dice must match this exact dice roll shown.
• = =: Your dice rolls must match.
• ≠: All your rolled dice must show different numbers.

Dice Types

6-sided dice (D6) These are normal fishing rods without any special effects. Players may use them every round. Used D6 should be put behind the player screen before the start of the next round.

10-sided dice (D10) / 20-sided dice (D20) These are special fishing rods that have a cooldown period. At the end of a round, used D10/D20 cannot be immediately placed behind the player screen. Instead, it should be placed outside the screen so that it is visible to other players. After resting one round, players can put the die back behind their player screen.

D10/D20 dice can be rolled normally or can be used for its reroll ability. You must declare whether you plan to use its normal ability or reroll ability before you roll.

Notice: The D10's "0" is used as a "10" in this game.

D10 / D20 Reroll Ability This ability allows you to reroll the rest of your dice. If you rolled an odd number with the D10 or D20, you can reroll the rest of your dice once. If you rolled an even number, you can reroll twice. You can decide to reroll any number of dice except for the D10/D20 invoking this power - that die has been used already and its number will not count towards the total.

Example: Blue rolls a D10 and gets "10", (even number). He can reroll the rest of his dice up to two times. This die cannot be rerolled.

The remaining dice sum to "8", which falls short of the "11" on the fish card. He also does not have the required two 4's So Blue decides to use the D10's ability to reroll all of his D6 dice.

On the reroll, Blue's new total is now "15", meeting the "11" requirement.

However, Blue rolled only one "4", and falls short of the two 4's required. Blue decides to keep the "4" and reroll the other two D6 dice.

On the second reroll, Blue obtains another "4" and also reaches a total of "11", which is enough to win the fish card! (Blue meets the two 4's requirement, and his sum total meets or exceeds the "11" requirement.)

Using Two Special Dice - Example 1 Blue decides to roll the D20 normally and the D10 for its reroll ability and declares this to all players. Therefore, Blue has the option of rerolling the D20 along with the rest of the dice. However, once you have declared how you will use each die, you cannot change that after you roll. For example, you cannot decide to use the D20 for its reroll ability after you already declared you will use it normally.

Using Two Special Dice - Example 2 You can declare that you will use both your D10 and D20 for their reroll abilities. For example, if you rolled an even number with the D10 and an odd number with the D20, you can declare that you will use the D10's ability to re-roll the D20 (along with any other dice desired) in hopes of getting an even number. If both the D10 and D20 have even numbers, you can reroll a total of 4 times. However, once a special die's reroll ability is used, you cannot use the other special die to reroll it.

End of Game

The game ends when the last fish is acquired. The player with the most total points across all their fish cards claim the title "King of Dice Fishing" and wins the game.

Overtime If multiple players are tied for 1st place, the game goes into overtime! Shuffle the remaining 5 unused fish cards in the box and place them face-down. Continue to play extra rounds until those cards have been won. Players add those cards to their totals, and the player with the most points wins the game. As a result, it is possible for players who were not tied for first before overtime to come from behind and win the game.

If multiple players are still tied for 1st place, they all share the victory.

Advanced Rule

D10 / D20 dice now have the Lure ability, which can make precise modifications to the rolls of other dice. Just like the normal and reroll abilities, players need to declare their intention to use lure before rolling. Each special dice can only be used for one of its abilities (normal, reroll, or lure).

If you roll an odd number with the D10 or D20, you can pick another die and modify its roll by ±1.

If you roll an even number with the D10 or D20, you have 2 points of modification available. This means you can modify one die by ±2, or pick two different die and modify each by ±1. Rolls do not wrap around, for example, a "1" cannot be modified into a "6" or vice versa.

You can use the Lure ability even on a special die. For example, if you use the D10's Lure ability on a D20 with the reroll ability, you can modify an odd number on the D20 to an even number to allow for two rerolls.

Fish Card Reference

The fish cards depict the following species: Mackerel, Thread-sail filefish, Salmon shark, Anglerfish, Righteye flounders, Bigeye tuna, Ocean sunfish, Japanese horse mackerel, Spotted garden eel, Splendid alfonsino, Japanese sea bass, Flapjack octopus, Longtooth grouper, Sloane's viperfish, Giant squid.

Freshwater Fish Expansion

There are 6 new fish cards in Freshwater Fish Expansion. When playing with the expansion, the rules are mostly the same with the following modifications:

1. During setup of the game, shuffle all fish cards and deal 13 cards face-down to the center of the table to form the fish deck.

2. Some fish cards come with special requirements or abilities described below:

   • All odd / All even: To acquire it, all the numbers on your dice must be odd / even numbers. However, the dice used for their reroll/lure abilities may contain odd / even numbers.
   • All prime: To acquire it, all the numbers on your dice must be prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19). However, the dice used for their reroll/lure abilities may contain non-prime numbers.
   • Single-opponent discard icon: When you catch this fish, you must choose one of your opponents to randomly discard one fish card (remove from the game).
   • All-opponents discard icon: When you catch this fish, all the other players must randomly discard one fish card (remove from the game).

   Notice: The abilities of the single-opponent discard icon and the all-opponents discard icon are only applicable when you catch them directly. If they are set aside due to ties or no one could catch it, their abilities will be ignored.

The Freshwater Fish Expansion cards depict: Catfish, Salmon, Crayfish, Sturgeon, Goldfish, Bear.