Dice Fishing Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
  • Fish Cards
  • Bait Dice
• Setup
• How to Play
  • 1. On Your Turn
  • 2. Catching Fish
  • Re-Rolling Dice
  • Spending Coins
  • 3. Checking Your Catch
  • 4. Fish Escape Rules
  • 5. Taking Your Catch
  • Failed Attempts
  • 6. Trophy Tokens
  • 7. End of Turn
• Trophy Tokens
• End of the Game
• Scoring
  • Tie Breakers
• Power Cards (Advanced Game)
  • Power Card Rules
  • Power Cards
• Solo Mode
• Reel Fun Fish Facts

Objective

Catch fish and score Victory Points (VP). The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Components

• 67 Fish Cards
• 7 Power Cards
• 5 Fish Reference Cards
• 6 Bait Dice
• 14 Trophy Tokens
• 12 Coins
• Rulebook

Fish Cards

Each card has two sides.

• Fish side: shows
  1. the species;
  2. the Victory Points (2–5 VP);
  3. the escape condition. Generally, the higher the value, the harder the fish is to catch.
• Float side: displays the bait combinations required to catch that fish. Each icon matches a face on the dice. A small preview hints at which fish is on the reverse side. The number of bait spaces on the card equals the number of Victory Points that fish is worth (for example, a card with three bait spaces is worth 3 VP).

Bait Dice

The six bait dice have these faces:

• Cheese
• Fish
• Insect
• Hook
• Worm
• Boot

(The face names are taken from the Solo Mode page, which shows each face's icon.)

Setup

1. For your first game, leave the Power Cards in the box.
2. Shuffle the Fish deck and place it float side up. Reveal 5 fish to form a row without flipping them over.
3. Place the Trophy tokens and the Reference card nearby. Use the 1–3 player side of the Variety token (7 VP) for smaller games, or the 4–5 player side (5 VP) for larger games.
4. Give each player 1 coin.
5. Place all 6 dice within easy reach.

Choose a starting player — the youngest player is a great choice.

How to Play

Players take turns rolling dice and attempting to catch fish.

1. On Your Turn

Roll all 6 dice to start fishing.

2. Catching Fish

Place matching dice onto the bait spaces of any fish card. You may divide your dice between multiple fish, but focusing on one target is often the smarter strategy.

A fish is caught only when all bait spaces are filled.

Once placed, dice cannot be moved unless a Power Card says otherwise.

Re-Rolling Dice

You may reroll any unplaced dice up to two times. After each roll, you may place additional dice onto fish cards. If your first roll completes a fish — great catch! No rerolls needed.

Spending Coins

Coins let you tweak your luck. Spend 1 coin to change any single die to the bait face of your choice. You may spend multiple coins during your turn.

3. Checking Your Catch

When you finish rolling:

• Flip over every fish with all bait spaces filled.
• Return dice from partially filled cards to the pool.
• Now check whether any fish escape.

4. Fish Escape Rules

Each species behaves differently:

• Trout — Never escapes.
• Pike — Escapes if you used all available rerolls.
• King Salmon — Escapes if you changed any die using a coin. Return the coin to your supply.
• Sturgeon — Escapes if any unused die shows a Boot icon.
• Perch — Escapes if all unused dice show the same icon. If only one die remains, it stays hooked.
• Ide — Escapes if you catch another fish this turn. If a player catches multiple Ide and no other fish, none of the Ide escape.
• Walleye — Escapes if every unused die shows a different icon. If only one die remains, it stays hooked.

Examples printed in the rulebook:

• The Walleye does not escape, because the unused dice show the same icon.
• The Ide escapes, because the player caught another fish this turn.

5. Taking Your Catch

The player takes the fish cards they successfully caught, provided those fish did not escape. All fish that escape are placed in the discard pile.

Failed Attempts

If you end your turn without catching a fish — either due to bad rolls or escape conditions — gain 1 coin. You may use it starting next turn.

6. Trophy Tokens

At the end of their turn, if a player has at least four fish cards in their catch, they compare their fish with the light blue Set Trophy tokens. If their catch matches one or more tokens, they take all matching tokens.

7. End of Turn

Pass the dice clockwise. Refill the row so that 5 fish are always available.

Trophy Tokens

There are 14 tokens total:

• Set Tokens (6) — Claimed during the game when a player collects the required species set. Worth 5 VP each. (The species each set requires are shown only on the token artwork; the rulebook text does not spell them out.)
• Variety Token (1) — Awarded to the first player to catch all 7 species. 1–3 players: 7 VP. 4–5 players: 5 VP.
• Majority Tokens (7) — Awarded at the end of the game to the player with the most fish cards of each species. Worth 4 VP each.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when the fourth Trophy token is claimed. It also ends if the Fish deck runs out and no fish remain in the row. Escaped fish do not return to the deck.

Scoring

Players count the number of fish cards they have for each species and award the Majority Trophy token for each species. If there is a tie, the token goes to the tied player whose fish cards of that species have the highest total Victory Point value. If players are still tied, each tied player receives the Victory Points for that token.

Players also gain 1 Victory Point for each coin they have.

Next, players total all Victory Points from their fish cards, Trophy tokens, and coins.

The player with the most Victory Points wins the game.

Tie Breakers

1. Most coins
2. Most fish
3. Highest total fish value

Still tied? Share the victory!

Power Cards (Advanced Game)

Once players are familiar with the base game, shuffle the Power Cards and deal 1 card to each player face up. Place the remaining deck in the center and reveal 2 cards beside it to form the display.

Power Card Rules

• You may use one Power Card per turn.
• After resolving its effect, discard it.
• Whenever you fail to catch a fish, draw one Power Card from the display. If you already have one, you receive a coin and draw another.
• If the deck runs out, reshuffle the discard pile.
• Players may never have more than one Power Card.

Power Cards

• Hook Set — Gain one extra reroll (for unplaced dice only). Pike do not escape. (Printed with a dice graphic and "×3".)
• Chum — At the end of your turn, you may play Chum to take another turn. During that turn, you may not reroll any dice. Resolve fish escape checks as normal. (Printed with "+ extra turn".)
• Landing Net — At the start or at the end of your turn you may play Landing Net to take a fish worth 2 VP. You don't gain a coin this turn.
• Move to a New Spot — Discard all fish in the row and reveal 5 new ones.
• Change the Bait — Rearrange placed dice without rerolling them.
• Lucky Tackle — Ignore one escape condition.
• Fish Finder — Secretly look at any 3 fish in the row.

Solo Mode

Compete against a virtual angler named Alan. Take turns as usual. Alan does not use coins.

Roll one die for Alan and resolve:

• Cheese — Alan takes the leftmost fish worth 2 VP (or 3+, otherwise nothing).
• Fish — Alan takes the leftmost fish worth 3 VP or higher.
• Insect — Alan takes the leftmost fish worth 4 VP (otherwise 3).
• Hook — Alan takes the leftmost fish worth 5 VP (otherwise 4, and so on).
• Worm — Alan takes the leftmost fish regardless of value.
• Boot — Nothing happens.

If Alan completes a set, he claims the token.

The game ends normally when the fourth token is taken.

Reel Fun Fish Facts

• Walleye — Walleye are surprisingly devoted parents! After the female lays her eggs, the male stands guard to protect them from danger. Roach sometimes lay their eggs directly in walleye nests, leaving the walleye to guard them.
• Trout — Trout are built for speed. Some can swim up to 10 mph (16 km/h) — about twice as fast as many other fish! When chasing prey, they sometimes burst out of the water in spectacular leaps reaching over 6 feet (2 meters) high.
• Perch — Perch may not be the biggest fish, but they make up for it in numbers. A single female can lay 200,000–300,000 eggs, and larger perch may produce more than a million!
• Pike — These legendary predators never stop growing. Northern pike can reach lengths of over 6 feet (2 meters) and have earned a place in myths and fishing stories around the world.
• Sturgeon — Sturgeon are true ancient giants. They grow slowly but can live for around 60 years — and sometimes even longer if left undisturbed.
• King Salmon — King salmon live up to their royal name. Famous for their size and strength, the largest recorded catch tipped the scales at an incredible 126 pounds (57 kg)!
• Ide — Don't underestimate the ide! When hooked, this clever fish thrashes wildly and may even leap from the water to escape. Seasoned anglers know to check their knots after landing one.