Fischfutter
Fischfutter Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Materials
- 36 double-sided Piranha cards. Each card always shows 7 piranhas in total. The piranhas on the front always have a different colour from the piranhas on the back.
- 25 Plaster chips (Pflaster-Chips).
- 4 Protection cards (only for the cooperative variant).
Setup
Shuffle the 36 Piranha cards and deal one Piranha card to each player. It does not matter which side you pick up your hand card with, because you may turn your hand card freely during the game. All other players may see the back of your hand card at any time.
Each player takes 5 Plaster chips and places them in front of them as their supply.
Place the remaining Piranha cards face down in the middle of the table as a draw pile. Draw the top card from the pile and place it face down in the middle of the table. This way everyone knows both sides of the card. It forms the start of the Piranha pond.
Playing the Game
The most courageous person at the table begins. When it is your turn, carry out the following steps in this order:
- Place your hand card into the Piranha pond with either side facing up.
- Turn over all other Piranha cards already lying in the pond that show the same colour as your card.
- Now count the piranhas of each individual colour. If the number of piranhas in one colour is 10 or more, a swarm forms and the piranhas of that colour attack you (see Attack). Otherwise you have been lucky and nothing happens.
- Draw a Piranha card from the draw pile. This ends your turn.
The next player clockwise then takes their turn.
Example: A card with white piranhas already lies in the middle of the table. Naomi places her hand card so that the side with one blue piranha is visible. Since there are no other blue piranhas in the pond, she turns no cards. In total there are 5 white and 1 blue piranha in the pond. So every colour has fewer than 10 piranhas and there is no attack. Naomi draws a Piranha card from the draw pile. Her turn ends.
Attack
Are there more than 10 piranhas of one colour in the pond after turning cards over? Then that swarm attacks you! (The piranhas on the top card of the draw pile never count.) Now give up Plaster chips according to the size of the swarm:
- 10–11 piranhas of one colour: 1 Plaster chip
- 12–13 piranhas of one colour: 2 Plaster chips
- 14 or more piranhas of one colour: 3 Plaster chips
Return the corresponding number of Plaster chips from your supply to the game box. If you then have no Plaster chips left, the game ends (see End of the Game).
After that, remove all cards with the piranhas of the colour that attacked from the Piranha pond and set them aside.
Example: Leon places a card with yellow piranhas into the pond. Four cards already lie there. Since another card with yellow piranhas already lies in the pond, Leon turns that card over. Instead of 3 yellow piranhas, the card now shows 4 green piranhas. The pond now contains in total 2 yellow, 1 blue, 5 white and 10 green piranhas. The green piranhas form a swarm and attack Leon. Leon loses one Plaster chip. He then removes all cards with green piranhas from the pond and sets them aside. Then Leon draws a card from the pile into his hand and ends his turn.
It is possible that 10 or more piranhas lie in the pond in more than one colour. In that case, for each attacking swarm you lose the corresponding number of Plaster chips.
If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the cards that were set aside to form a new draw pile.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as a player has no Plaster chips left. Of you, the player who still has the most Plaster chips left wins! If several players have the most Plaster chips, they win together.
You may also play several games of Fischfutter and note your score after each game. Each Plaster chip you still have in your supply at the end of a game is worth 1 point. The player with the highest total score at the end wins!
Cooperative Variant: "Superbissig" (Super Hungry)
In the cooperative variant "Superbissig" the piranhas are completely starved and even more aggressive. Unlike the basic game, here piranhas attack in every round and remain in the Piranha pond after the attack. The colour with the most fish always attacks. And here Plaster chips do not help you! Instead, you can protect yourselves before every attack. This challenge can only be mastered together. Are you ready?
Shuffle the 36 Piranha cards and place them as a draw pile in the middle of the table. Place the 4 Protection cards in a row next to the pond. Then carry out the following steps in this order:
- Draw the top card from the pile and place it face down in the Piranha pond. This way you know both sides, and you should try to remember them.
- Now decide together which piranha colour you want to protect yourselves from this round. To do so, slide the Protection card of the chosen colour slightly upwards. Tip: In the first round, this should always be the colour on the hidden side of the card lying in the pond.
- Determine the current colour majority in the pond (number of piranhas) and turn over all cards of this colour. In case of a tie, you may choose one of these colours.
- Now look at which colour has the most piranhas in the pond after the turning. All piranhas of this colour attack!
There are now the following possibilities:
- A. Does the Protection card match the current colour majority? You recognised the impending danger in advance (step 2) and protected yourselves from the attacking colour. Bravo! In this case you have survived the round. Slide the Protection card back and continue the challenge with step 1.
- B. You did not recognise the impending danger in advance (step 2) and protected yourselves from a different colour. Bad luck! In this case the challenge ends. Count the cards in the pond. This is your score. Tend your wounds and try to beat your high score next time.
- C. There is no single colour majority. In this case you are lucky and there is no attack. You reach the next round and continue the challenge at step 1.
In this variant, Piranha cards remain in the middle of the table even after an attack!
Example: Tamara, Naomi and Leon turn over the top card of the pile and place it in the Piranha pond (1). They decide to protect themselves from yellow and slide the yellow Protection card slightly upwards (2). They check the colour majority (in this case green) and turn all green cards over (3). The new colour majority is now yellow (4). Yellow attacks, but they recognised the threat correctly in advance and protected themselves, so they continue the challenge with the next round. Tip: Agree on who memorises which cards.