Wouter & Ymke 
Trick-taking games have been around for ages. Generations have played them with a standard deck of cards, often around kitchen tables with tea, wine, or something stronger. Classics like Hearts, Spades and Bridge are built on a simple idea: everyone plays a card, someone wins the trick, and the cycle repeats.
But lately, modern designers have taken this well-known formula and given it a bit of a shake. We’re seeing more and more games that use trick-taking as a base, then build on it with special powers, strange scoring systems, or mechanics that stretch your brain in fun ways. One such game is Fishing, designed by Friedemann Friese. It keeps things familiar enough for fans of the genre, but brings a twist that makes it feel both fresh and surprisingly strategic.
👥 3-5 players, ages 8+
⌛ Playing time: 40 minutes
📝 Designer: Friedemann Friese
🎨 Artwork: Maren Rache
🏢 Publisher: 999 Games (Dutch version, review copy provided) Originally published by 2F-Spiele.
Gameplay overview
At its core, Fishing is a card game for three to five players, played over eight rounds. In each round, you try to win tricks. Each card you win is worth a point, and at the end of the round, the cards you’ve caught become your personal deck for the next round. That’s where things start to get interesting.
If you don’t win enough cards to form a full hand for the next round, you top up from the “ocean stack”, which is a central pile of increasingly powerful cards. If at any point the ocean can’t provide the needed cards for all players, the game ends early.
Each round plays out in a series of tricks. Cards are divided into four suits, numbered from 1 to 10. Players play one card each, following the lead suit if they can. The highest card in that suit wins the trick. If you can’t follow suit, you can play something else, but it usually won’t win, unless it’s a green trump card, which overrides everything if one is played.
When you win a trick, you place the cards you caught onto your little “fisher” card. These will form your deck for the next round, which you’ll shuffle and place on your “boat” card. You draw your hand from this stack at the start of the next round. If you need more cards, you pull them from the ocean, starting with the player who has the biggest gap to fill.
Now, the ocean isn’t just a stack of helpful filler cards. It’s got some bite. The deeper you go, the stronger the cards (numbered 11 to 18) but also the weirder. Mixed into the ocean are green trump cards and buoy cards with special effects. Some let you snatch an extra card from a trick, force everyone to pass a card to the left, or even change the rules for the next trick, like flipping the win condition to the lowest card or letting you choose the lead color. A couple are a bit nasty too, like the one that instantly costs you three points when caught.
Once the round ends, players score one point per card caught, and the whole process begins again. After eight rounds, or when the ocean runs out, whoever has the most points wins.
Artwork and components
The artwork, done by Maren Rache, is bright, playful and makes the game easy to read. Each suit has a sea creature and a distinct colour (crabs, gulls, octopuses, and the like), so it’s always easy to see who played what. The numbers are large, the suit icons are easy to see in the corners, and the layout is tidy. You won’t be squinting across the table wondering what someone played.
Buoy cards use icons to explain their effects, which saves you from constantly digging through the rulebook. Once you’ve seen them once or twice, they’re easy to remember. The player cards (the fisher and the boat) help organise everything and tie the nautical theme together nicely.
The overall production is compact, functional and friendly. It’s not flashy, but it does the job well and doesn’t get in the way of the gameplay.
Our experience
In our games of Fishing, the first round felt like your standard trick-taking fare. Pretty straightforward. But as soon as players started pulling from the ocean stack, the game changed gear. Suddenly, people were planning two or three rounds ahead. Do you go hard this round and try to win a bunch of tricks? Or do you play it cool, lose on purpose, and fish for better cards?
This shifting rhythm between rounds is what gave the game its real personality. There’s tension in every decision. Do you want more cards now, knowing they’ll form your deck next round? Or do you try to lose a few tricks so you can refresh your deck with stronger ocean cards?
It also led to some great table talk. There were groans when someone ended up catching a penalty buoy, cheers when a trump card swung the round, and laughs when someone caught four tricks without meaning to and then realised they’d have to play with those cards again next time. There’s definitely a sense of story as the game unfolds, with each round building on the last.
We found four players to be the sweet spot. With three, things were a bit too controlled, while five added more chaos. Not a bad thing, just a different vibe. Once everyone had seen the buoy cards a few times, gameplay flowed nicely and didn’t drag. The icons and clear layout really helped speed things up.
What we think (the good, the odd, and the slightly fishy)
Fishing is a great example of how a small twist can make an old genre feel new again. The build-your-own-deck element gives the game a sense of progression, and it means that every round matters in a way that traditional trick-takers sometimes lack.
We liked how the game rewards flexible thinking. Trying to win every trick might backfire and leave you with a weak deck next round. But overfishing the ocean can lead to unpredictable results. It’s all about balance. Timing matters. Sometimes doing nothing is the best move, which feels very… well, very fishing.
That said, the game isn’t without its wobbles. There’s some unpredictability, especially once players start drawing from the ocean. These cards tend to have a big impact, whether it’s a high-value number, a trump, or a buoy with an unexpected twist. The good news is that buoy effects are introduced gradually, so you don’t need to explain them all up front. They show up naturally as the game progresses, which helps new players ease into them without feeling overwhelmed. And once everyone has played a full game and seen most of the buoy cards, things move even more smoothly, since players know what might be lurking in the depths.
Still, what stood out was how much Fishing invited table interaction and conversation. It’s quick to play, easy to teach (especially if your group already knows trick-taking), and offers more strategy than you’d expect from a small card game.
📝 We received a review copy of the Dutch edition, Hengelen, from 999 Games.
