Sounds Fishy: The Fast-Thinking, Bluffing Family Board Game for Kids 10+ and Adults | Best New Board Games | Same Game, Smaller Box

Product Information

That’s because of course, the questions have a hint of silliness to them in most occasions, so providing a slightly absurd answer is often within the theming, where hilarity then ensues. It’s easy to panic and struggle to provide an answer, but even some of those are labelled ‘that sounds so ridiculous, it might even be true’, meaning you’ll sometimes risk it for a biscuit on an entirely obscure answer. We giggled our way through the style of answer one player consistently gave, only to assume red herring – where miraculously, it was the one time she played blue. We questioned whether answers were based on video games, news pieces, strange stories, when they were true. We asked why in the world you answered that, debriefed the why’s afterwards, and found the game facilitated our fun perfectly.

Sounds Fishy isn’t about always knowing the right answer — it’s about being able to spot the fake ones. It’s like a mix between The Chameleon and Balderdash.This game includes some lovely points tokens which look great on the table. Points are allocated to the guesser as well as the red herrings and true blue kipper depending on how well the round played out. It certainly helps that the questions are bizarre enough to catch you off guard. Where is it illegal to fall asleep in South Dakota, for instance? A game like this lives or dies on the strength of its trivia, and Sounds Fishy passes the litmus test with gusto. Some answers are so strange that you couldn't make up anything weirder if you tried. If you have a Red Herring and it gets flipped, you get 0 points. If yours remains unflipped, you get 1 point for every flipped fish (including the Blue Kipper).

Players will take a look at their fish without letting the guesser know who they are. Just like that the game is set and you’re ready to move onto gameplay. Gameplay Prior to each turn, the fish are randomly distributed to the other players face down. Each player will secretly look at their fish and see if they have a Red fish (Red Herring) or a Blue fish (Blue Kipper). There will be only 1 Blue fish in the group.

You could ask people to repeat their answer, but we’ve found that can give away if they were faking or not. So we have a house rule that players can’t be asked to repeat what they said. You'll also have a good time battling each other for points. The process of trying to weed out fibs from fact is engaging enough to keep you invested, and the same is true of those attempting to stay under the radar. Keeping players off your scent as a True Blue Kipper is an equally usual challenge; be too obvious and the jig is up, losing you the advantage. I say “most everyone” because it requires bluffing. And we know not everyone enjoys games with a bluffing element (including a couple in our family). The recommended age is also 10+ and we think that’s a solid point of reference as well. To start a game you take the true blue fish plus a number of red herrings so there are one less fish than players. Fish are randomly allocated to all players (except the guesser) and players secretly look at their fish to determine if they need to tell the truth (true blue) or a lie (red herring). Players keep their fish with the shiny side face down. Play continues until everyone has been the Guesser either 1 or 2 times (depending on the number of players). Then players total their points and the player with the most points wins.