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

Product Information

Once all players have given their answer, the Guesser starts flipping over fish – trying to eliminate the fake answers.

When you open the shiny box you will see the game includes some pretty nice components for a party game. There are 200 questions which should last quite a while, lots of points tokens, eight red herrings and one true blue kipper. These fish are the highlight of the components as they are beautifully drawn and shiny. They will definitely attract people to the table to play. It is worth pointing out at this time this is a party game and although the game is great at four players the fun only increases the closer you get to the maximum player count of ten.The same can't be said for Sounds Fishy. Actually, there's a danger of learning the answers to each question if you overplay it. That means it has a more limited shelf-life. I played Sounds Fishy with different groups of varying sizes, and made sure I played each of its roles to get a better idea of what they were like. 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. First, players decide who will be the starting guesser. They then take the dispenser with the question cards in, making sure the side with the blue answer on is facing down. Then, the guesser will randomly dish out one fish to each player, keeping them face down. All of these fish should be Red Herrings except for one: the True Blue Kipper.

For all players other than the Guesser, the scoring is a bit different – but very tied to their objectives. The Blue Kipper got flipped. The Guesser gets 0 points. 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. It is not hard to work out that I really like this party game from Big Potato Games. The concept is very simple. One player reads out a question and the other players all have to provide a fake answer except one player who has to tell the truth. The guesser then has to find as many of the wrong answers as possible without accidentally revealing the correct answer. Points are then awarded and play continues with the next player.

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.

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. They choose one of the answers they think is fake and flip over that player’s fish. If it’s Red, the Guesser gets 1 point. The Guesser can stop at any point and bank their points or they can keep guessing. However, if they flip over the Blue fish, they lose any points they’ve gained this round.

Games

You play either The Guesser or The Fish in a battle of disguising and finding the truth. The Guesser reads out a Question card before guessing which of The Fish's answers is fake. The Fish are either True Blue hiders of the right answer or Red Herring inventors of fake ones. The Guesser gets a point for each fake answer guessed correctly, but loses all these points if they choose the true one. If you have the most points after everyone has had a round of guessing, you are the winner. 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. Do you like party games like Just One, Codenames or So Clover? If the answer is yes you don’t need to read the whole review instead just get a copy of Sounds Fishy in your shopping basket and prepare for a hilarious time. Scoring in Sounds Fishy varies for each of the three roles. When playing as the guesser, players will score a point for every correctly guessed Red Herring. They’ll also win a bonus if they correctly identify everyone, without falling prey to the True Blue Kipper. But be warned, if the guesser calls the Kipper out as a Red Herring, they lose everything. Red Herrings will score one point for every flipped fish on the table, including the Kipper. The guesser then flips the fish of a player they think lied. If a red herring is revealed the guesser gains a point and can continue to try to find more red herrings or stop if they wish to do so and retain the points. If the guesser reveals the true blue before exposing all of the red herrings they lose all of their points and play continues with the next player becoming the guesser.