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Happy Salmon
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Description
Happy Salmon and Happy Salmon Blue are basically the same game - but own them both and you can take the madness to 11 with, um, 12 players. The game itself is a simple. Six decks of cards are provided in a foam ‘pencil case’ style fish. Apart from the colour on the back these six decks are identical. Each player stands up, takes a deck and shuffles it. Then on the count of three everyone turns over their first card. There are four different types of card - high 5, pound it, switcheroo, and happy salmon. Each is an action you need to take with someone else who has the same card showing. To find out who has you immediately start shouting the name of your card. When you realise someone else in doing the same thing you both perform the action and dump the card on the floor. Turn over your next card and go again. You can also skip a card to the bottom of your deck if you feel no one else is shouting the same thing as you. The first player to empty their hand wins! The cards are more like plastic and incredibly durable which is great as you will be slinging them around in a bid to be the quickest. They are also illustrated in a fun way that fits the chaos of the game. If you combine the base pack with the Blue pack you will have 12 different coloured decks for ultimate pandemonium! The gameplay itself is simple enough for anyone to join and so much fun they will want too. It’s a short burst of energy and madness and the worst bit by far is picking up the cards at the end. But you will do it, because you want to play again! Player Count: 3-6 Time: 2 Minutes Age: 6+
Mostly when I play games I want to relax, and beat the snot out of my stupid friends through the cardboard medium. This is a serious business. Thought goes into such an evening, set-up is done well in advance, some is assigned the task of snack bringer. Short lists of games are compiled in advance. One friend even arranges the most suitable soundtrack to accompany a game!! Sometimes though I want to run around like an idiot and shout silly phrases while striking people (sort of), on these days I turn to Happy Salmon.
Fish Cakes
Happy Salmon is not a hard game to learn. It contains six decks of 12 cards each. Each deck of 12 has four different types of card – Happy Salmon, Pound It, High 5, and Switcheroo! Up to six players each take a deck and turn it over at the same time. They shout out the words on the card looking for someone who has the same card. Upon finding said person you perform your action and ditch the card on the floor and keep doing this until someone runs out of cards. If you can’t find anyone to High 5 with you can put that card to bottom and work from the new card instead.
Chips
If it’s not immediately apparent this is not a game for everybody, but it is a game for anybody. And that would be an excellent line for the end of a Batman film. Happy Salmon plays almost as quickly as it is learnt and is always followed by one of two more plays if not more. Although I’m usually knackered after a couple of play-throughs. Perfect for families, youth groups, conventions and other gatherings, it’s a game that knows it’s niche and fills it well.
The recently release of the Blue Happy Salmon effectively ups the player count to 12 and these games are a delightful manic medley of mayhem. There’s no reason to expect that this won’t see the same success as the green ‘core’ set, and later this year it will be followed by ‘Funky Chicken‘, which is the same game except with dance moves and a case shaped like a chicken. Funky.
Happy Salmon – Like a Battered Mars Bar
Just like the deeply unhealthy but otherworldly delicious gourmet treat of a battered mars bar, I enjoy Happy Salmon much more than I should. During the initial wave of hype I wrote the game off as a gimmick way below my serious game collection, and then I started needing lighter games for more players.
Happy Salmon elicits fun in a way most games find hard to do, and that is fine, other games don’t need to. I don’t want to chuckle in the same way while playing Le Harve, there is room for all types of games.
That’s it. The cards are thick and plasticity enough to survive being thrown on the floor and have different coloured backs so decks can be reset easily. The game comes in a hilarious but impractical fish shaped neoprene case.
Zatu Score
You might like
- That it's a lot of fun.
- It brings people together.
- Easy and quick to play.
- Energetic.
Might not like
- Moving...
- Silly...
- Fish.