General
Each fish card has a type and a value; the value equals both its point worth and the total number of that fish type in the full deck.
Every fish card has a type (e.g., Betta Fish, Regal Tang) and a numeric value. The value serves two purposes: (1) it is the number of points a player gains or loses for that fish type at the end of the game, and (2) it equals the total count of that fish type in the complete 72-card deck. For example, Clown Fish (12) is worth 12 points and there are 12 Clown Fish cards total; Regal Tang (4) is worth 4 points and there are 4 Regal Tang cards total.
General
A school is a collection of one or more fish cards of the same type.
A school is any group of one or more fish cards that share the same type. Schools exist both in the reef (shared area) and in a player's habitat (personal area). A single fish card counts as a school of one.
General
The ocean is the shuffled face-down draw deck placed in the center of the table.
The ocean is the central face-down deck from which players draw cards each turn. It is formed during setup by shuffling the appropriate fish cards (after removals based on player count and random blind removal). The 'Last Round' Quick Guide card is placed face-up at the very bottom of the ocean deck.
General
The reef is the shared face-up row of fish schools near the ocean from which players may take schools on their turn.
The reef is a communal face-up play area containing schools of fish cards. It is seeded during setup with a number of face-up cards equal to the number of players plus 1. During the game, the reef grows and changes as players add discarded cards to it or take schools from it. There is no limit to the number of schools that can exist in the reef.
General
A player's habitat is their personal face-up area holding up to 3 schools of fish taken from the reef.
Each player's habitat is the face-up area in front of them where schools taken from the reef are placed. A habitat can hold a maximum of 3 schools. Two schools of the same fish type cannot be merged together to make room for another school. At the end of the game, all fish in a player's habitat are combined with their hand for scoring.
Setup
Remove certain fish types from the deck based on player count before shuffling.
Before forming the ocean deck, remove fish cards based on the number of players: For 2 players, remove all 11 Royal Angelfish cards AND all 12 Clown Fish cards. For 3 players, remove all 12 Clown Fish cards only. For 4, 5, or 6 players, use all 72 fish cards with no type-based removals.
Setup
After type-based removals, remove additional random cards face-down from the ocean based on player count.
After removing fish types by player count and shuffling, blindly remove cards from the ocean (without looking at them) and place them back in the box. The number to remove: 2 players = 14 cards, 3 players = 14 cards, 4 players = 11 cards, 5 players = 6 cards, 6 players = 5 cards. This ensures the ocean runs out at the right time.
Setup
Place the 'Last Round' Quick Guide face-up at the bottom of the ocean deck to signal the final round.
After completing all setup steps, place the Quick Guide card with the 'Last Round' side facing up at the very bottom of the ocean deck. When a player draws this card (or cannot draw because the ocean is empty), the final round begins.