I realized recently that there are MANY pirate games, but very few mermaid games. There's even less to choose from once you eliminate classic games with Ariel the Disney Princess. So I decided the best way to combat that absence is to create more mermaid games.
This one is Clever Mermaid. Here's how you play:
Deal all the cards out. Make pairs by asking for cards you want.
You may ask for cards not in your hand!
If the 4 mermaids swim off in 2 pairs, they are too clever and escape your game!
But if your last card is a mermaid, you WIN!
Some questions I was asked during playtesting that can be house rules:
- TWO make a pair in this game, not four like some people's Go Fish games.
- There is no value in the paired cards. Win or loss is determined solely on having a single mermaid in hand.
- In a 4-player game, there may be four winners.
- Players cannot win with more than one card in their hand.
- There is no fishpond unless there are only 2 players.
- With 2 players, players may prefer to draw cards from each other blindly (like Old Maid) instead of asking for cards (like Go Fish).
- Putting the collected pairs face down adds a memory challenge -- if a player asks for cards that have already been paired off, they basically lose a turn.
- Whether the player gets the card they wanted/asked for (or not), once they have asked and received a card (or not), their turn ends. They do not continue their turn due to a lucky guess, grab, or draw.
- Clever Variation: if a player's favorite being is NOT a mermaid (shockers!!!), they may choose to play Clever Unicorn, Clever Alien, Clever Wand, Clever Genie, Clever Fairy, or Clever Dragon instead. The game will be played the same way.
- A player can be out of cards first and not be the winner (because player doesn't have a Clever Mermaid or Clever Variation)
Buy your copy of Clever Mermaid today!
