Publisher: Mayfair Games
Designers: Günter Cornett and Alvydas Jakeliunas
Year: 2003
Genre: Lightweight childrens game
Players: Two to four players
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
MSRP: $30.00
It has been a while since I have reviewed a children’s game. Hey! That’s My Fish! is a classic so I thought it was high time I told everyone else about it. This game has been around for almost ten years and has been published by an array of companies. The current version is the one published by Fantasy Flight Games, but I didn’t get the FFG version. Instead, I chose the Mayfair Games Deluxe Edition.
There are two reasons for this, the principal one being that the Mayfair version comes with 16 high quality three-toned 
The second reason is that the Mayfair version is still available, and I wanted the deluxe edition. Let me point out however that the Fantasy Flight Games version is only $12.95 and comes in a much smaller box. The Mayfair deluxe edition is $30.00 at the Mayfair website.
Each of the cute little penguins is in it’s its own slot inside the box. The only other components to the game are the 60 thick tiles that make up the game board.
To begin, each player selects a penguin color and gets the four penguins of that color. Then you create the board by arranging all 60 hexagon tiles in an approximate square shape. This is the only part of the game that’s a pain, as you have to remake the board each time you play and it takes a couple of minutes. You don’t have to do a square shape, you can really do whatever you want but they suggest starting with the square and changing it as you wish after you know how the game works.
The tiles look like little ice flows and each has from one up to three fish pictured on them. After the layout is set up the players take turns setting up their penguins on one of the tiles one by one until all the penguins are placed. They can only be placed on a tile that shows one fish in this initial set up.
You are ready to play. Players take turns jumping a penguin from one tile to another one. They can only move in a straight line, but in any direction, kind of like a queen in chess. You want to place your penguin on a tile that has the most fish pictured on it as these will end up getting added to your score pile. The object of the game is to have the most fish in your score pile when the game ends in order to win.
The tile that your penguin started from is picked up and added to your score pile. So as you play the game the tiles will slowly disappear. You can only move one of your penguins per turn, and if they get trapped on a tile with no place to go they get removed from the board, along with the tile they are standing on (which you add to your score pile).
You can also end up with tiles that no one can get to. If this happens then these tiles are removed but they don’t get added to anyone’s score pile.
Once all the penguins are gone, the game is over. Count up all of the fish on all of the tiles in your score pile and the player
The suggested ages are 8+, but it is simple enough for children as young as five to play. It might take a while for them to learn the strategies for getting the highest score, but that is one of the great things about this game. It can teach kids how to plan ahead and makes them think while still being fun. You can also teach them how to count up all of the fish for themselves, which is great practice for the young ones.
The game is entertaining enough for the adults to have a good time too. Hey! That’s My Fish! is a lot of fun and a great teaching game for the little ones. My daughter also loves just playing with the penguins, and this is fine as they are fairly indestructible unless you are also letting the kids play with power tools (which I do not recommend).
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