[Ad- gifted product] Happy Salmon isn’t the normal type of card game we play at our local Geek Retreat. It’s one that might benefit from more space and not having a table in the middle of you. That said, as someone who has played it both ways, I do prefer having a table as a sort of middle ground, as otherwise people can get all in each other’s spaces and hard to move around! But, let’s get into the game.
Happy Salmon is actually incredibly easy to set up and play. Players will pick a deck of cards, that all have the same color outline and symbol in the corners. This is their personal deck, which they will then shuffle up in their hand. Once the game begins, everyone turns their deck over, revealing the bottom card with the rest of the deck face up behind it. They then need to find someone to do that action with. There are four different actions; Fish Bump (fist bump), High Five, Switch it Up (switch places with the other player) or Happy Salmon (which involves wiggling your arm against someone else’s arm, basically). Once you both have done the action, you will then drop your cards into the box and continue with the next one.
If you really cannot find someone with the same card as you, and get sick of waiting, you can place that card at the back of your deck and try your luck at the next. The winner is the player who ends up completing their deck first. It’s just as easy as that! Each of the cards have a sort of movement you do, like make a fist for fist bump or swirl your finger in the air for switch it up, or wiggle your arm for Happy Salmon, which makes finding someone with the same card as you and doing the action very simple. It’s quick, easy, and you’ll want to play it again and again. Robin, Amelia, Dann and I played a bunch of rounds on our Monday board game session, and we really had a lot of fun. We ended up playing until it was literally time to go make dinner.
Everyone laughs, everyone has fun, and having a table to sort of work around made things a bit less chaotic. I only say that because a few days later, at our adult board game session, we played a bit of Happy Salmon and it was hot chaos in a room full of adults with nothing to center them. Everyone was much louder too, but that might have been as it was late and in our living room! Either way, both times everyone enjoyed themselves.
This sounds like a really fun game. I enjoy family games that focus on fun rather than a ton of involved rules.
I actually kind of enjoy the idea of the game promoting a little chaos. That’s when things get really interesting!
I loooove board games, they’re so much fun for the entire family, my favorite pass time. I will check this one out, thank you so much…
How cool is that?! It’s really nice having a place to go to and play together. Looks like a really fun game for the whole family.
This sounds like a fun game I am sure my family would love to play it. I will try and get it. We love games night.
This sounds like such a fun and fast-paced game! I love how interactive and simple it is to play.
This would be fun to put in my classroom for game days. Happy Salmon seems like something the kids would like.
I do love playing games with the family, and currently looking for new games to play, I have not heard of Happy Salmon before but will look out for it
What a cool board game. I would love to play it myself. Sounds so much fun for both kids and parents.