Go(ld) Fish!

[G S C]

In Delaware, 1950s & 60s:  Fish, and Go Fish.  Usually, someone with a
deck of cards in hand would ask if someone else wanted to play Fish.

Central Pennsylvania, 1980s & 90s: Fish.  Might have heard phrase Go
Fish, but Fish seems to be the dominant usage.  My just-finished high
school daughter says that both Fish & Go Fish are used.

1961, Dec. pbk. (1956):  Rules of Games According to Hoyle, by Richard
L. Frey, Crest (Fawcett, Greenwich, Conn.), p. 186, indexes Go Fish, "a
simpler form of Authors. . . ."

1962, Feb. pbk  (1958):  Hoyle's Rules of Games, newly revised and
expanded edition, by Albert H. Morehead & Geoffrey mott-Smith, Signet
(New American Library, NY), p. 169, indexes Fish, "a simpler form of
Authors. . . ."

1963 pbk.:  The Official Rules of Card Games, edited by Albert H.
Morehead, publisher's 53rd ed., United States Playing Card Company
(Cincinnati, OH), p. 217, indexes Go Fish, Fish, Go Fishing, & Authors,
noting (in a separate description for Authors) that "Authors is similar
to Go Fish, but is often played more seriously."  The page heading is Go
Fish.

[Why not just get them to play the game Michigan, which Morehead notes
as being "ideal for groups in which there is no acceptable game known to
all members. . . ."?]

George S. Cole   gscole at ark.ship.edu
Shippensburg University