Poisson is 9/10ths of the law:- Hey that's my Fish

Game: Hey that's my Fish!

Manufacturer: Fantasy Flight

Designer: Alvydas Jakeliunas & Günter Cornett

Year: 2003

Day 1: Rival penguin ate my fish, it was my fish! Day 2: I ate my fish, but so did tall penguin, they were my fish! Day 3: Rival penguin and tall penguin fought over my fish, do they not understand that they are my fish? Day 4: I ate 3 fish today, today was a good day, until no-feathered penguin ate my fish! Day 5: The ice is melting, but I still have my fish, tall penguin is now stuck on an island with 2 of my fish! Day 6: I miss my fish on the island, but I still have lots of fish, why do the other penguins not understand that every fish is my fish? Day 7: HEY, THAT'S MY FISH!

Hey that’s my fish is a 2-4 player fish collecting penguin simulator. In it you rush around a melting ice-flow collecting as many fish tiles as possible and blocking your opponents from getting their flippers on your rightful fish! 

The game gives you a variable amount of penguin depending on player count which you take turns moving. Players choose one penguin to move as far as they want in a strait line, after moving you pick up the fish you started on. As the fish tokens you take are also part of the ice-flow the game area begins to break up and change as the game goes on. As only one of your (up to) 4 penguins moves each turn and penguins can’t move past each other the game focuses on blocking your opponents while keeping your penguins free to roam.

A game 5 moves in, both red and yellow player have a couple of penguins blocked off, though red player's penguin still has 7 fish to collect, sometimes getting stuck isn't as bad as you might think.

Except that there’s more than that, blocking your opponents in a small island off the main ice flow is great, but sometimes it can be helpful to lock yourself off from the rest of the word so long as there are enough fish on those tiles, blocking off fish so that no-one else can get then secures you delicious victory. Blocking a rival off on a particularly fishy bit of ice can actually give them a lot of points and allows their other penguins to become more active as they know they can leave their stuck penguin to collect those fish at the end.

The miniatures are rather cute, each player has 4 different poses to choose from. In a 2 player game you get all four but with 3 players you get 3 each and with 4 you only get 2, this maintains the penguin count to a healthy 8/9 regardless of player count.

And that... really is it. Hey that’s my fish is a simple, portable strategy game. The game balances well with an increasing player count, takes just about the right amount of time to keep even casual players interested and has simply adorable penguin miniatures. The game is lacking in depth and does come in a ridiculously big box for its contents (I understand there is a more portable edition available). I would recommend this game for families who have some people who aren’t hugely into gaming, in that situation the simple rules and quick game time do it wonders.

7/10