Literature is a card game for six players. It uses a modified version of the Western 52-playing card deck; the 2's are removed, leaving 48 cards. The game is sometimes called Canadian Fish, X-Treme Go Fish, or even simply Fish, after the similar Go Fish (which, confusingly, is also sometimes called Fish).
| Players | 6 or 8 |
|---|---|
| Age range | 14+ |
| Setup time | 5 min |
| Playing time | 20–35 minutes |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Skill(s) required | Card counting, strategy |
Contents |
The players are divided into two teams of 3 players each. Generally, the players are seated alternating teams. Each player is dealt 8 cards, which they keep to themselves. Conceptually, the 48 cards are divided into 8 sets. Each of the 4 suits has two 6-card sets, a 'low' set containing cards numbered 3 through 8, and a 'high' set containing cards 9 through Ace. Players are not to communicate anything about the card(s) or the number of cards they hold to team members, verbally or otherwise. Generally, players do not fan out their cards so that they don't reveal the number of cards they have (but some variations require a player to report how many cards he or she is holding when asked).
The object is to get more points than the other team. One point is given every time a team successfully declares (wins) a set. A player declares a set by identifying the set, and then identifying which of his/her team members (including the player) hold which cards in that set. A player can only declare a set on his/her turn, and must attribute every card in the set to a team member. For example, a player (with teammates named Mary and Joseph) might declare a set by announcing:
If the attributions are correct, then his/her team receives 1 point. If the attributions are false, and all the cards in the set were held by team members, then nothing happens. However, if the attributions are false, and one or more of the cards in the set were held by a player from the opposing team, then the team of the declaring player loses 1 point.
The game begins with one player, usually the dealer, asking for a card from an opposing team member, specifically naming rank and number/symbol. Players must have at least one card in the same set of the card they are asking for. Players are disallowed from asking for cards they already possess. If the opposing player has the card, they must give it to the asking player, who is then allowed to ask again for a specific card from any opposing team member. If the opposing player does not have the card, it is then that player's turn to ask. Players can declare sets at any time during their turn. The game proceeds in this manner until all the sets have been declared.
If a player accidentally asks for a card that is in their own hand, they must immediately alert all other players to this mistake, as this can throw off every player following that set, including that player's own teammates.
Several variations exist:
Since players can only ask for cards they do not possess, using the questions asked to others in the game, a player can deduce the card or set of cards a player has. From an information theory perspective, the optimal strategy for a player is to emit as much information as possible to his team-mates while simultaneously emitting as little information as possible to his opponents. Thus optimal strategy consists not only of asking for some cards that one needs, but not prematurely divulging the existence of all sets they have. Though there is a lot of strategy involved in the game, a very good memory is also needed on the part of the players. A perfect history of the game so far is more valuable than perfect logic based on incomplete information.
Another common strategy adopted is the stalemate-breaker. If the members of team come to the conclusion that all the cards in a set are within themselves and they can correctly attribute them, they don't drop the set immediately. This set is kept as a stalemate-breaker. If at a later point in the game a player in the team is at the verge of finishing a set (i.e., he knows which opponent has which card) but is unable to do so because he does not get a turn, the stalemate-breaker is used. One of his team-members can declare the stalemate-breaker set when he gets the turn and pass the turn to him.