Looking for specific Happy Salmon rules? | Setup | Playing the Game | Actions | Winning the Game | Variant Rules |
Setup
- Each player chooses a color and takes the twelve cards of that color.
- Each player will shuffle their own deck and place it face down in front of themselves.
How to Play Happy Salmon
On the count of three all of the players will flip over their deck of cards at the same time so the cards are now face up.
Once the cards are flipped over, players will begin saying out loud the action printed on their top card.
When two players say the same action they will perform the corresponding action (see the Actions section below). Once the action is completed, both players will discard their card to the center of the table. This will reveal their next card and the process will continue. The same two players can match once again, or a player can match another player.
If three players match at the same time, only the first two to match and complete the action will get to discard their card. The other player has to wait for another player to match.
If you can’t find a match, you can take your top card and put it at the bottom of your deck in order to get a new card to try and match.
Actions
The actions that you will perform in the game are as follows:
High 5
When two players match a High 5, they must slap their hands together in a “high five”.
Pound It!
Should you match another player’s Pound It!, you will fist bump the player you matched.
Switcheroo
The matching players will pick up their cards and switch positions with the player they matched. Each player takes their stack of cards with them. If the players can’t switch positions easily due to limited mobility, the players will instead just exchange their Switcheroo cards before they discard them.
Happy Salmon
The two matching players will gently slap each other’s forearm three or more times.
Winning the Game
The first player to discard all of their cards wins the game. They should shout out “FIN-ished”.
Variants
Silent Play
In this variant the players won’t say out loud their current card. Instead they will use a hand gesture to indicate their current card.
- High Five: Raise your hand into the air.
- Pound It: Raise your fist into the air.
- Happy Salmon: Flap your hand in the air like a fin.
- Switcheroo: Twirl your finger in the air.
When you find a matching player, you will take the same action as the normal game.
Cooperative Play
All of the players are playing together to try and get rid of their cards as fast as possible. You will time how long it takes for the first player to get rid of all of their cards.
Components
72 Cards. The cards are divided into six different colors. Each color has the following card distribution:
- 3 High Five Cards
- 3 Pound It! Cards
- 3 Switcheroo Cards
- 3 Happy Salmon Cards
Instructions
Year: 2016 | Publisher: Exploding Kittens, NorthStar Game Studio | Designer: Ken Gruhl, Elan Lee, Matthew Inman, Quentin Weir | Artist: Linda DeSantis, Matthew Inman
Genres: Family, Party, Speed
Ages: 6+ | Number of Players: 3-8 | Length of Game: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High
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