The sustainable fishing game
Suitable for ages 10+
Best for 2-5 players
The BigFish card game is for everyone interested in fun card games, fishing or marine life.
To win the game you must find the best fishing strategy to collect points from catching fish, while keeping your fishing spot healthy and protected from natural disasters and other players.
Getting the game
We’ve just finished a highly successful crowdfunding campaign raising funds to bring this game into the world. Yay! We are now working on the final game production and printing, and will post updates here. The Big Fish Game is not available in shops yet, but you can still order your copy through the crowdfunding page on Kickstarter.
Meanwhile, please get in touch if you have further ideas on how to promote and fund the game and engagement actitivities, if you are a teacher and would like to use the game in your lessons, or if you have other questions or suggestions.
Would you like to get occasional updates about the Big Fish events, outreach and achievements? Subscribe to our newsletter. You will get a max of one email per month.
Playing the game
Big fish are worth more points than small fish, so players want to catch them. But the presence of big fish also allows players to draw new cards, spawn new fish and also grow them. The player has to find a balance between collecting points by catching fish and preserving big fish for good fishing opportunities in the future.
In addition to fishing, other natural and human-induced events occur throughout the game: fisheries research, poor water quality, citizen science, illegal fishing, ocean acidification, sea urchin arrival and others.
These events create unpredictability and new challenges. Players can partly protect their fishing spots by finding the best game strategy.
Main messages
We developed the game because we love fun card games and we love the ocean. We also love big fish.
1. Big fish are important
Preserving the big fish in the oceans, lakes and rivers is important for fish reproduction and resilience, ecosystem balance, for the fun of fishing, or simply because big fish are beautiful.
2. Big fish are mostly gone
Due to commercial and recreational fishing, big fish have mostly vanished from oceans, rivers and lakes.
3. Big fish can return
Fish grow relatively fast and if we take the right actions, we can restore them within our lifetimes and enjoy their beauty and benefits again.
Who we are
This game has been developed by the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Sciences, University of Tasmania team, led by Matt Testoni, Asta Audzijonyte and Amy Coghlan. You can learn more about the science of our team at our FishSize Project lab website. You can also follow Big Fish Card Game news on Instagram!
All artwork is original and produced by Amy Coghlan (drawings), Matt Testoni (photos, design) and Stacey McCormack (design). Game testing, advice, interesting facts and many other details have been provided by many researchers, naturalists, students, friends, anglers, divers and game enthusiasts. Thank you.
Supporters
Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation
You can support the game by pledging on our crowdfunding or by contacting us.
If you would like to sponsor a card, representing your organisation or initiative, get in touch and we will discuss. We will only include cards that are truly important for sustainable fisheries and marine ecosystems.
Underwater photography for this site is provided by Matt Testoni.
