Fishing game

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Miniature fishing game

Fishing game is a popular children's play where a artificial pond fish caught are. An author cannot be determined, as there is evidence that the game was already known and produced at the end of the 19th century. Mostly it is based on a magnetic or a mechanical principle.

The magnetic type

Name and equipment

Angel game around 1910, manufacturer: Bing Spiele und Verlag GMBH Nuremberg, holdings from the MEK (Museum of European Cultures)
Angel game, around 1910

Numerous publishers brought out such a fishing game, sometimes under different names. Some of them are:

  • Funny fishing game, magnetic fishing game, Petri Heil
  • Aquarium , fish circus, ice fishing, fidget fish, snapper, etc.

The equipment consists of most games

  • 2–6 fishing rods in the form of wooden or plastic rods up to 50 cm in length
  • Line with a magnetic end on the hook
  • Fold-up or stand-up privacy screen
  • various fish made of wood, cardboard or plastic with iron clamps and printed rating points
  • other objects (shoe, can, etc.) with 0 points

Rules of the game

Fish and objects come into the pond. Every angler has several attempts ( two attempts in the classic Ravensburger fishing game from 1952) to catch an object or fish with the magnetic fishing rod . Then it's the turn of the next player (in some games the fishing rod is passed on due to a lack of equipment). At the end, the points on the fish are counted. The fish are counted for smaller children who are not yet able to do the addition. The winner is the one with the most points (fish).

A variant of this fishing game is without privacy screens and magnets. The fish have small metal eyelets and the fishing rods have small hooks. The ratings are then printed on the underside of the fish. Such games can be found in many forms and names ( duck fishing ), even at fairs .

The mechanical type

Mechanical fishing game from Japan.

Furnishing

  • A battery powered rotatable pond with openings
  • Various mechanical fish
  • Two fishing rods

Rules of the game

In the mechanical type, the fish are embedded in openings in a pond. The pond rotates battery-powered and the fish are lifted up in certain places by a mechanical device. The fish open their mouths high up and let a bait (usually a ball) be inserted into the mouth on the rod. The fish snap back and close their mouths and can be pulled out of the pond using the fishing rod. The whole thing is a game of skill. The players must be able to coordinate the fishing rod exactly and put the bait into the mouth at the right time so that they can then pull the fish out of the pond with a steady hand on the fishing rod. In the end, the winner is the player who caught the most fish in a certain time.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Numerous illustrations of fishing games