Guppies

Guppies – The Fish Making Tile Game!

Part puzzle, part art & design toy – Guppies is a fun and social tile game for 2 or 6 players.

Guppies is easy to play – simply place your GuppyTiles as efficiently as possible to created fish – the more fish you create – the more points you score!

Clear off a table, grab some friends, and let’s make some fish!

The game is easy to play, but the strategy can get pretty complex.

While the game is designed for adults, parents playing with children might want to pay close attention to make sure that children follow the matching rules.

PDF of Guppies Manual

How to Play Guppies

Object: Strategically place GuppyTiles to score the most points.

Number of Players: 2 to 6

Playing Time: 90-120 minutes

Age Group: 12+

Components: Box (with scoreboard on the bottom), 24 pawns (3 colors – 4 each, regular & large size) for the scoreboard, Instructions, Bag, & 128 GuppyTiles.

You will also need a large (around 3′ x 3′) playing surface.

First Time Setup: The GuppyTiles are laser cut and need to be carefully punched out. They will have a slight amount of soot around the edges, which can easily be wiped off; and will have a campfire smell for about a week after you open them.

Game Setup: Each player decides which color fish they want to play: Green, Orange or Purple.

When playing with more than 3 players, 2 will be the same color. 2 players using the same color are not playing together.

Each player should place one of their pawns in front of them to indicate which fish color is theirs. If playing with more than 3 players – one player of a color will use the regular size pawns while the other will use the larger sized pawns.

Each player then uses the remaining 3 pawns of their color and sets their score to 0 using the scoreboard on the bottom of the box by placing their pawns on the 000 in the 100s, 00 in the 10s, and 0 in the 1s.

Alternatively, you could also use pen and paper to keep score instead of using the scoreboard and pawns.

Place all the GuppyTiles in the bag and shake well!

Play

Players take turns clockwise around the table.

Each turn is comprised of 3 steps.

Select a GuppyTile from the bag
Place the GuppyTile
Score Points

1 – Select a GuppyTile from the bag

Shake the GuppyTiles in the bag
Don’t look!
Pull a GuppyTile from the bag
Now look at your GuppyTile.
You should show everyone what GuppyTile you picked

Remember all GuppyTiles are double sided!

2 – Place the GuppyTile

For a move to be valid:

At least one edge of the GuppyTile you are placing must touch one edge of the GuppyTiles on the table. (Except for the very first GuppyTile, this is just placed in the center of the table).

All edges that touch – must match color to color and head to tail. That is:

Green Head to Green Tail
Orange Head to Orange Tail
Purple Head to Purple Tail
Blue water to Blue Water

These are the only matches that are valid.

Head to Head, Tail to Tail, Head to Water, or Tail to Water, or wrong color head to tail, are not valid moves!

Don’t do this!

In the very unlikely case that you can’t place your GuppyTile (and everyone else gets to double check first that this is true), simply place the GuppyTile back in the bag and select again.

Remember the GuppyTiles are double sided (and different on both sides)!

3 – Score points

There are several ways to score points.

1. Score 3 points for each completed fish of your color

2. Score 1 point for each completed fish of another color

3. Add up those points and multiply it by the number of matching edged – this includes the blue water sides.

Example 1:

If the player is orange, the above scores 6 points: 3 points for the fish * 2 for 2 matching edges.

If the player is green or purple, the above scores 2 points: 1 points for the fish * 2 for 2 matching edges.

Example 2:

If the player is orange or green, the above scores 6 points: 2 points for the 2 fish * 3 for 3 matching edges.

If the player is purple, the above scores 18 points: 6 points for the 2 fish * 3 for 3 matching edges.

Example 3:

If the player is orange, the above scores 9 points: 3 points for the 3 fish * 3 for 3 matching edges.

If the player is green, the above scores 15 points: 5 points for the 3 fish (3 points for the green fish + 2 points for the 2 purple fish) * 3 for 3 matching edges).

If the player is purple, the above scores 21 points: 7 points for the 3 fish (1 points for the green fish + 6 points for the 2 purple fish) * 3 for 3 matching edges).