Rules of Play
Box of Authors

Board game · 1861

Authors

Authors - One of the earliest versions of the family of Go Fish games, in which players call on each other to give up a named card, attempting to meld sets for points, based on which set of the game it is (e.g. the first melded…

Players
2 to 6
Duration
5 min
Age
7 and up
Complexity
Beginner

Anne W. Abbott

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In brief

Authors - One of the earliest versions of the family of Go Fish games, in which players call on each other to give up a named card, attempting to meld sets for points, based on which set of the game it is (e.g. the first melded set gets 10 points, the second gets 5 points). When all sets have been melded, most points wins.

From The Card Games Website This is Go Fish without the stock pile. All the cards are dealt out as equally as possible to the players. A turn consists of asking a player for a rank (or a specific card if you play that version). If they have it your turn continues; if not the turn passes to the player you asked. As in Go Fish, you must have a card of the rank you asked for. Books of 4 cards are discarded. The game continues until all the cards are formed into books, and whoever gets most books wins - or you can score one point per book and play to a target score.

This game is often paired in the same deck with Top Trumps

Happy Families - An even earlier (1851), British version with the educational theme centered on family members and their occupations.

Quartett - This is the German equivalent of Happy Families or Authors. Many different designs of cards were made for this game in the late nineteenth and throughout the twentieth century, with various educational or other themes.

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