Finspan
86 questions players ask about Finspan. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-05.
Setup and Turn Structure
Playing a Fish Card
- Can I play a fish on top of a shorter fish even if its card has no consume cost?
- Can I play a smaller fish on top of a larger fish?
- Do consumed fish still count as fish in my ocean?
- Can I play a fish underneath a larger fish already in play?
- When a fish's benefit consumes a shorter fish, does the consumed fish need to be legally placeable?
- Is the Live Sharksucker's tuck ability part of its cost?
- If a card lets me play a second fish in a colored column, does that fish need a matching color band?
- Can a fish played through a when-played benefit go anywhere?
- Do I pay the cost of a fish played through a play-another-fish benefit?
- Can a fish's when-played ability affect the fish just played, such as laying an egg on itself?
Diving
- Does a printed forage fish count as a fish for a dive-site zone bonus?
- Does a dive-site bonus pay once per zone or once per fish in that zone?
- Where can an egg from a dive-site bonus be placed?
- Must I cover the bottom bonus with my diver on the first dive there?
- How far down does my diver go when I dive?
- Do I resolve dive activations in order from top to bottom?
- If I decline an if-activated all-players benefit, do the other players still get it?
- Does a flipper icon on a card mean a full dive?
- Does a column effect with colored flippers affect every fish in the column or only fish with that color band?
Eggs, Young and Schools
- Can I put eggs or young on forage fish?
- Can I take only part of a benefit?
- Can an egg go on an empty slot or be moved later?
- Where does a gained egg go, and is there a personal supply?
- Can young or a school go on a slot with no fish?
- Can one fish hold an egg, a school and young at once?
- Can a gained young go on a space that already has young, forming a school?
- Is there a maximum number of young on a space?
- Can I play a fish into a slot that already has a school?
- Is a move action mandatory?
- How far can a young or school move?
Abilities and Icons
- Can the active player refuse an all-players ability so others don't benefit?
- Do predator icons give a benefit on their own, and do double predators count twice?
- What does the Humpback Anglerfish's when-played egg effect do?
- Can the Giant Manta Ray's young all go on the same open slot?
- What does the Black Swallower's flipper power do?
- Does a game-end bottom-row egg effect need a fish in deepwater?
End of Week and Achievements
End of Game
- Does a game-end play-a-fish symbol, like the Faceless Cusk's, make the fish free?
- Do forage and consumed fish score at game end?
- Does the Clownfish's 6-point bonus count eggs and schools, or only young?
- If a game-end ability plays a fish, can that fish's game-end ability also trigger?
- Does a fish played through a game-end benefit use its WHEN PLAYED ability?
- Should I announce an all-players ability during the end-game step?
- Can a game-end egg effect add an egg to a fish that already has one?
- What do the game-end ability icons mean?
- Can I play a fish over one just played by a game-end ability?
- Must I finish one game-end ability before starting another?
Solo Mode (Nautoma)
- Is Ravel scored at the end of week 4?
- How does Nautoma score an achievement?
- When a Nautoma achievement counts eggs, does it count pairs or single eggs?
- How do the Nautoma difficulty levels change scoring?
- Does Nautoma get a new Ravel card each week?
- Do I take the first turn every week in solo mode?
- How do I set up the side B weekly goal tiles in solo play?
- Does a weekly bonus not printed on Nautoma's card score?
- How does Nautoma score a row bonus with no divers?
- Does Nautoma get an all-players benefit when it plays a fish card?
Finspan: Sharks & ReefsExpansion
- Does the Longnose Hawkfish have to be played in the green column?
- How does the Sharks & Reefs week 1 coral goal score?
- Must a coral requirement be met in the dive site where the fish is played, and is the coral spent?
- Does a coral requirement need coral of a matching colour?
- Which dive site does coral go in?
- Does the Blackmouth Angler's no-coral condition refer to the new fish's dive site?
- What is the difference between the two sides of the board overlay?
- How many starter fish do I start with in Sharks & Reefs?
- Which base-game cards does Sharks & Reefs replace?
- Can the fish I play with the Swell Shark have other tags besides camouflage?