Fish Hatchery: World's Most Immersive Aquatic Deck Builder

In Fish Hatchery, you play an amateur aquarist attempting to build up your fish keeping side-gig into a thriving business. You will breed your fish, make deliveries to fish stores, and grow your operation, but beware jealous competitors who may sabotage your attempts to go the distance! 

Dynamic Deck Building

In Fish Hatchery each player constructs their decks from the same basic starter cards, purchasing more complex fish along the way. As the rounds pass, the fish become more valuable but they also become more difficult to care for, so maintaining proper water quality is essential. 

Unique, Top Quality Components

Fish Hatchery features a box and 370 cards with linen finish, 30 custom wooden dice, and 50 sculpted snail and shrimp miniatures made of tactile TPR, all included in the base game.

Hand-Painted Watercolor Art 

All art for Fish Hatchery was painted meticulously by hand, a process that took the better part of a year to complete. Absolutely no AI was used at any point during the developement of this game, from design to art to graphic design. 

Immersive Aquatic Theme  

In board games today, the fish keeping hobby is something that is underrepresented and sorely needed on our shelves. Fish Hatchery brings the immersive, fish-keeping theme to the gaming table where players can enter the aquatic world of breeding fish, running a fish room, and keeping a plethora of both classic and unique species in their tanks.

If this is your fist time backing a Kickstarter project, here is a simple explanation of how it works! Check out the link below for a simple walkthrough. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YUPNnQ7fcTqN_ZikxhDcU2aKNy2784VP/view?usp=drive_link 

In Fish Hatchery you play an amateur aquarist trying to build your fish keeping side gig into a thriving business. Over the course of four rounds you will build out your deck with unique fish, purchase items that will trigger off of your deck statically, and earn aquarist points as the difficulty increases round to round. 

Each turn you may: 1) breed a pair of fish, 2) make a delivery to a fish store, or 3) purchase a fish or item. In addition, every turn you may play a supply card or make up to 3 shrimp exchanges which count as free actions. 

The game hinges on what kinds of fish you collect/what kind of deck you will build as each type of fish in the game focuses on separate mechanics. As you purchase fish and sharpen your deck’s mechanic, you will fulfil master breeder cards which are the main way to score points both at the end of the round as well as at the end of the game. 

Beware your opponents in Fish Hatchery! Subterfuge and sabotage play a strong role in the game and you will be both dodging attacks as well as laying waste to your opponents as they attempt to race you to the top. You will hatch unwanted snails in their tanks, break in and steal their supplies, and even unleash your trusty cat to snatch their prized fish right out of the water! 

At the end of four rounds, the player with the most aquarist points is declared the winner. Ways to score points include: breeding fish, fulfilling master breeder cards, and collecting master breeder tokens and spawning dice. There are two tie breakers in Fish Hatchery based on how pristine a player has kept their aquarium, so a tie is virtually impossible! 

“As a lot of you know… I’ve been really into the Aquarium Hobby for a while now. Well, Dufflepud Games is making the board game that I have been waiting for somebody to make and I'm super stoked about it!!! I feel like some of yall really need to know about this!!” - VIP Group Member 

“Me honestly, I love the art. But I'm also a sucker for games that feature building animal care settings (like a zoo or aquarium etc) so I feel like your game is right up my alley!” - VIP Group Member 

“For me, it was the art that drew me in. Art really sells, and as another game designer in the industry, your art stands out. It's really clean, and shows your dedication to making your game special.” - VIP Group Member 

“I love the idea of a cozy game that can be played with my partner (or a group) that also shares my hobby. The art is also beautiful!” - VIP Group Member 

“Awesome game!! I can’t wait to play this! Thanks so much for creating an awesome game and I can’t wait to hopefully play!” - VIP Group Member 

“Just the perfect game for me. I’m a fish hobbyist and a board gamer. I would love to learn more about fish while playing a game!” - VIP Group Member 

“Super excited for the game!” - VIP Group Member 

Fish Hatchery Expansion: Danios 

Stretch Goal Unlock Criteria - $120,000

New card expansion for Fish Hatchery introducing brand new shrimp mechanics 

Fish Hatchery Expansion: Sharks  

Stretch Goal Unlock Criteria - $175,000

New card expansion for Fish Hatchery introducing new attack mechanics 

Fish Hatchery Expansion: Solo-Mode Arowanas  

Stretch Goal Unlock Criteria - $250,000

New card expansion for Fish Hatchery introducing solo mode gameplay

Aged Patina Metal Coins 

$40.50 

MSRP: $45 

10% OFF

Aged patina metal coins of two shapes and tones 

10 3-value silver coins 

10 1-value copper coins 

Fish Head Dice Shaker

$58.50 

MSRP: $65

10% OFF

Gray resin fish head dice shaker 

Deluxe Fish Figurines

$36

MSRP: $40 

10% OFF

5 deluxe fish figurines modeled after fish in Fish Hatchery 

1 Loach figurine 

1 Paradise fish figurine 

1 Goldfish figurine 

1 Hatchetfish Figurine 

1 Pleco Figurine 

Reversible Dice Tray

$18 

MSRP: $20 

10% OFF

Double sided dice tray, Oranda goldfish on one side, Marbled Hatchetfish on the other 

Set of 4 Neoprene Player Mats and Score Board

$67.50  

MSRP: $75 

10% OFF

Neoprene mats and board 

4 Neoprene player mats 

1 score board 

52 Playing Card Deck 

$27 

MSRP: $30 

10% OFF

Classic 52 card poker deck with Fish Hatchery art 

12x18” Betta Fish Stretched Canvas Fish Hatchery Art 

$135 

MSRP: $150 

10% OFF

Gorgeous Betta Fish stretched canvas 
 

8x10” Guppy Poster

$22.50 

MSRP: $25 

10% OFF

Hand painted 8x10” Guppy watercolor poster 

8x10” Paradise Fish Poster

$22.50 

MSRP: $25 

10% OFF

Hand painted 8x10” Paradise Fish watercolor poster 

8x10” Pigmy Hatchetfish Poster

$22.50 

MSRP: $25 

10% OFF

Hand painted 8x10” Pigmy Hatchetfish watercolor poster 

Pack of Fish Hatchery Stickers 

$8 

MSRP: $9 

11% OFF

3 Pack of hand painted watercolor stickers 

What’s Included (if applicable)

1 die cut Bumblebee Catfish sticker 

1 die cut Pigeon Blood Discus Sticker 

1 die cut Black Moor Goldfish Sticker

Because we will have fulfillment partners in multiple locations across the globe, shipping costs will be kept to around $10 per box, regardless of location. However, due to final wieght of the game post mass production, please note that shipping is an estimate. 

Our fulfillment partner is MOCO, a reputable board game fulfilment center, and we will be providing shipment to the continental US, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Europe. 

Because shipping costs vary depending on your location and may shift over time, your shipping costs will be calculated and collected after the end of our campaign and closer to our ship date. 

You will receive an email from our pledge manager, BackerKit, a few weeks after the campaign to confirm your pledge and add any additional items you would like. 

In the BackerKit survey, you will be able to: Confirm your pledge and add any additional items you would like to get. Later, you will receive an email from EasyShip Collect a few weeks before fulfillment. In the EasyShip Collect survey, you will be able to: 1) Pay for shipping costs on the spot and choose from three different carriers: Cheapest, Fastest, Hybrid (Best Value) 2) Pay for taxes and duties (if due) on the spot as well to avoid delays. 3) Have the ability to add shipping insurance to the package

Please be aware that the shipping rate estimates provided in the table below are only approximations for our different pledge levels (including stretch goals) and that the prices mentioned do not include any add-ons you may have selected, which could result in an increase in cost. Final charges for shipping and sales tax or VAT (where applicable) will be determined based on actual shipping costs incurred.

When it’s time to fulfill your pledge, we will send your rewards to one of our international shipping hubs to then distribute to you! These shipping hubs will help streamline our fulfillment process and decrease VAT so you can have faster, cheaper, more reliable shipping.

Our names are Josiah and Johana Tolopilo, co-creators and co-designers of Fish Hatchery! We are husband and wife, met in 2024, married and started Dufflepud Games in 2025, and are expecting our first daughter this year… it has been a whirlwind to say the least! Our favorite joint hobby is playing board games together. Though we enjoy games of every stripe and color of game, we tend to gravitate towards games with mechanics that make you strategize, especially deck and engine builders. 

Josiah is our game creator and comes up with the concepts for all our games. Johaha is the co-designer and no game would get to its finished state without her insightful edits and input. Fish Hatchery was actually Johana’s initial idea; Josiah is passionate about keeping fish, and one day Johana suggested: “you should make a game about aquariums, since you love it so much!” The idea stuck in Josiah’s head, and in short order he had the working rules for what would become Fish Hatchery. 

It has been quite the journey since then; so many prototype iterations and countless play testing hours, but we are now thrilled to present what we believe is an incredible product that people will cherish. In the end we create games, not just because we love to, but because it is something that brings joy into families, friend circles, and homes. Games make the world a better, more whole place, and if Fish Hatchery can be a part of that, we feel that in some small way we are making the world a better place. 

From Josiah and Johana to you, we hope you LOVE Fish Hatchery!

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/dufflepudgames/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579527986195

TikTok: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@dufflepudgames?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

We proudly partner with LaunchBoom, Panda Games, and Jellop.