How to make your own

Kingyo Suku (Goldfish Scooping)

game with plastic fish

I recently had to come up with a Japanese festival game for a Sakura Festival. Having stumbled upon a gross of plastic fish at iParty, I decided to make my own plastic goldfish scooping (Kingyo Sukui) game. Since I live in the States and this was under short enough notice, I couldn't mail order the correct paddles (poi). In only 4 days, I had to devise my own from scratch. I also wanted to make them reusable so I wouldn't have to guess at how many poi to make. I thought I would share what I learned in case anyone else wished to do this as a fun way of sharing this Japanese game.

Materials you will need

Tools you will need

Construction

With the utility knife carefully cut out the middle of the lid. Be sure not to damage the part of the lid that locks in with the bottom of the food saver.

With the utility knife, also remove the top of the bottom of the food saver

You will now have two rings, the lid ring and the bottom ring. Mark two holes where the handle will come out on the bottom ring. They should be fairly close together, but no so close as to compromise the plastic.

With the utility knife, score a starting hole, then with the hand drill, carefully drill the plastic. I actually did this by holding the ring in one hand and the drill in my other and manually twisting, rather than using the drill as intended.

Cut the wire to twice the length you desire for the handle plus a little extra. Bend the wire in half and then straighten to form the handle.

Insert the wire into the drilled holes,

and then bend to match the curve of the ring.

Rotate the wire to fit snuggly into the groove of the ring. Test that the lid ring still seats properly and adjust the wire curve if it doesn't.

Using the hot glue, secure the wire in place.

Notch the lid ring to make a place for the handle. Make sure not to notch too high, or the lid will no longer work properly. (The lid on the left has been notched too far.)

With your scissors, cut the tissue paper into circles slightly bigger than the rings. You are now ready to assemble the poi!

Place the paper over the bottom ring and snap the lid ring into place keeping the paper tight with out tearing it.

Now just fill your tub with some water and the plastic toys and the game can begin.

Traditionally the Japanese let you keep scooping until the paper can no longer hold any fish. You don't have to stop just because the paper is torn.

I hope you enjoy making your own Kingyo Sukui game. It's great fun for adults and children