What kind of game is Big Fish Eats?
You dive into the sea as one small fish and eat every fish smaller than you to grow, while dodging the bigger fish and the sharks that can eat you. It is the classic fish eat fish food chain game, the kind people describe as a feeding frenzy like game.
Each fish on screen wears a ring so you can read its size at a glance: a green ring means food, a red ring means it will eat you on contact. Eating a fish pops a yum, throws sparkles and fills the growth bar at the top. When the bar is full the stage is cleared and the sea changes as you sink to the next depth. Sun rays through the water, swaying seaweed, rising bubbles and fifteen kinds of fish are all drawn in code.
How does my fish grow?
Bigger prey gives more growth, and every 20 growth points raises your size level, five levels in all. Each level up comes with a burst effect, a bigger body and new fins, pattern and colour.
| Size level | Look | What you can eat |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Small orange fish | The tiniest fry only |
| Level 2 | Yellow fish with white stripes | Up to tier 2 |
| Level 3 | Spotted blue fish | Up to tier 3 |
| Level 4 | Purple fish with a spiky fin | Up to tier 4 |
| Level 5 | Golden fish with a crown | Up to tier 5. Tier 6 fish and sharks are still off limits |
At 100 growth the stage ends and the next stage starts you small again. The deeper you go, the faster the other fish swim and the more of them are dangerous.
How does the sea change?
There are 10 stages, from a 5 m coral reef down to a 400 m abyss. The background and the fish species change four times along the way.
| Stages | Depth | Scenery | New arrivals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 5 m · 12 m · 20 m | Sunlit coral reef, white sand and branching coral | Jellyfish from stage 2, sharks from stage 3 |
| 4 to 6 | 35 m · 50 m · 70 m | A sunken shipwreck and tall kelp | Sea urchins from stage 4 |
| 7 to 8 | 100 m · 150 m | Rock pillars in near darkness, glowing fish | More frequent sharks |
| 9 to 10 | 250 m · 400 m | Hydrothermal vents and drifting glowing particles | The fastest fish of all |
Clearing a stage adds a bonus of 200 times the stage number plus 100 per remaining life. Clear stage 10 and the game ends with the title King of the sea.
What do sharks, jellyfish, pufferfish and urchins do?
These four break the normal rules. A shark can never be eaten at any size. The other three never take a life, but each bothers you in its own way.
- Shark: a red warning flashes at the edge of the screen, then one second later the shark crosses that line. Move up or down out of its lane. Sharks appear from stage 3 and come more often as you go deeper.
- Jellyfish: drift slowly up from the bottom. Touching one numbs you for 1.5 seconds, you cannot steer and your combo resets. If a big fish arrives while you are numb, you get eaten, so never dawdle near a jellyfish.
- Pufferfish: the yellow spiky fish is always edible. Eating one puffs you up for 6 seconds so you can eat fish one tier bigger than usual. While you glow gold, some fish that had red rings turn green.
- Sea urchin: a purple spiky ball rolling along the bottom. Bumping it bounces you away and takes 12 growth points, which can drop you a size level if you were near the boundary.
How is the score counted?
Each fish is worth 10 times its tier, multiplied by your combo. Eat the next fish within 2.5 seconds to keep the combo going. Every combo step adds 0.25 to the multiplier, and from 9 combo it is triple.
A tier 1 fry is 10 points and a tier 5 fish is 50, which become 30 and 150 at 9 combo or more. The combo breaks when a jellyfish numbs you, an urchin hits you or you get eaten. Getting eaten costs a life, you respawn in the middle with 2.6 seconds of invincibility and keep your size. Lose all three lives and the game ends with a rank from Baby fish to Abyss predator depending on the stage you reached.
How do I survive longer?
- Trust the ring colours. Judging size by eye is slow. Chase green, avoid red, and that alone takes you to stage 5.
- Red fish chase you when you are close. Move up or down early while they are still far away. Getting pinned against the screen edge leaves nowhere to run.
- Read the shark warning as a lane. The shark crosses at the height where the warning flashes. Leave that lane and you are safe.
- Build combos on small fish, cash in on big ones. The same 50 point fish is worth 150 after 9 combo.
- Eat the pufferfish next to big fish. For six puffed seconds you can eat prey that is normally too big, and your growth jumps.
- Do not give up while numb. You cannot steer, but momentum still carries you. Jellyfish always rise from the bottom, so hunting near the top is safer.
Controls
- Mouse: move over the screen and the fish accelerates smoothly toward the pointer. No clicking needed.
- Phone and tablet: touch and drag, and the fish swims toward your finger. Lift your finger and it glides to a stop.
- Keyboard: arrow keys or WASD to swim. Space or Enter starts or restarts.
- Buttons: top right 🔊 toggles sound, ◎ toggles the food and danger rings, ⌂ returns to the menu. The Continue button on the title screen starts a fresh score from the furthest stage you have reached.
Your best score, furthest stage, sound and ring settings are saved only in this browser and never sent to a server. Clearing browser data clears them too.