Goldfish scooping

Participation typically costs around 100 yen and players can take the scooped goldfish home in a plastic bag provided by the stall keeper.

In some variations, there are also medaka (Japanese rice fish) that are faster and harder to catch than goldfish.

Usually, the goldfish are placed in a small plastic pool about 1 square metre (11 sq ft) and 20 centimetres (7.9 in) depth.

In some stalls, staff have unbreakable poi which consist of a net to scoop goldfish instead of paper.

If players get goldfish, they can take them home in bags provided by the stall keeper.

The game became more and more popular, and the National Goldfish Scooping Championship began in 1995.

The game has become it is so popular that stalls can be found at many ennichi (縁日, "summer festivals") in Japan.

The rules are detailed and include the size of goldfish, poi and pool, and the number of umpires.

If the paper of poi is completely broken, the game is over and the score is the number of goldfish scooped until then.