Hanafuda
BGG rank
BGG #3,675
BGG rating
6.9

Hanafuda

1701

Rules assistance for Hanafuda

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–7 players
  • 60 min
  • 8+
  • Complexity 1.7/5

For 2 players

Rules assistant for Hanafuda

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Hanafuda is a board game released in 1701 for 2–7 players, 60 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Set Collection, and Push Your Luck.

Similar games

About the game

Hanafuda cards originated in beginning of 18th-century Japan. Legend says stewards of Edo Shogunate created it from Portuguese playing cards. A deck consists of forty-eight cards divided into twelve suits of four cards each. Each suit represents one of the twelve months of the year or individual plants (almost all flowers). The cards are small (about 1 x 2 inches), made from stiff cardboard, and are beautifully illustrated. Many different games can be played with a Hanafuda deck. The standard game was Hachi-Hachi (Eighty-eight), which resembles the Western game Casino, but is more complicated and subtle. The standard game now is Koi-Koi. Re-implemented by: Go Stop, the game using Hwatu (화투, 花闘), Korean Hanafuda.

Publishers

  • (Self-Published)
  • Ensky
  • Trefl
  • (Public Domain)
  • Nintendo Co., Ltd.
  • The Game Crafter, LLC
  • IELLO
  • Daiso (ダイソー)

Questions and answers

Hanafuda supports 2–7 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.