Need help on Hanafuda rules (Koi-Koi)

[dagobertduck]

​

Hello JRef community,
I want to create a German tutorial for the Hanafuda card game, especially for the Koi-Koi (こいこい) game. Hanafuda is produced and sold in Germany and the game is not (yet) very known but this can change immediately once a "hype" breaks out, e.g. when people see the game in movies.
The German instructions which come with the card game are not complete and have some differences to the japanese rules you can find in the internet.
I tried to find the one and only official hanafuda rules in the web but it seems that there are many many "local rules" and somehow 10 website show 10 slightly different rules for Koi-Koi.

In the end I found out that Nintendo was founded back in 1889 to produce Hanafuda cards and still does. AND... on top of that I found the somehow "official" rules from Nintendo on 任天堂ホームページ：その他の商品 and I spent hours to translate them to German/English. I have to say that I only know the chinese language partially and I and have no clue about katakana/hiragana, only kanji I partially understand. :banghead:

I tried to play Koi-Koi with my wife according to the "official Nintendo rules" but there are still some questions remaining and I wonder if anyone here can help me out.
:?


1.) Do you really only score when you have 7 or more points in one round? This felt a bit odd when playing.

2.) Who will be the dealer (親) in case you have no winner in one round (draw)?

3.) Once a player has a yaku (役) and says "Koi-Koi" will the points be doubled only for the enemy in case he gets the next yaku first and not for the player himself? Imagine you have 3 lights say "Koi-Koi" and get another light: Still no "double scoring" for you?

4.) What happens with the score "multiplier" if the same player says "Koi-Koi" for a 2nd or 3rd time? Imagine now you have four lights and say "Koi-Koi" the 2nd time: Will the score be trippled and if you say "Koi-Koi" again will it be quatrippled? Or does the multiplier only increase if the enemy builds a yaku and says "Koi-Koi"?


I would symbolically bake the biggest and tastiest cookie for the one who answers my questions!

 

[Grandpa Frank]

May be too old ?

There was a 94 page book called Hanafuda: The Flower Card Game published by Japan Publications , Inc. The first edition was in April of1970 . Editing and layout was by Soshichi Toyoshima. The Library of Congress catalog card number is 75-114629. Maybe Amazon might have a copy. I never played the game , but I watched my Japanese friends play it for hours and have a great time at it.

Uncle Frank

 

[Mark of Zorro]

Every family I have played with had different rules. Seems to me its so players new to the house cannot win.

I think any hanafuda rule book should explain that there are many, many rule variations, more than can be listed.

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
You missed 倍の. When you have 7 or more points in one round, for instance, you have "yaku" such like 五光[gokō](10 points), 四光[shikō](8 points), 猪鹿蝶[inoshikachō] + 青短[aotan](5+5=10 points), you get the doubled points of them, i.e., 20, 16, 20 points, respectively. When you have 6 or less points, you get the points with no change, of course.

2)
The dealer is changed to the opponent.

3)
That's right. Although you will be able to get 7 or more points in most cases you are going say "koi-koi" twice or three times, i.e., you will get the doubled points as a result by the rule in #1.

4)
You can say "koi-koi" as many times as you want. No limits. The points just change to the doubled one, both for the opponent and in the case the player who called "koi-koi" gets 7 or more points.
I believe the situation you say "koi-koi" twice or more is not so many. Probably the opponent will be able to have 5 "tane", 5 "tan" or 10 "kasu" and then win the round before you say it.

 

[dagobertduck]

You... guys... are... AWESOME!!!

Thank you so much!!!

@Uncle Frank: I will look out for the book for sure! Can't believe I never thought of searching for simple book although I worked in a library for 6 years.

@Mark of Zorro: Thank you for the hint. I'll consultate Frustrated Dave when I stumble upon further translation issues.

@Toritoribe: After your explanation everything makes sense all of a sudden. Big thanks!