Koi-Koi – Rules

Play Koi-Koi against the computer

1. Quick overview

What is it about? Hanafuda means “flower cards” and is the name of the Japanese deck, not of a single game. Koi-Koi is the best-known game played with it. You take cards from the table by playing a card of the same month. From the cards you collect you form combinations, the yaku. As soon as you have a yaku, you decide: stop and bank the points – or call “Koi-Koi!” (“Come on!”) and play for more, at the risk that your opponent wins.

Rule version: Koi-Koi is played in Japan and around the world with different point values. These rules are the cardgames.zone version with one Koi-Koi call per round and 12 rounds. Common house rules are listed in section 8.

2. Cards and material

• Deck: 48 hanafuda cards in 12 months of 4 cards each. Each month has its own plant.
• No numbers, no ranking: There is no “king beats queen”. Only the month of a card matters. On cardgames.zone the month number is shown small in the top left of every card.

All 48 cards by month:

Four card types – they only matter for combinations, not for capturing:

3. Setup and start

1. Choose who starts: Before the first round each player draws a card. Whoever draws the earlier month starts. If both draw the same month, draw again. The cards go back.
2. Shuffle.
3. Deal: Each player gets 8 face-down hand cards, 8 cards lie face up in the middle, the remaining 24 form the stock.
4. Check the deal: If four cards of one month are in the middle, redeal. Special starting hands: see section 7.
5. Following rounds: The winner of the previous round starts. If a round ends without a winner, the other player starts.

Starting example: Player 1 draws a cherry blossom (March), Player 2 a wisteria (April). Player 1 starts.

4. Goal and winning

• Round: Whoever first forms a yaku and stops wins the round and scores the points. The loser scores nothing.
• Game: After 12 rounds the higher total wins. If the totals are equal, the game is a draw.

5. How to play

You take turns. Each turn has three steps.

1. Play a hand card. Put a card face up in the middle:

• No month matches: Your card stays face up in the middle.
• One card of the same month: You take it together with your card.
• Two cards of the same month: You choose one of them; the other stays.
• Three cards of the same month: You take all three together with your card.
• Obligation: If a matching card is there, you must take it – you may not simply put your card next to it.

2. Turn over a card from the stock. Turn over the top card of the stock and play it at once in the same way. It does not go into your hand.

3. Check for combinations. Lay everything you took face up in front of you. Do you have a new yaku?

• No: Your turn ends and the other player goes.
• Yes: You decide: stop or “Koi-Koi!” (section 7).

Example with Players 1 and 2. In the middle there is a January card (pine) and two March cards (cherry blossom).

1. Player 1 plays the crane (January) and takes the pine with it.
2. Player 1 turns over a cherry blossom (March). Two March cards are out – he chooses the curtain, the plain cherry blossom stays.
3. Player 1 now has the crane and the curtain – two lights, no yaku yet. It is Player 2's turn.

6. Scoring

Only the winner of a round scores. These are the yaku:

The yaku in pictures:

Adding up:

• For the lights only the highest combination counts.
• Flower viewing and moon viewing both count; the sake cup is used for both.
• Red and blue ribbons together: 10 points (+1 per further ribbon).
• Boar–deer–butterflies and the ribbon yaku already include the bonus for further cards. The general animal or ribbon scoring is then not added on top. Example: boar, deer, butterflies + one more animal card = 6 points.

Doubling:

• From 7 points the round score is doubled.
• If your opponent wins after your Koi-Koi, they also get double.
• Both factors are multiplied: 8 points after the opponent's Koi-Koi = 8 × 2 × 2 = 32 points.

7. Special rules and important situations

• “Koi-Koi!”: Whoever has formed a yaku can stop (round won, points are counted) or call “Koi-Koi!”. Then the round goes on and you score nothing for now.
• Only one call per round: After the Koi-Koi the round ends as soon as either of you forms a new or improved yaku. This also applies when one more card raises the value of a quantity combination. If the caller's opponent wins, they score double.
• No Koi-Koi without moves: If you have no hand cards left, your yaku is scored at once.
• Sake cup: It counts as an animal/object card and also as a plain card. It also belongs to flower viewing and moon viewing.
• Rain man: He counts for “Five Lights” and “Four Lights with Rain”, but not for “Three Lights” or “Four Lights”.
• Three cards of one month in the middle: They lie together. Whoever plays or turns over the fourth takes all four.
• Four cards of one month in the starting hand (teshi) or four month pairs in the starting hand (kuttsuki): The player wins 6 points at once and the round ends without a move. If both players have such a hand, redeal without points.
• Hand cards do not count: Yaku are formed only from cards you have taken and laid out in front of you.
• Common mistakes: not taking a matching card; counting the rain man for “Three Lights”; playing on after the Koi-Koi although a new yaku ends the round.

8. Variants

Standard in this description: 2 players, 12 rounds, one Koi-Koi call per round, ×2 from 7 points.

Other games played with hanafuda cards are Hana-Awase, Hachi-Hachi and, in Korea, Go-Stop – they are separate games, not Koi-Koi variants.

In the computer game on cardgames.zone you play Koi-Koi for two against the computer or online, with 12, 6 or 3 rounds.

9. Tips for beginners

1. Lights first: Crane, curtain, moon and phoenix are the most valuable cards.
2. Secure the sake cup: It belongs to two yaku at once.
3. Watch your opponent: Their captured cards are face up – take cards away that would give them a yaku.
4. Don't leave what they can take: Preferably lay down months with no card in the middle that are worth little to them.
5. Koi-Koi with care: It pays off early in the round and when your opponent is not close to a yaku.
6. Don't forget the quantity yaku: Ten plain cards are often the quickest yaku.

10. Summary in 10 steps

1. 48 cards, 12 months of 4 cards each.
2. 8 hand cards each, 8 face up in the middle, 24 in the stock.
3. Play a hand card: the same month captures.
4. Two matching: choose one; three matching: take all.
5. Nothing matches: the card stays in the middle.
6. Turn over the top stock card and play it the same way.
7. Lay out captured cards face up and check for yaku.
8. Yaku: stop or call “Koi-Koi!” once.
9. ×2 from 7 points, ×2 for winning after the opponent's Koi-Koi.
10. After 12 rounds the higher score wins.

11. Frequently asked questions

What does “Koi-Koi” mean?

Roughly “Come on!” – you tempt fate and play on.

Do I have to take a card if one matches?

Yes. If a card of the same month is out, you must take it.

May I keep the card turned over from the stock?

No. It is played at once: it takes a matching card or stays in the middle.

Does the rain man count for “Three Lights”?

No. He only counts for “Five Lights” and “Four Lights with Rain”.

What happens if nobody forms a yaku?

When all hand cards have been played, the round ends without points. The other player starts the next round.

Is hanafuda a game?

No, hanafuda is the deck. Koi-Koi is one of several games played with it.

Origin & history

Hanafuda means “flower cards”: a Japanese deck of 48 cards that developed from older Japanese playing cards and took on its present design around the middle of the Edo period. The pictures show plants, animals and scenes of the twelve months. Nintendo started out in 1889 as a maker of hanafuda cards. Koi-Koi (“Come on!”) is the best-known game played with this deck.