Hanabi

Deal cards you must not look at

This guide uses the physical R&R Games card edition and its English rule sheet credited 2013. Remove all ten multicolor cards, leaving 50 cards across white, red, blue, yellow and green. Each color contains three 1s, two 2s, two 3s, two 4s and just one 5. Other editions and expansion modules need their own component instructions.

Put all eight blue clock tokens on the table as available clues. Place the four black fuse tokens in a stack with the longest fuse on top and the explosion at the bottom. Keep the box lid beside them for spent tokens. Leave five spaces for the color sequences, plus a face-up discard area. Shuffle the 50 cards into a face-down draw deck.

Deal five cards per person for two or three players; deal four for four or five. Pick them up with their faces toward everyone else and their backs toward you. Do not peek while dealing, drawing or moving cards. Seat everyone so they can see the other hands and the public cards. The player wearing the most colorful clothes starts; if that is unclear, choosing a starter together is a house suggestion. Continue clockwise.

Before starting, agree whether to use the strict communication rule below or the memory-reminder house twist. For a first game, avoid assuming that a clue secretly means 'play this now'. Explain any agreed clue conventions before dealing; an experienced player's private convention is not a rule everyone else must know.

One clue names one color or one number

On your turn, move one available blue token into the lid. Choose one teammate and name either one color or one number in their hand. Point to every card matching that choice. If they hold two green cards, identify both; you cannot highlight just the useful one. You cannot combine a number and color, clue your own hand, split a clue between people, or give a clue that matches no card. Repeating a previous legal clue is allowed, but still costs a token and your whole turn. With no available blue tokens, choose play or discard instead.

For example, 'These two cards are 1s' tells their owner the numbers of those cards, not their colors. It also tells them the other cards in that hand are not 1s. New cards drawn later were not part of that clue. The owner may rearrange or raise cards to remember what was said, keeping the faces hidden from themselves.

In the strict base format, game information travels through paid clues. Other players do not coach a turn, confirm remembered clues, explain a deduction, warn against a discard, or signal approval through a nod, expression or emphasis. A color clue does not officially promise a card is playable. Save the discussion of why a move worked for after the game. The optional reminder twist changes this communication boundary explicitly.

Choose exactly one action on your turn

Count the final turns, then the shared score

The third failed play ends the game in a shared loss, even during the final turns. Completing all five sequences through 5 ends it in a shared win worth 25 points. Otherwise, when somebody draws the last card, finish that current turn. Each player then takes one additional turn, clockwise, with the last-card drawer taking the final one. Nobody draws replacements during these turns. For example, with three people, if A draws the last card, the remaining turns are B, C, then A.

If those turns end without a loss or perfect completion, add the highest number reached in each of the five colors. An empty color is zero: tops of 5, 3, 4, 1 and 3 give 16 points. This is one team result, not individual points; there is no player tie or tie-breaker. Losing the last remaining copy of a needed number limits that color's eventual score but does not itself end the base game.

To play again, reveal hands for a discussion, gather played, discarded and undrawn cards, remove any multicolor cards, reset all tokens, shuffle and redeal. Comparing another game's score is optional; a tied score needs no extra round unless everyone wants one.

Protect useful cards and each other's decisions

Keep discarded numbers and colors visible. Since there is only one 5 of each color, discarding it prevents that color from finishing. If both copies of a 3 are gone before a color reaches 3, its 4 and 5 cannot be played successfully either. Duplicate cards are often useful discards after their number has already been built, but you still need information about your own hand to choose them. Do not point out someone's safe discard for free.

Use a neutral voice and a consistent pointing order for clues. A host can clarify general rules such as 'You must identify every matching card', but should not use a rules explanation to reveal a live hand. Let the player make the decision. When a mistake happens, apply the normal fuse rule and discuss the reasoning after the finish rather than blaming the person who received a clue.

For disputes, check the visible color stacks, discard history, available tokens and the actual rule sheet. A wrong play has a specified consequence; an incomplete clue or accidental peek does not have a publisher-specified repair in this edition. This guide's house remedy is to stop an information-compromised game without a score, explain the correction, then shuffle and redeal. Do not quietly remove a fuse or invent a punishment midgame.

Before gathering the group, check that people can distinguish the edition's color markings, read the numbers and hold or support cards facing outward. This is a seated game with memory and visual-information demands, not a universal access guarantee. Use the reminder twist if everyone wants less memory pressure; it is a different communication agreement, not a promise of a higher score.

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Ideas & Twists

Choose a variation together before you start.