MY FAVOURITE GAME

The Herbaceous designer draws a good hand for Japanese classic, Hanafuda

Eduardo Baraf tells us about the Japanese card deck, Hanafuda

Igrew up in the 80s and Nintendo had an oversized influence on my life. My first console was the NES in 1986 and games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Castlevania offered me fantasy, challenges, and escape. As I grew, my passion for games didn’t wane and ultimately led me to start the indie video game club, Wolverine Soft, at the University of Michigan and pursue a BA in Japanese Studies. How else could I import hard-to-find or unreleased games? At some point, I was aware that Nintendo started out as a traditional card game manufacturer, but I was pre-occupied with video games and assumed they must have made poker cards or something similar. I made video games for almost a decade before diving into board games and starting Pencil First Games, at which point I wasn’t paying much attention to Nintendo’s history.

It wasn’t until I ‘purchased’ a custom Nintendo Hanafuda deck using some excess Nintendo Club points that I appreciated how silly my old assumption was, how rich Japanese card history is, and how amazingly different Hanafuda cards are from the cards I most commonly used in the United States.

The first time I tried to play Koi-Koi, the game that Nintendo provides rules for with their Hanafuda decks (think poker rules using a US traditional 52-card deck) – It. Blew. My. Mind.

First, the cards are physically different. They are much smaller and made out of a stiffer and thicker printed card stock that is wrapped with a thinner paper around the back. They can make a snapping sound in your hand and a deep bang when you slap them on the table, almost like a domino.

Second, the cards are broken up into 12 suits of four cards each, rather than four suits of 13 cards each. Unlike the icon suits of poker cards – Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds – each suit in a Hanafuda deck represents a month of the year – January through December – and a particular type of flower – Pine, Plum Blossom, Cherry Blossom and so on. It seems like a simple thing, flipping 4x13 to 12x4, but it feels so different when you play.

Third, rather than the cards having simple suits and numbers, they each depict flowers, animals, and natural scenes. Perhaps this is the most vexing part as it takes a lot of attention and patience to learn the groupings and scoring sets.

One of the things I love about Hanafuda and Koi-Koi is the history of the cards. During the Edo period in Japan, western-style decks were used until Japan closed off contact and banned them. The cards were still used for gambling, but were banned as the government identified them. Over time, this led to the design of new decks with more and more abstract art, which eventually turned into the cards Nintendo began producing in 1889. In fact, Nintendo still produces them. Learning about how the deck developed and changed hundreds of years ago is fascinating.

Playing Koi-Koi is as compelling as its history. Koi-Koi is a two player, push-your-luck, set collection game played over 12 hands. Players take turns laying out cards in front of them to match those in a common area. As they create matches, they try to create larger sets worth escalating points. The more points, the harder it is to create or match the set. Players can also call “Koi-Koi,” which is essentially going for double or nothing to make a second set of points, or your opponent steals the bonus. The game is simple to play, satisfyingly tactile, and surprisingly competitive. I’ve spent entire evenings playing game after game with my wife or friends.

Over the years, I’ve encountered more and more folks who love Hanafuda, one of whom is the fantastic artist, Vincent Dutrait. We’re currently on a journey to create a faithful but original deck of Hanafuda cards. Doing this we’ve travelled even deeper down the rabbit hole learning about how each individual visual element on the cards evolved. It’s amazing.

It seems like a simple thing, flipping 4x13 to 12x4, but it feels so different when you play