Hanabi
In this collective game, all the players work together to create a beautiful firework display.
But every player has to hold his cards back to front: you cannot see your own cards!
So you have to give your partners smart advice and remember all the information collected.
Number of players: 2 - 5
Game duration: 11 mn
Complexity: 2 / 5
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Play Hanabi and 837 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
Overview
- Hanabi is a cooperative game. Your goal, as a team, is to build a fabulous fireworks show.
- You have to put together fireworks (red, yellow, green, blue and white) by playing each individual colour in series (1 ⇨ 2 ⇨ 3 ⇨ 4 ⇨ 5).
- You cannot see your own cards; you can only see the cards of your teammates.
- You can only communicate with your teammates via clues, playing and discarding cards (see below).
- No other communication is allowed.
| Points | Overall impression |
|---|---|
| 0-5 | horrible, booed by the crowd... |
| 6-10 | mediocre, just a spattering of applause. |
| 11-15 | honourable, but will not be remembered for very long... |
| 16-20 | excellent, crowd pleasing. |
| 21-24 | amazing, will be remembered for a very long time! |
| 25-29 | legendary, everyone left speechless, stars in their eyes! |
| 30 | Divine, the display outshines the stars! |
Setup
| # Players | 2-3 | 4-5 |
|---|---|---|
| # Cards | 5 | 4 |
8clue tokens clue tokens
Game play
Players take turns to either:
- Give a clue
- Play a card, or
- Discard a card
Clue
Possible with at least 1clue tokens available:
- All cards of a colour, or
- All cards of a number, or
- No cards of a colour, e.g. "Player1 to Player2: you have no red card" or
- No cards of a number e.g. "Player1 to Player2: you have no 5"
- The active player selects a card in another player's hand.
- The active player selects a clue option.
- 1clue tokens is moved from 'available' to 'used'.
Play
- The active player selects a card in their hand.
- The active player selects the 'Play selected card' button.
- If the played card fits in any of the sequences, it is placed in the appropriate colour stack on the table.
- If the played card does not fit, it is placed in the discard pile and the team gets a misfire token.
- A replacement card is drawn.
Discard
Possible with fewer than 8clue tokens available:
- The active player selects a card in their hand.
- The active player selects the 'Discard selected card' button.
- The discarded card is placed in the discard pile.
- 1clue tokens is moved from 'used' to 'available'.
- A replacement card is drawn.
Game end
The game can end in several ways:
- All cards have been drawn from the deck. After this happens, each player has one more turn. The game ends with the score after the last turn.
- Your team played all possible cards. In this case, the game ends immediately.
- Your team made three mistakes that caused misfires. In this case, all players lose the game and receive -10 ELO points.
- Your team concedes the game. All players receive -10 ELO points.
- A player quits the game. Only the player that quit first receives -10 ELO points. All other players' ELO is unchanged.
Conventions
- There are not enough clue tokens to clue both colour and number of every played card, so the team must agree on a set of clue, play and discard interpretations, known as a convention.
- Many players use different conventions and if teammates have very different clue interpretations, the game becomes unsuccessful.
- Read about some of the most common conventions in this forum post by Romain672.
Note: the BGA list of conventions does not cover all conventions, so please respect the convention the table creator wants to play. This is why there is an option to display the convention for the table.
Standard convention
Players assume:
- Every marked card will be playable at some point.
- The oldest, unmarked (chop) card is safe to discard.
- Cards known to be trash are discarded in priority e.g. cards marked blue when the blue stack is completed.
Play clue
- A clue that does not mark a (unique) chop card¹.
- Focus is the newest card.
Priority:
- Lead to plays in other hands.
- Lower rank.
Save clue
- A (number) clue that marks a (unique) chop card¹.
- Focus is the chop card.
¹Exception: 2 player game with 2+ consecutive saves.
Fix clue
- A follow-up clue on the same hand as an initial play clue.
- Required to change the focus (and prevent a misfire).
- Cathy's must play next.red3
- The focus of a 3 clue on its own will be and the focus of a red clue will bewhite3.red5
- Alice to Cathy: these 2 cards are red.
- Bob to Cathy: these 2 cards are 3s - this fix clue changes the focus from tored5(now visible).red3
- Avalanche of colors option is on, so multicolour cards are marked by any colour clue.
- Cathy's should play before it is discarded.yellow2
- The focus of a 2 clue on its own will be and the focus of a yellow clue will also bemulticolour2.multicolour2
- Alice to Cathy: these 2 cards are yellow.
- Bob to Cathy: these 2 cards are 2s - this fix clue changes the focus from the left 2 to the other 2.
- Note: if a multicolour card is the intended target of a play clue, the clearest clue would be a colour that does not splash any other card.
Bad clue
- Tell a lie e.g. a clue that marks as playable without the requiredred2.red1
- Mark unknown trash or duplicate cards e.g. mark 4s in another hand when your hand could have a copy of that 4.
- Alice to Bob: these 2 cards are red.
- Bob now knows his newest card is the next playable in the sequence (), and the other marked card isred2,red3orred4(because every marked card will be playable at some point).red5
- Alice to Cathy: this card is red.
- Cathy now knows her marked card is the next playable in the sequence ⇨ , becausered4is already marked.red3
- Bob now knows his marked red card is and he must play it now.red3
Finesse convention
Players assume:
- Standard convention
- Play clues may also include the newest, unmarked cards in every hand.
- Alice to Cathy: this card is blue.
- Cathy now knows her marked card is playable.blue2
- Bob knows that Cathy will bomb her asblue2unless ablue1is played first.blue1
- Bob does not see the connecting , so assumes he has to play it now.blue1
- Bob does not have a marked card that could be , so Bob blind plays his newest unmarked card.blue1
- successfully plays.blue1
- Alice to Bob: this card is blue.
- Bob now knows his marked is playable.blue2
- Bob sees the newest, unmarked card in Cathy's hand is of the same colour and playable now. Bob assumes it is a finesse with the players in reversed order and his blue card is .blue2
- Alice to Cathy: this card is blue.
- Cathy now knows her marked card is playable.blue2
- Bob does not see the connecting , so assumes he has to play it now.blue1
- Bob does not have a marked card that could be , so Bob blind plays his newest unmarked card.blue1
- successfully plays and the bluff is revealed.white1
- Before Bob played, Cathy thought her marked card was .blue1
- After Bob plays, Cathy knows her marked card is another valuable blue card.
All conventions interpret Cathy's card as a valuable, not-yet-playable blue card.
Some interpretations are more stringent, also must be a 1-away-from-playableMarked card discard
If a non-trash marked card is discarded it means:
- A copy of that card is already marked in someone else's hand (sarcastic discard); or
- A copy of that card must be marked in a future save clue (use with caution); or
- An unmarked copy of that card is playable (gentleman's discard)
Definitions
Basic
Convention: Agreed set of clue, play and discard interpretations. e.g. a number clue that marks the chop card should be interpreted as a unique card save (if there is a unique card of that number).
Strategy: Plan to achieve the highest score. e.g. to mark first copies of cards.
Marked: A card touched by a clue.
Focus: The target card of a clue.
Play clue: Clue that marks a focused card to play.
Playable: A card that can be marked by a play clue.
Trash: A card that can never be played successfully.
Bomb: A play that causes a misfire.
Draw: The newest card in a hand.
Chop: The oldest, unmarked card in a hand.
Unique: The last remaining card of its rank and colour (that can be played successfully at some point).
Save: A (number) clue that marks a chop card to prevent discard.
Prompt: A play clue that causes connecting marked card(s) to play.
Intermediate
Good Touch Principle: All marked cards will eventually be played.
Splash: Additional new colour or rank information of cards that are not the focus.
Locked: A hand with all cards marked without any plays.
Reclue: A repeated clue that causes marked card(s) to play.
Fix clue: Follow-up clue required to change the focus of a play clue (and prevent a misfire).
Discard clue: Clue that marks trash card(s) to be discarded (to prevent a misfire or unwanted discard).
Stall clue: A clue given to avoid discarding.
Finesse: A play clue that causes connecting unmarked card(s) to play.
Bluff: A play clue that causes a non-connecting unmarked card to play immediately.
Bluff seat: The player directly before the player who is bluffed.
Bottom-decked: When the remaining copy of a playable card is too near the bottom of the deck to achieve a perfect score.
Early save: A save clue with a known playable card in the same hand, or does not mark the chop card¹. i.e. a play clue.
Double save: Two consecutive saves in the same hand.
Double discard: Two consecutive players discard copies of the same chop card, resulting in a unique discard. A special problem, since, to each of the consecutive players, a number clue that marks their chop card does not look like a save clue (and therefore looks like a play clue).
Sarcastic discard: Discard of a duplicate marked copy of a card in another hand.
Skip / steal: When a player gives a clue that could have been given by one of the skipped players.
Scream discard: An unexpected discard to save a unique card in another hand.
Advanced
Long finesse: A finesse of three or more cards lasting more than one complete round.
Layered finesse: A finesse with unrelated playable card(s) in front of the target card(s).
Scream play: An unexpected chop play to save a unique card in another hand.
Clued misplay: A play clue that causes a misfire to prevent a unique discard in the same hand.
Positional misplay: An unexpected play that marks the same slot position in another hand to play immediately.
Gentleman's discard: Discard of a playable card to play an unmarked copy in another hand.
Play refusal: Instead of playing, a player clues or discards their chop.
Hesitation play: After a play refusal of a playable card, another player may be able to blind play an unmarked card.
Generation discard: An unexpected discard to gain 1clue tokens.
Options
Colors
Normal: 5 colors
| Red (r) | red1 red1 red1 |
red2 red2 |
red3 red3 |
red4 red4 |
red5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow (y) | yellow1 yellow1 yellow1 |
yellow2 yellow2 |
yellow3 yellow3 |
yellow4 yellow4 |
yellow5 |
| Green (g) | green1 green1 green1 |
green2 green2 |
green3 green3 |
green4 green4 |
green5 |
| Blue (b) | blue1 blue1 blue1 |
blue2 blue2 |
blue3 blue3 |
blue4 blue4 |
blue5 |
| White (w) | white1 white1 white1 |
white2 white2 |
white3 white3 |
white4 white4 |
white5 |
Tricky: 6th color (10 cards)
- These cards are marked by a separate multicolour clue.
| Multicolour (m) | multicolour1 multicolour1 multicolour1 |
multicolour2 multicolour2 |
multicolour3 multicolour3 |
multicolour4 multicolour4 |
multicolour5 |
|---|
Difficult: 6th color (5 cards)
- These cards are marked by a separate multicolour clue.
| Multicolour (m) | multicolour1 |
multicolour2 |
multicolour3 |
multicolour4 |
multicolour5 |
|---|
Avalanche of Colors: Multicolor (10 multicolor)
- These cards are marked by any colour clue.
| Multicolour (m) | multicolour1 multicolour1 multicolour1 |
multicolour2 multicolour2 |
multicolour3 multicolour3 |
multicolour4 multicolour4 |
multicolour5 |
|---|
Black Powder
- Clues cannot be given for the colour black.
- Black cards must be played in reverse order 5 ⇨ 4 ⇨ 3 ⇨ 2 ⇨ 1.
| Black Powder (p/k) | black powder5 black powder5 black powder5 |
black powder4 black powder4 |
black powder3 black powder3 |
black powder2 black powder2 |
black powder1 |
|---|
5 flamboyants
After playing the last card of a colour, randomly draw a bonus card and apply its effect:
- Gain 1clue tokens
- Gain 1clue tokens and recover a life.
- Give a colour clue.
- Give a number clue.
- Shuffle a discarded card into the deck (optional).
- Play a discarded card (optional).
Convention used
| Name | Summary | References |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | BGA convention without blind-plays. | Standard convention above |
| Finesse | BGA convention with blind-plays. | Finesse convention above |
| Hat-guessing | Clues relate to slot position, not the cards marked. | H-Group |
| Logical Leftism | No convention, just logic. | hanabi logic |
| Closest Friend | Clue interpretation depends on which player gave the clue. | H-Group |
| Secret convention | Each player randomly selects a secret restriction. | Secret variant |
| Conventional Leftism | Same as Standard. | hanabi logic |
| Chop-focus | The focus of a clue that marks a chop card is always the chop card. | H-Group |
Preset deck
Preset decks are useful for comparing teams/conventions using the same deck:
- No (cards are shuffled)
- Preset deck #1 of the day
- Preset deck #2 of the day
- Preset deck #3 of the day
- Preset deck #4 of the day
- Preset deck #5 of the day
Preset decks are changed at 0:00 (?) UTC
Unofficial variant
| # Players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # Cards | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
ELO rating
Rating is visibly hidden around tables with the 7 distinct ELO skill levels:
Beginner Apprentice Average Good Strong Expert Master.
- Hanabot's ELO is generated from:
- Final score¹
- Average team ELO
- Colour option²
- ELO change is calculated as if tied with Hanabot³.
Hanabots' ELO ratings were set by an experienced player - i.e. ratings are not random or simply proportional to score or players' ELO.
¹Hanabot's ELO = 0 with scores < 18 (5 colours) and < 21 (6 colours).
²+5 card multicolor option is unrated (too dependent on draw to reflect skill).
³ELO change with a perfect score is calculated as if Hanabot lost.
Cheating
- Players can cheat at Hanabi by sharing information via the chat user interface. This is why ranking has been disabled for this game.
