Hanafuda Nā Pua Hawai'i: The Flowers of Hawai'i (2010)

Overview

A variant of the traditional Japanese card game 'Hanafuda', this deck of cards is specifically designed for the Hawaiian Style game known as 'Sakura'. Two to six people can play, either individually or as teams of two.

The 48 cards are divided into twelve 'hiki' or suits, each corresponding to a specific month. The four cards in each hiki have 20, 10, 5, and zero points. The objective of the game is to accumulate the most points by matching cards. The highest possible score is 240 points.

After shuffling and cutting the deck, the 'oya' (dealer) deals cards counter-clockwise to the players; the number of cards dealt differs depending on the number of players. The oya then plays a number of cards in the center of the table, known as the "field". The remainder of the deck is set nearby as a draw stack.

Play begins with the oya and moves counter-clockwise. The player draws a card from her hand and places it in the field. If the played card matches the hiki (suit) of a card in the field, the player places her card on top of the matching card to show everyone the match. She then picks up both cards and places them face-up in a "points section" in front of her. She discards any cards with no value in the 'kasu' (rubbish) pile behind the draw stack.

Next, the player draws one card from the draw stack. If it matches a card in the field, she must take the pair of cards. Otherwise, the card is left in the field. This ends that player's turn. It is possible that a player may capture as many as four cards per turn.

The player to the right takes the next turn. Play continues in this fashion until all the cards have been used in each player's hand. Points are then totaled.

Advanced play adds a wild card and also 'yaku' (bonus combinations) in special three-card combinations that are scored at the end of the game. Holding one or more yaku causes the other players to deduct points from their score, rather than adding points to the yaku-player's score.