Revisit Nintendo’s roots with Hanafuda

Hanafuda is a flower-themed card game and was Nintendo’s first ever product, way back when it was founded in 1889.

A Hanafuda deck consists of 48 cards – four cards for each month – with seasonal designs.

The object of the game is to form special card combinations (or sets), like in the below examples.

Koi-koi, a Hanafuda variant for two players, is playable in 51 Worldwide Games for Nintendo Switch. If you’re a budding Hanafuda player and want to know the basics, check out this video.

Ready to blossom into a Hanafuda champion? Give these tried and true tips a go!

Prevent your opponent from forming sets

Try to figure out what sets your opponent is going for, and don’t leave any cards on the table that could help them.

Score highly as the dealer

If your opponent’s dealing (i.e. going first), they’ll have a head start on forming a set, so focus on thwarting their plans. When it’s your turn to deal, that’s the time to score highly with your own set.

If you see it, snap up the Chrysanthemum Seed card!

You can easily make the “Cherry-Blossom Viewing” and “Moon Viewing” sets with just two cards each. The “Chrysanthemum Seed” card is needed for both sets, so if you see it on the table, snag it right away to make one of those sets – or prevent your opponent from doing the same!

Hanafuda card sets

You can play Hanafuda with physical cards or in 51 Worldwide Games on Nintendo Switch. Why not give this slice of Nintendo history a try?

Hanafuda card sets made by Nintendo

The Mario Hanafuda set displayed above is available now from My Nintendo Store.

51 Worldwide Games

*Local multiplayer requires one console per player.

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