HOW TO PLAY HANAFUDA NĀ PUA HAWAI‘I

The rules for Hanafuda Nā Pua Hawai‘i are the same as for the other Hanafuda Hawaii Style games. The main difference is the images, and names have been changed to their Hawaiian equivalent. Below are complete rules for playing Hanafuda Nā Pua Hawai‘i.

Watch a video of the complete instructions here >

  THE CARDS

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Hanafuda Hawaii Style playing cards have many aids to help make learning to play easy and fun. Most importantly, the point value of cards has been added to the top left.

THE DECK

There are 48 cards, arranged in 12 suits or families called ‘ohana. The 12 suits in order are:

Four of the cards are worth 20 points. Eleven cards are worth 10 points. Ten of these cards are decorated with a rectangular piece of bark cloth, called kapa. Ten other cards with birds, butterflies or other animals are worth 5 points. The rest are “plain” cards, called ‘ōpala, with zero point value.

  OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

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Win by accumulating the most points by matching cards’ suits. The total possible score is 240 points.

CHOOSING A DEALER

Spread the cards out face down on the kahua, field. Have each player choose a random card. The player with the highest point value is the dealer. If players are tied, the tied players choose cards again until one player chooses a card with the highest point value.

DEALING THE CARDS

  THE PLAY

The goal is to win points by matching cards of the same suit, or ‘ohana. First deal using the dealing chart. The dealer has the first turn.

Each turn has two parts:

1. Draw a card from your hand to place in the field, kahua. If the suit of that card matches the suit of a card in the field, place the card from your hand over the matching card on the field. This way, other players can see that you have a proper match. Then, take both cards. Place cards with points face up in front of you. Discard cards with no points in a discard pile. If you do not have a card from your hand that matches a card in the field you must still choose a card to leave in the field at your turn.
2. Draw a card from the drawing stack If the suit of the drawn card matches a card in the field, take both cards. Place any cards with points face up in front of you, and discard any cards without points. Leave unmatched cards in the field.

This ends a player’s turn.

The play continues to the right, in a counter-clockwise direction. Each player takes her turn until everyone has played all the cards in their hands.

THE STORM CARD

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The Storm Card can be used as a wild card. If it is in a player’s hand, it can be used to match with any suit in the field. If it is drawn from the drawing stack, it can also be used as a wild card. If it is in the field at the beginning of the game, it can only match with cards of the Fern suit.

When used as a wild card, leave it on top of the captured card in the points section. At the end of the game, any point cards from the captured suit left in the field go to the player with the Storm Card.

‘OHANA RULES

Watch a video about the ‘ohana rules>

In special situations, a player can claim all of the cards from one suit or ‘ohana in a single turn.

BLOCK THE STORM CARD

If a player has an ‘ohana, the player can complete a suit in his hand, or can complete a suit with the cards in the field, he can block another player from capturing a card from his ‘ohana (completed suit) with the Storm Card. When another player tries to use the Storm Card to capture a card from his completed suit, he must say,“stop.” Then, he must show the completed suit, take them from the field and his hand, and place the cards with points face up in his points section. If her runs out of cards in his hand before the other players, he continues to play by drawing one card from the drawing stack for his turn.

  SCORING

The game is over when there are no more cards in the players’ hands. Each player counts his points and the one with the most points wins. Only cards with a points on the top left of the card are counted.

If the scores are tied with the dealer, the dealer wins. If players other then the dealer are tied, the player closest to the dealer’s right is the winner.

Once you get used to playing for only the point values of cards, you can add special card combinations to the play. This addition makes for a much more exciting and challenging game.

The winner is the dealer for the next game.

  THE BONUS COMBINATIONS

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There are 8 three-card bonus combinations. Match the icons at the bottom of the cards to make the bonus combinations. If a player makes a bonus combination, all of the other players must subtract 50 points from their total score.

	Hawai‘i		Mahiole — Feather Helmet
	Maui		Makau — Fishhook
	Moloka‘i		Pahu — Drum
	Lāna‘i		Ki‘i Pōhaku — Petroglyph
	Kaho‘olawe		Nā Hōkū — Stars
	O‘ahu		Lei niho palaoa — Whale-tooth Pendant
	Kaua‘i		Pōhaku ku‘i ‘ai puka — Kaua‘i Ring-style Poi Pounder
	Ni‘ihau		Momi — Dove Snail

Scoring with Bonus Combinations

At the end of the game, players add their points from the top-left corner of the cards. Subtract 50 points for every bonus combination made. The player with the highest total points wins!

Scoring Example

In this example, Player 2 has the highest initial point score from counting the points on the cards. Player 3 has the next most points, and Player 1 has the least amount of scored points.

Once points are counted, players then count their bonus combinations. For every bonus combination a player has, all other players must subtract 50 points. With the bonus combinations counted, we can see that Player 1 has advanced to become the winner!

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