Hanafuda is a Japanese card game evolved from Western-style playing cards introduced by the Dutch in the 16th century (or the Portugese in the 17th century, nobody seems to know for sure) and a Heian period court pastime called Kacho-awase (literally meaning "matching birds and flowers") Hanafuda consists of 12 suits of four cards each. Each of the 12 suits is represented by trees, shrubs, or flowers, each corresponding to a particular month of the year. (cards with plum trees represent February, cherry blossoms March, wisteria April, paulownia December et cetera). The objective of the game is to collect as many cards or as many points (each card is assigned) as possible by matching suits. History of Hanafuda.
The blockquote above can be found with other information here. posted by hama7 at 8:41 AM on May 2, 2004
Wow. This brings back memories. I used to use a computer with this game installed ( pre-internet ), it came without instructions and was not in english. This was the only machine for miles, and there wasn't much else to do, so I ended up sort of guessing how to play and eventually worked out a few of the rules. It's really interesting to know how one is supposed to play. posted by milovoo at 8:53 AM on May 2, 2004
Did anyone else find the name, "Sloperama Productions" mildly offensive, at least until you saw Tom Sloper's name? posted by FormlessOne at 7:02 PM on May 2, 2004
This is the game that convinced me that everyone in this country is smarter than me (well, that and tyrying to learn the language). posted by Octaviuz at 7:46 PM on May 2, 2004
Nintendo got its start with hanafuda cards. posted by kevspace at 7:49 PM on May 2, 2004
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There are several games played with flower cards, such as Hwa-t'u (Godori), Min-Hwa-Tu, Sakura and Higo Bana, and Koi Koi.
Download or buy a deck.
posted by hama7 at 8:38 AM on May 2, 2004