Clubhouse Games Koi-Koi Guide - v1.00 - 22 Apr 2010 - by Barticle at hotmail.com _____ _ _ _ _____ _ _ _____ _ _ _____ _____ | ___|| | | | | || _ || |_| || _ || | | || ___|| ___| | |___ | |___ | |_| || _ < | _ || |_| || |_| ||___ || _|_ |_____||_____||_____||_____||_| |_||_____||_____||_____||_____| _____ _____ _ _ _____ _____ ___ ___ ____ _______ | ___|| _ || \ / || ___|| ___| | | / / / \ | | | |_ || _ || V || _|_ |___ | | | / / / \ |_ _| |_____||_| |_||_| |_||_____||_____| | |/ / / /\ \ | | ___ ___ ____ _______ | / / / \ \ | | | | / / / \ | | | \ \ \ / / | | | | / / / \ |_ _| | |\ \ \ \/ / _| |_ | |/ / / /\ \ | | | | \ \ \ / | | | / / / \ \ | | |___| \___\ \____/ |_______| | \ \ \ / / | | _____ _ _ _____ _____ _____ | |\ \ \ \/ / _| |_ | ___|| | | ||_ _||_ || ___| | | \ \ \ / | | | |_ || |_| | _| |_ _| 0 || _|_ |___| \___\ \____/ |_______| |_____||_____||_____||_____||_____| 01 INTRODUCTION 04 SCORING COMBINATIONS 07 DISPLAY 10 AFTERWORD 02 THE HANAFUDA DECK 05 AUTOMATIC WINS 08 STRATEGY o Contact 03 RULES OF PLAY 06 MODES AND SETTINGS 09 TRIVIA o Thanks ------< INTRODUCTION >-------------------------------------------- [Section 01] This is a guide to the card game of Koi-Koi - played with traditional Japanese Hanafuda* (flower cards) - specifically the Koi-Koi game in the 2006 Nintendo DS compendium Clubhouse Games, also known as 42 All-Time Classics (here in the UK), originally released in Japan in 2005 as Daredemo Asobi Taizen (which translates loosely as "everybody game encyclopaedia") and subsequently re-released in 2007 in Japan as WiFi Taiou: Sekai no Daredemo Asobi Taizen. My introduction to the captivating Hanafuda deck (and the game of Koi-Koi) was through the minigame in "Ryuu ga Gotoku: Kenzan!" - the samurai-era spin-off from Sega's Yakuza series on the Playstation 3. I subsequently wrote game guides for both the game of Koi-Koi in Kenzan and for the two Hanafuda games (Koi-Koi and Oicho-Kabu) in Ryuu ga Gotoku 3 (now available in the west as Yakuza 3). I decided to write this guide because I'm interested in Hanafuda and I like writing game guides, because Koi-Koi is one of the few omissions in Tom Ingram's Clubhouse Games guide here and because I've already written guides for Koi-Koi in the past so I can copy a lot of the text across with little adaptation. ;) This guide is designed to be viewed using a monospaced (non-proportional or fixed-width) font, preferably Courier New. Some sections of the document will display incorrectly if you are using a proportional font like Times New Roman. *In the in-game instructions Koi-Koi is described as a "version of the Japanese card game Hanafuda" but more correctly Koi-Koi is the name of the game and the term Hanafuda is used to refer to the cards themselves. ------< THE HANAFUDA DECK >--------------------------------------- [Section 02] A full set of Hanafuda consists of 48 cards, broken down into twelve suits with four cards in each. The "flower cards" really live up to their name as the cards of each suit are marked with a different flower (or plant/tree at least), and each of the twelve suits is also associated with a month of the year. The cards are smaller than Western playing-cards but significantly thicker. For example the cards in my set are only 3.5cm by 5.5cm (i.e. just over a couple of inches tall) and almost one millimetre thick. There are four different types of card, which I'll describe here using the terms used in the game. Each type of card has a nominal points value attached to it - these are not used in Koi-Koi but you'll often see them in Hanafuda guides (and indeed in the in-game rules pages). o Basics - these are cards which just show the suit's flower/plant; these make up the majority of the deck; they are sometimes called "normals", "plains", "dregs" or "junk cards" [1 point] o Scrolls - these cards have a scroll on top of the flower/plant; this will either be a red scroll, a red poetry scroll (with writing on it) or a purple scroll; sometimes called "ribbons" or "slips" [5 points] o Earths - these cards show the flower/plant of the suit plus an animal, a bird or - in a couple of cases - an object; they are also known as "seeds" and I just generalise and refer to them "animals" [10 points] o Lights - these cards feature a special item or character shown with the suit flower/plant; there are only five of these cards; they are also known as "specials" or "brights" cards [20 points] Although there are several exceptions, generally each suit has two Basic cards, one Scroll card and one Earth or Light. When I first encountered Hanafuda it was in a Japanese video-game which had no English text and I have to say it confused the heck out of me - I think that was part of the appeal, to be honest! In Clubhouse Games though you have the benefit of a pretty handy help file (it's in English and everything!) so be sure to tap the Rules tab at the bottom of the screen and familiarise yourself with both the various cards and the permitted scoring combinations (see Section 04). The remainder of this section of my guide describes each of the cards in turn. I've listed them in the same order as the listings in the in-game help pages so you can cross-reference my words with their pics. After opening the Rules pages in the game, tap "Go To", "The Cards" then "Months and Plants" and scroll down. Don't worry if it all looks a bit daunting at first, the game will always show you which cards match as suit pairs. .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 1 | | Month: January | | Flower/Plant: Pine tree | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Light card - a tall white crane (the bird!), red sun and pine trees 1 Red Poetry Scroll card - pine trees plus red scroll with writing 2 Basic cards - these are quite abstract, with pine trees of different sizes shown in silhouette against (as most cards) a pale sky .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 2 | | Month: February | | Flower/Plant: Plum blossom | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Earth - a bush warbler (green and yellow bird) in a plum tree 1 Red Poetry Scroll - plum flowers on a branch plus a red scroll with writing 2 Basics - these show plum flowers with yellow centres and red petals .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 3 | | Month: March | | Flower/Plant: Cherry blossom | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Light - cherry blossom with a thick red band curving across the bottom of the card; also known as the "Sakura Banner" or "Camp Curtain" card 1 Red Poetry Scroll - pink cherry blossom plus a red scroll with writing 2 Basics - equal numbers of red and pink cherry blossom ("sakura" in Japanese) .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 4 | | Month: April | | Flower/Plant: Wisteria | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Earth - an orange cuckoo in flight over wisteria and a red crescent moon 1 Red Scroll - wisteria plus plain red scroll 2 Basics - small strands of (purple-ish) wisteria flowers hanging down .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 5 | | Month: May | | Flower/Plant: Iris | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Earth - purple iris flowers with a yellow plank bridge at the bottom, there is also a red blob at the top 1 Red Scroll - purple iris plus plain red scroll 2 Basics - large purple iris bloom .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 6 | | Month: June | | Flower/Plant: Peony | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Earth - two yellow butterflies over a large red peony flower 1 Purple Scroll - red peony flowers plus purple scroll hanging between them 2 Basics - a large red bloom with a smaller one above it .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 7 | | Month: July | | Flower/Plant: Bush clover | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Earth - an orange boar amongst clover plants, red band at the top-left 1 Red Scroll - clover plants plus plain red scroll 2 Basics - clover stems of small pale brownish flowers and small leaves .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 8 | | Month: August | | Flower/Plant: Silver/Pampus grass | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Light - a white full moon against a red sky over a dark circle filling the lower half of the card - it's another abstract design but I guess it's supposed to be a grassy hill at the bottom 1 Earth - orange geese flying over the hill 2 Basics - these just show the hill; it doesn't take much imagination to see the origin of the "bald head" nickname :) .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 9 | | Month: September | | Flower/Plant: Chrysanthemum | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Earth - two big yellow/orange chrysanthemum flowers with a red sake (rice wine) cup/dish on the right and a red patch in the top-right corner; if you play with the two "Viewing" combos allowed (see Section 04) then this becomes the most important card in the whole deck; it is also unique in that it can be counted as an Earth or a Basic card; I'll refer to this as the Sake Cup card 1 Purple Scroll - two yellow/orange flowers plus a purple scroll between them 2 Basics - two large yellow/orange chrysanthemum blooms .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 10 | | Month: October | | Flower/Plant: Maple | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Earth - an orange deer with maple leaves in autumnal colours at the top of the card - in case you were wondering, yes all the animals in Japan are coloured orange (apparently)! 1 Purple Scroll - maple leaves plus a purple scroll 2 Basics - a collection of leaves in autumn colours: yellow, red and brown .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 11 | | Month: November | | Flower/Plant: Willow | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Light - this is called the "rainman" card; even on my supersized DSi XL screens it's not that clear but there's a man dressed in red under an umbrella, there's also an orange frog in the bottom-left corner and willow leaves in the top-left 1 Earth - a yellow swallow with an orange tail flying under willow leaves 1 Red Scroll - dark fringes of willow leaves hanging down plus a red scroll 1 Basic - another very abstract one, this is called the "lightning" card but it looks like two black boxes on a red background, sort of like an inverted close-up image of a brick wall; in the Hanafuda game Mushi this is a very powerful wildcard but in Koi-Koi it just counts as a normal Basic card .-----------------. .------------------. .-----------------------------------. | Suit number: 12 | | Month: December | | Flower/Plant: Paulownia | '-----------------' '------------------' '-----------------------------------' 1 Light - this is the Chinese Phoenix, another busy design that's hard to interpret; there are red and purple bits at the top (the red shape is its head) and a dark section at the bottom with a golden edge along the bottom of the cards 3 Basics - each has maybe a dozen small purple buds; the three cards look quite similar except that one has a yellow band along the bottom, all three are equal and equivalent though This last part of this section summarises the distribution of the four types of cards across the deck. Again these are listed in the order in which they are shown on the in-game Rules pages, which you can jump to under "The Cards" then "Types of Cards". There are five Light cards... January/Crane, March/Sakura Banner, August/Full Moon, November/Rainman and December/Chinese Phoenix There are nine Earth cards... February/Warbler, April/Cuckoo, May/Bridge, June/Butterflies, July/Boar, August/Geese, September/Sake Cup, October/Deer and November/Swallow There are ten Scroll cards... January/Pine, February/Plum, March/Cherry Blossom, April/Wisteria, May/Iris, June/Peony, July/Clover, September/Chrysanthemum, October/Maple and November/ Willow - three are Red Poetry Scrolls (the first three actually), three are Purple Scrolls and the other four are plain Red Scrolls (And therefore the remaining half of the deck (24 cards) are all Basics.) If you want further guides to the different types of card in the Hanafuda deck then check out some of these links for pics... --> http://hanafubuki.org/cards.html --> http://japanese-games-shop.com/miyako.html --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanafuda#Cards --> http://www.pagat.com/class/flower.html ------< RULES OF PLAY >------------------------------------------- [Section 03] The basic concept of Koi-Koi is to make matching pairs of same-suit cards and then to collect these to form scoring combinations. Before the first round begins you are asked to pick one card from an array of twelve (one from each suit I assume), all presented face-down, and your opponent picks one too. Both cards are then revealed at the top of the touchscreen and the game shows the suit (month) of each card. The player with the earlier month has the advantage of being the dealer in the first round of play. (In the game the dealer is labelled as "parent" which is a direct translation of the term "Oya" in the original Japanese game but across various card games (and also in Japanese Mahjong for that matter) this word is taken to mean "dealer" when writing in English.) In each round of play the dealer gets to go first and therefore gets the first pick of the cards on the table. The player that wins a round will be the dealer in the following round. If a round ends in a draw then the deal does not pass - the current dealer will be the dealer again in the next round. The cards are then dealt - you and your opponent each receive a hand of eight cards and yours are displayed along the bottom of the touchscreen (you can't see his and vice versa). At the same time a further eight cards are dealt onto the virtual table in a 2x4 array shown in the top half of the touchscreen; I'll call these the Table Cards. The remainder of the deck becomes a draw pile which is placed to the left of the Table Cards. There are two possible situations in which an Automatic Win occurs (see Section 05) but if neither happens the game continues. Also if there are three cards from the same suit among the Table Cards then these will be stacked together. The first player now takes their turn. There are two phases to each turn. In the first phase the player must select one of their cards to play from their hand. If this matches one of the Table Cards (i.e. if it's from the same suit) then the two cards form a "meld" and are placed face-up on the table - in the game these are shown in the player's half of the top screen. If the card played doesn't match any of the Table Cards it joins them on the table. Any of the cards in your hand that match one (or more) of the Table Cards will be flashing red. When you press and hold one of these cards the game will show you which of the Table Cards it matches (they flash red too). In order to play a pair, press and slide the card from your hand onto the Table Card you want to meld. If you have no matches (or don't want to play them) then drag a card onto the slot to the right of the Table Cards. In the second phase of the player's turn the top card is taken from the draw pile and, as before, if it matches a Table Card the two cards are melded and if it doesn't then it's placed on the table. If the card from the draw pile matches more than one of the Table Cards then you have to pick which one to take and slide it over. If there's only one match it'll happen automatically. If there are three suit cards stacked together from the original deal you can capture them all at once using the one remaining card of the same suit. The aim of the game is to form scoring combinations (or "sets") with your melded cards - there are thirteen different combos and each is worth a certain number of points (these are explained in Section 04 below). Okay, now here's the catch! Whenever you form a combo and score points you can choose either "Call" to end the round and take the points or "Koi-Koi" (which means something like "come on!") to keep playing and risk losing them. If you chose "Koi-Koi" to continue the game and you make another combo then your new points are added to the previous ones and the round ends (in contrast to some versions of the game, you can only use Koi-Koi once per round). If however you choose to continue and your opponent makes a combo then they score double points for their combo(s) and your points are lost! If you Koi-Koi and neither player makes a combo afterwards then you get to keep your points (again, this is in contrast to other games I've played). Both players start with an arbitrary total of 50 points each, although the game continues if someone's total (hopefully not yours!) goes negative. When a player scores points these are taken from the other player's total. Also if you have combos totalling 7 points or more then the points awarded will be doubled, and this effect is cumulative with the double you get for making a combo after your opponent has said Koi-Koi - so it's possible to get quadruple points on a hand! To quit out during a game press the Start button then tap Quit. You can also use the Select button to access the instructions. ------< SCORING COMBINATIONS >------------------------------------ [Section 04] Points are scored for making scoring combinations from the cards that are melded during a game. These combinations are also known as "yaku" - the same term used in Japanese Mahjong to refer to the permitted scoring elements - or simply as "sets" in Clubhouse Games. There are thirteen different scoring combinations in the game of Koi-Koi which I've listed here with a description and notes, including the original Japanese names for them and the number of points awarded for each. o Five Lights (10 points) This is awarded for melding all five Lights cards. The Japanese name for this combo is Gokou. Go is the Japanese word for "five" and the kanji Kou means "light" or "lights", hence Gokou is "five lights". o Four Lights (8 points) This is awarded for four melded Lights cards, but you cannot include the Rainman (the Lights card from the November/Willow suit). Given the absence of the rain, this can be referred to as "Dry Four Lights". If you have four Lights including the Rainman you can claim the Rainy Four Lights combo (below) instead. If you meld the fifth Lights card (Rainman) later in the round then you claim Five Lights instead of Four Lights, you don't get both. The Japanese name is Shikou. Shi is the Japanese word for "four" - or one of them at least! o Rainy Four Lights (7 points) This is a variation on the above combo - four Lights including the Rainman, but worth seven points instead of eight. If you meld the fifth Light card later in the round then you claim Five Lights instead of Rainy Four Lights, you don't get both. The Japanese name is Ame-Shikou. Ame means "rain". o Three Lights (5 points) Awarded for melding three Lights cards, but again you cannot include the Rainman card so this is also called "Dry Three Lights". If you meld a fourth Lights card later in the round then you claim Four Lights (Dry or Rainy as appropriate) instead of Three Lights, you don't get both. The Japanese name is Sankou. San means "three". o Blossom Viewing (5 points) Awarded when you have both the Sake Cup and the Sakura Banner melded. The Japanese name is Hanami-Zake. Hana means "flower" (the same kanji appears in the word Hanafuda), Mi(ru) is the verb "to view" and Zake is "sake" (rice wine) so Hanami-Zake is sake for Hanami - the Japanese springtime celebration of flowers, primarily the plum and cherry blossoms seen on the February and March cards in the Hanafuda deck. o Moon Viewing (5 points) Awarded when you have both the Sake Cup and the Full Moon melded. The two "Viewing" combos can be turned off in the options. (see Section 06) The Japanese name is Tsukimi-Zake. Tsuki means "moon", so Tsukimi-Zake is sake for Tsukimi - the traditional annual moon-viewing events held around the time of the mid-autumn full moon. o Boar, Deer & Butterflies (5 points*) Awarded for the combination of melded Boar, Deer and Butterflies cards. The Japanese name is Ino-Shika-Chou. Ino(shishi) means "boar", Shika means "deer" and you can probably guess what the kanji Chou means! *Scores one additional point for each further Earth card thereafter. o Earth Cards (1 point*) Awarded for five melded Earth cards. The Japanese name is Tane. *Scores one additional point for each further Earth card thereafter. o Red Scrolls (5 points*) The name used in the game is a little confusing here - this is awarded for melding all three Red _Poetry_ Scrolls (the ones with writing on). It also says you get an extra point for each additional one you meld but there are only three of them in the deck! In fact you get an extra point for adding any type of Scroll card. The Japanese name is Akatan. Aka means "red" and I think the Tan bit is short for Tanzaku which are long, thin pieces of paper used for poetry; the shape is designed to be mounted on an interior pillar in a traditional Japanese house. *Scores one additional point for each further Scroll card thereafter. o Blue Scrolls (5 points*) The name of this combo is also a bit confusing, although this time it's the Japanese policy for naming colours which is to blame. This is awarded for melding all three Purple Scrolls cards. The Japanese name is Aotan. Ao means "blue", or sometimes "green". Confused? You will be! *Scores one additional point for each further Scroll card thereafter. o Red and Blue Scrolls (10 points) The in-game help pages list this separately but it's not really a combo in its own right, it's just the previous two combined: three Red Poetry Scrolls and three Purple Scrolls. o Scroll Bonus (1 point*) Awarded for five melded Scroll cards (any type). The Japanese name is Tan. *Scores one additional point for each further Scroll card thereafter. o Basic Card Bonus (1 point*) Awarded for ten melded Basic cards. The Japanese name is Kasu which means "dregs". *Scores one additional point for each further Basic card thereafter. ------< AUTOMATIC WINS >------------------------------------------ [Section 05] Although they are fairly rare, there are two situations where the game will declare an automatic win immediately after the initial deal. o Four of a Kind (6 points) This occurs when a player holds all four cards of one suit in their hand. The Japanese name is Teshi. Te means "hand" (as in Karate which means "empty hand") and Shi still means "four", so this is literally "four hand". o Paired Months (6 points) This occurs when a player is dealt four suit pairs. The Japanese name is Kuttsuki. The name is composed of two kanji, Ku and Tsuki (but a different Tsuki to the one that means "moon" in Tsukimi-Zake). I'm not sure what Kuttsuki is meant to mean - it translates as "food-attach" or maybe something about biting?! In either situation the round ends, the player receives six points, the cards are dealt again and the next round begins. ------< MODES AND SETTINGS >-------------------------------------- [Section 06] You can play Koi-Koi in all three single-player modes in Clubhouse Games. In Free Play mode the game is available in the sixth category, "variety games". Before you begin you can tap the Settings button on the screen which gives you three options: o Players - the game is always played with two players (you versus the computer) but you can adjust the difficulty: Easy/Normal/Hard o Rules - you can decide whether the game recognises the Blossom Viewing and Moon Viewing combos (listed as "Cherry Blossom" and "Full Moon" here) and whether each game lasts for three, six, nine or twelve rounds o Design - the default design is "Spring" but you can unlock Summer, Fall and Winter settings by winning the game five, ten or fifteen times (After starting the game you can also use the Options tab at the bottom of the touchscreen to set some config options. If you set Auto Sort to "On" then your cards will always be displayed in the standard order (January to December from left to right, and high to low cards within that). If you set it to "Off" then you are free to move the cards in your hand and put them in any order, although pressing the L or R shoulder buttons will put them into the standard order.) In Stamp mode you play Koi-Koi in Level 5-3 - the third game in Level 5. As with the other games, you receive three stamps for winning and one stamp for coming third or fourth or last (last in this case) so you'll never have to play more than three games of Koi-Koi to complete it in Stamp mode. In Mission mode you can access Koi-Koi in the fourth group, as number 19. Your target for completion is to finish a game with 150 points or more. To do this you'll need to be pretty familiar with the game and even then you'll need Luck on your side too - it took me several attempts. As a reward for beating this challenge the game unlocks a stag-beetle player icon. (whoop!) In both Stamp and Mission modes the settings are fixed - both "Viewing" combos are permitted and the game is played over the maximum/standard duration which is twelve rounds (representing the twelve months of the calendar, I guess). The first time I played Stamp mode I got really lucky and scored 260 points. Too bad I wasn't in Mission mode then! ------< DISPLAY >------------------------------------------------- [Section 07] The diagram below shows the general layout of the two screens during play. .-----------------------------------------------. | |/ _ . |/ _ . | | |\(_)| - |\(_)| difficulty --> Easy 18:54 | <-- clock time | ___ __________________ ________ ___________ | opponent's --> || |CPU1______________||_Parent_||_Points_50_|| <-- opponent's icon and name ||___| ___ ___ | score | | | | | | ("Parent" is the | _|_ | _|_<-- opponent's melded cards (non-Basics) dealer indicator) |_| ||_| | | | | | | | <-- opponent's melded cards (Basics) | |___| |___| | | ___ __________________ ___________ | your icon --> || |Barticle__________| |_Points_50_|| <-- your score and name ||___| ___ ___ ___ | | | | | | | | | | | _|_ | _|_ | _|_<-- your melded cards (non-Basics) | |_| ||_| ||_| | | | | | | | | | <-- your melded cards (Basics) | |___| |___| |___| | |-----------------------------------------------| | 1/12 games <-- round counter '-----------------------------------------------' .-----------------------------------------------. | .------------------------------------.| | | ___ ___ ___ ___ || | | | | | | | | | | || | ___ | | | | | | | | | || | | | | |___| |___| |___| |___| || draw pile --> | | | ___ ___ ___ ___ <-- table cards | |___| | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | | | | | || | | |___| |___| |___| |___| || | | || | '------------------------------------'| | | | ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ | || | | | | | | | | | | | | | | || || | | | | | | | | | | | | | | || <-- your hand ||___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___|| | | .-------------. .----------. .-----------.| | | | [=] Options | | [/] Chat | | [?] Rules || <-- option tabs '-----------------------------------------------' The bottom screen shows the layout at the beginning of a round, where you have all eight cards you were dealt and all eight Table Cards are in their starting positions. The top screen shows a situation during a round, where your opponent has made two melded pairs and you've made three. One nice feature in the game is the system of text-boxes which appear under the melded cards on the top screen to indicate when a player is one card away from completing a combo (shown in grey) or if they've already completed it (in gold). The following abbreviated names are used in the boxes... Combination | Abbreviation Combination | Abbreviation -------------------+-------------- --------------------------+-------------- Five Lights | Five Lights Boar, Deer & Butterflies | B.D.B. Dry Four Lights | Four Lights Earth Cards | Earth Rainy Four Lights | Rainy Four Red (Poetry) Scrolls | Red Scroll Three Lights | 3 Lights Blue (Purple) Scrolls | Blue Scroll Blossom Viewing | Blossom Scroll Bonus | Scroll Moon Viewing | Moon Basic Card Bonus | Basic ------< STRATEGY >------------------------------------------------ [Section 08] In general you should, of course, meld (capture) as many cards as possible and aim for the ones that give a better score. So for example you'd normally chose to capture a Light card with a Scroll card (thereby melding both) instead of melding two Basic cards, although there might be exceptions. I would rank the cards in order of importance like this, starting with the most powerful card. 1) Sake Cup If you're playing with the Moon Viewing and Blossom Viewing combos allowed then you can use this card to make the two five-point combos, each composed of only two cards. Kewl! 2) Full Moon and Sakura Banner These two Lights are the other half of the Viewing pairs and you can also use them in Three Lights / Four Lights / Five Lights. 3) Chinese Phoenix and Crane The other two Lights that can score Three/Four/Five Lights for big points. 4) Rainman The fifth Light card, but not quite as useful as the others as it's not allowed in the Three Lights or Dry Four Lights scoring combinations. 5) Boar, Deer and Butterflies / three Red Poetry Scrolls / three Purple Scrolls These can make five-point triplets in their respective groupings. 6) the other Earth and Scroll cards Five of either gives you a one-point combo. 7) the Basic cards Ten of these give a one-point combo. Koi-Koi is as much as game of defence as it is offence. Not only should you try to get the best cards and combinations but you should also try to stop your opponent from getting them. For example if they've melded both the Full Moon and Sakura Banner cards then you should capture the Sake Cup immediately if you get the chance. You won't get the big scores for it but you'll stop the other player making twenty points (ten points for the two five-point combos, doubled for scoring 7+). Although I've listed the Basic, Earth and Scroll cards at the bottom of my ranking above, they can still be useful in capturing cards higher up the chart. If you've melded the Full Moon card, for example, you should retain a Basic or Scroll card from the Chrysanthemum suit which would let you meld the Sake Cup card when (or if) it appears. (Remember that not all 48 cards enter play in each round, some will stay in the draw pile so you can't count on them making an appearance. You might have your melded Full Moon and a Chrysanth in hand ready for a Sake Cup that never comes.) You should also keep cards in order to make "blocking" moves, e.g. if your rival has melded the Boar and the Deer cards then you could hang onto a Peony card which would let you take the Butterflies and therefore prevent them making the scoring combination with the three (sometimes you might even discard onto the table rather than make a meld with a card you want to keep until later). Another possibility in the above example is that the other player is holding the Butterflies card in his hand so again it's a good idea to keep your Peony cards, since a discard to the table would let him play the Butterflies and score. Conversely if you've melded the Boar and your opponent has melded the Deer then there's no point chasing the Butterflies. You should keep an eye on which cards have been played and make your decisions accordingly. Often you will have the option of making one of several different melds. In this case you should consider the ranking above, also bearing in mind which cards have been captured already. Also if you have the choice of melding, for example, either the Crane (Pine Light) from the Table Cards with a Pine Basic from your hand or a Paulownia Basic from the table with the Chinese Phoenix (Paulownia Light) in your hand then I'd choose the first option - melding the Light card off the table to stop the other player potentially taking it on their turn and hopefully getting to play the other Light from my hand later. If you can see all four cards from one suit - among the Table Cards, your hand and the melds - then you know that you can safely save any in your hand for later and make other melds first. When you have two cards of the same suit in your hand but the other two suit cards have not yet been played then you might have to take a risk. Say you've already melded the Sake Cup and you have the Sakura Banner Light and a Sakura Basic in your hand then of course you want to meld the Light to make the Blossom Viewing combo. You could discard the Basic onto the table but it might get melded, either in the "second phase" of your turn (with a stray Sakura card from the draw pile) or in either phase of your opponent's turn. Is it worth the risk? Finally, to koi or not to koi? The rules add a very interesting tactical element in that you can choose to keep playing for extra points but at the risk of your opponent going out with double points (and the points for your combo(s) being lost). In deciding whether to continue you should consider a number of factors - how many cards are left in your hand? how many combos are available? how many rounds are left in the game? are you ahead or behind on points? is the other player close to scoring? (that last one is probably the most important) You might've made five points and chosen to continue but if your opponent gets a quick win with even a cheap one-point combo they can choose to end the round and not only take that point but deny you five! Sometimes though, you can do that to them. :) If your rival makes a big score but "koi's" then any combo you can make will let you end the round and force them to lose their points from that round - even a one-point combo of ten humble Basic cards could do it. ------< TRIVIA >-------------------------------------------------- [Section 09] Gambling games with playing-cards have been popular in Japan for many centuries but the Hanafuda deck only dates back to the 19th century. Although Hanafuda originated in Japan, similar cards are also very popular in Korea and Hawaii. The Koi-Koi scoring combination Ino-Shika-Chou gave its name to a team of three ninja in the manga Naruto. The original three members of the team were INOichi Yamanaka, SHIKAku Nara and CHOUza Akimichi. Ino-Shika-Chou also appears in the anime Dragon Ball where it's the name of a monster - a chimera composed of elements of a boar, a deer and a butterfly! The playable character Genjuro in the Samurai Shodown fighting games has several animations which feature Hanafuda, including the ever-popular Ino-Shika-Chou combo. Also his special stage is based on the design of the August/Pampus cards. The lowest scoring hand in the Hanafuda game Oicho-Kabu is 8-9-3 (which gives a total of zero). This is called "ya ku sa" and is the origin of the word Yakuza. A company that was set up to make Hanafuda in 1889 is still operating and doing quite well for itself - it's called Nintendo! Yup, a whole century before they launched the Gameboy; they still make Hanafuda too. If you want to read more about Hanafuda you might like to know that there's a book available in English. It's called 'Hanafuda: The Flower Card Game' and it gives the rules of five different games including Koi-Koi and Oicho-Kabu. At the time of writing (Spring 2010) the paperback edition is available new from Amazon (specifically their American site) - you can search by the title as there's no author given on the book's cover. If, like me, you enjoy the art of the Hanafuda deck and fancy getting a set for yourself then I can heartily recommend David H's online shop which also sells Mahjong sets, Shogi sets and loads of other Japanese goodies. ---> http://japanese-games-shop.com/hanafuda.html ------< AFTERWORD >----------------------------------------------- [Section 10] = Contact = I welcome feedback, corrections, contributions and questions about Koi-Koi. You can email me at barticle at hotmail.com - obviously changing the "at" to an @ symbol and removing the spaces. It would be helpful if you include "Hanafuda" or "Koi-Koi" in the subject line or something to get my attention! = Thanks = I would like to thank the following:- o Sega for introducing me to Hanafuda in their PS3 Ryuu ga Gotoku games o Tom Sloper for the heads-up on the book o Boomon and BWallis for the Samurai Shodown info o Aussie2B for reassurance that I'm not the only Hanafuda obsessive on GameFAQs! I will be happy to give credit and thanks to anyone who makes a contribution. -- Clubhouse Games Koi-Koi Guide Copyright 2010 James R. Barton Initial version 1.00 completed 22 April 2010 All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This guide may be downloaded and printed for personal, private, non-commercial use only. This work is subject to copyright. It may not be hosted online or otherwise distributed publically or reproduced either in whole or in part without the advance written consent of the author. Any violation would constitute an infringement of copyright and is strictly prohibited. The only websites with the author's consent to publish this guide are GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) and its affiliates (i.e. Gamespot). If you find this file hosted on any other site I would be grateful if you would inform me at the email address given at the top. Thanks!