Matching Flowers Rules

Matching Flowers is one of the most popular Hanafuda games; it's also the simplest.

Objective

Matching Flowers can be a two person or three person game. To win a hand, you must capture cards of a greater worth than your opponents' cards. Beginners should use the card point breakdown and bonus combination charts below.

Scoring

The easiest way to earn points in Matching Flowers is to take cards of the same suit as other cards in your hand. If you want to earn big points, though, you will need to know Matching Flowers' special dekiyakus (bonus combinations). In addition to the value of each card, achieving these special combinations will earn you bonus points. The best combination – worth a whopping 100 extra points – is the Five Brights. This hand consists of the five 20-point cards from the Pine, Cherry, Pampas, Paulownia and Rain decks. The second best possible combination – worth 60 extra points – is the Four Brights, which is the same as Five Brights but without the 20-point Rain card. Other combinations include all seven of the tanzaku cards and smaller combinations of tanzaku cards plus combinations of specifically red, blue or red-lettered tanzakus. Smaller combinations combine certain view cards or animals. Acquiring all four cards of a suit is called a “straight”, and some straights will earn you an extra 10 points.

Special Rules

Matching Flowers can also utilize a unique rule called “Low Man Out.” The Low Man Out rule allows a player with an especially bad hand to negate any points earned by the winner, assuming that that player can complete the round with less than 20 points.

Also, if a player gets the Straight Rain (Willow) bonus combination, any bonus combinations the opposing player makes is not counted. Like the rain washing away any points.