Card games
Hanabi
Cocktail GamesAntoine Bauza2010
- players
- 2–5
- minutes
- 25
- years
- 8+
In the box
50 Firework cards in 5 colours (plus multicoloured cards depending on the edition) · 8 Clue tokens · 3 Storm tokens
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Antoine Bauza
- Artwork
- Antoine Bauza, Gérald Guerlais, Laura Michaud, Albertine Ralenti
- Publisher
- Cocktail Games
- Mechanics
- Communication LimitsCooperativeHand ManagementMemoryOrdering
- Expansions
- Hanabi: Avalanche de couleurs · 2012
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Together, build five fireworks from 1 to 5, without seeing your own cards, which face the others. On your turn, take just one action: give a clue (all of a player's cards of one colour or one number) for a clue token, discard to get one back, or play a card, a mistake turning over a fuse token. On the third fuse token, the game is lost; otherwise, it ends one round after the last card is drawn, and you score the highest card in each colour.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
5 or 4 cards each, Hand facing the others, 8 clue, 3 fuse tokens
- Two to five players. Fifty cards in five colours: three 1s, two 2s, two 3s, two 4s and a single 5 per colour.
- Five cards each with two or three players, four with four or five.
- Everyone holds their hand facing the others: you see everyone's cards except your own.
- Eight clue tokens in the box lid, three fuse tokens beside them. The five multicolour cards stay in the box, unless you play the expansion.
- The player wearing the most colourful clothes starts, then play goes clockwise.
How to play
1 action per turn, Clue, discard or play
- On your turn, just one action out of three, and you cannot pass: give a clue, discard a card, or play one. The others need not comment.
- Giving a clue uses up a clue token (impossible if none are left). You pick a player and point out all their cards of one colour, or all those of one number — never just some of them. Saying they have none is also a clue.
- Discarding gives back a clue token (impossible if all eight are already available), and you draw a card.
- Playing a card succeeds if it starts or continues the sequence of its colour; otherwise it goes to the discard pile and you add a fuse token. Either way, you draw a card.
- You may look through the discard pile at any time and rearrange your hand to remember clues.
- Completing a firework up to the 5 gives back a clue token for free, if any are missing.
Scoring
Highest per colour, Score out of 25
- The score is the sum of the highest cards played in each colour, out of 25.
- Rulebook scale: 0 to 5, horrible; 6 to 10, mediocre; 11 to 15, honourable; 16 to 20, excellent; 21 to 24, extraordinary; 25, legendary.
- With the multicolour cards expansion (a sixth colour), the maximum becomes 30.
End of the game
3rd fuse token: lost, Deck empty: final round, 5 full fireworks: 25
- Third fuse token: the game stops on the spot, and it is lost.
- Whoever draws the last card triggers a final round: everyone plays once more, that player included, without drawing, then you count.
- The five complete fireworks end the game on a perfect score of 25.
House rules and pitfalls
There is only one 5 per colour: discarding it permanently dooms that firework.
- There is only one 5 per colour: discarding it permanently dooms that firework.
- Information comes as much from what you choose not to say as from the clues given. The strict rule forbids any other communication, but the rulebook lets each table set its own tolerance.
- Rulebook variants: "Grand finale" (play on until a perfect win or a loss) and "Timed choreography" (announce the colour of the card you play).
Going further
Frequently asked questions · Rules on video · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
Can you give a partial clue in Hanabi?
No. A clue is about one colour or one number, and must point out all the matching cards in the target hand. Showing two blue cards out of three is forbidden: this constraint is what makes the game.
Rules on video
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.