Tips hanabi: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:41, 28 September 2026

Definitions and Terminology

Basic
	Definition	Examples
Convention	Agreed set of clue, play, and discard interpretations.	Discard the rightmost unmarked card in your hand. Color clues mean 'play this card'. Number clues that mark a chop card mean 'save this card for later, don't discard it'
Strategy	Plan to achieve the highest score.	Mark first copies of cards.
Chop	The oldest (rightmost), unmarked card in a hand.	white3,with a white 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, Bob 🡲 green1,with a green 1clue,white3,with a white 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, Bob 🡲
Draw	The newest (leftmost) card in a hand.	white3,with a white 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, green1,with a green 1clue,white3,with a white 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue,
Trash	A card that can never be played successfully.	cards in the deckred3yellow3green3blue3white3multicolorblack powder red1,with a red 1clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,green2,with a green 2clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue,
Playable	A card that can be marked by a play clue.	cards in the deckred1yellow1green1blue1white1multicolorblack powder red1,with a red 1clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,green2,with a green 2clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue,
Critical / Unique	The last remaining card of its rank and color (that can be played successfully at some point).	white4,with a white 4clue, when the other white4,with a white 4clue, was discarded.
Marked	A card touched by a clue.	red1,with a red 1clue,red2,with a red 2clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,white5,with a white 5clue,
Save	A number¹ clue that marks a chop card to prevent discard. In 2-player games where one player must perform more than one consecutive save, a save may occur before it reaches the chop position.	white3,with a white 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, Bob 🡲 Alice to Bob: "This card is a 5." white3,with a white 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, Bob 🡲
Play clue	Clue that marks a card to play i.e. cannot be a save clue.	Alice to Bob: "This card is green." red1,with a red 1clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,green2,with a green 2clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue, Bob 🡲
Focus	The target card of a clue.	Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are 5." red5,with a red 5clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,yellow5,with a yellow 5clue, This clue can be a save so the focus is the chop card. Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are 2." yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,green2,with a green 2clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue, This clue cannot be a save so the focus is the newer (leftmost) card.
Bomb	A play that causes a misfire.	cards in the deckred1yellow1green1blue1white1multicolorblack powder Alice plays blue3,with a blue 3clue,
Splash	Additional new color or rank information of cards that are not the focus.	cards in the deckred1yellow1green1blue1white1multicolorblack powder green2,with a green 2clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,green4,with a green 4clue, Bob 🡲 Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are green." green2,with a green 2clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,green4,with a green 4clue, Bob 🡲 cards in the deckred3yellow2green2blue2white2multicolorblack powder red4,with a red 4clue,red3,with a red 3clue,white3,with a white 3clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue, Bob 🡲 Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are red." red4,with a red 4clue,red3,with a red 3clue,white3,with a white 3clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue, Bob 🡲 Play clue for red4,with a red 4clue, which splashes red3,with a red 3clue,.
Reclue	A repeated clue that causes marked card(s) to play.	cards in the deckred2yellow1greenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder red2,with a red 2clue,green4,with a green 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue, Bob 🡲 Bob does not yet know his marked yellow is playable. Alice to Bob: "This card is yellow."
Fix clue	Follow-up clue required to change the focus of a play clue (and prevent a misfire).	cards in the deckred1yellowgreenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Cathy: "These 2 cards are white." white2,with a white 2clue,white1,with a white 1clue,red1,with a red 1clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 2." white2,with a white 2clue,white1,with a white 1clue,red1,with a red 1clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue, Cathy 🡲
Prompt	A play clue that causes connecting marked card(s) to play.	cards in the deckred2yellow5green1blue3white4multicolorblack powder blue5,with a blue 5clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,red3,with a red 3clue,white5,with a white 5clue, Bob 🡲 white2,with a white 2clue,white4,with a white 4clue,yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,red4,with a red 4clue, Cathy 🡲 Alice to Cathy: "This card is red." blue5,with a blue 5clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,red3,with a red 3clue,white5,with a white 5clue, Bob 🡲 white2,with a white 2clue,white4,with a white 4clue,yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,red4,with a red 4clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob plays red3,with a red 3clue,. Cathy plays red4,with a red 4clue,.

¹Some uncommon convention sets allow color saves.

Save clue thought process

red1yellow1green1blue1white Discardedw2

red2,with a red 2clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,red3,with a red 3clue,white5,with a white 5clue, Bob 🡲 red4,with a red 4clue,yellow3,with a yellow 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white2,with a white 2clue, Cathy 🡲

Alice to Bob: "This card is a 5."

red2,with a red 2clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,red3,with a red 3clue,white5,with a white 5clue, Bob 🡲 red4,with a red 4clue,yellow3,with a yellow 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white2,with a white 2clue, Cathy 🡲

Bob knows that there is only one 5 of each color in the deck, so all 5s need to be marked to keep them from being discarded. Bob sees Cathy's oldest card is white2,with a white 2clue, and checks the discard pile to see if he needs to save it from being discarded. There is already a white2,with a white 2clue, in the discard pile and Bob knows there are only two 2s of each color, so Cathy has the last remaining white2,with a white 2clue, and Bob must save it.

Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 2."

Good job, Bob.

red2,with a red 2clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,red3,with a red 3clue,white5,with a white 5clue, Bob 🡲 red4,with a red 4clue,yellow3,with a yellow 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white2,with a white 2clue, Cathy 🡲

Cathy looks at the played cards to see if 2s are all playable. The white1,with a white 1clue, has not been played yet, so she cannot be sure it is playable yet. Next, Cathy looks at the discard pile to see if there is a 2 in the discard pile. There is a white2,with a white 2clue, discarded, so she interprets this number clue marking her oldest card as a save clue to prevent her from discarding it. Nice one, Cathy.

Intermediate
	Definition	Examples
Good Touch Principle	All marked cards will eventually be played.	Alice to Bob: "This card is a 1." green1,with a green 1clue,white4,with a white 4clue,green4,with a green 4clue,green4,with a green 4clue, Bob 🡲 number is better than color to avoid duplicate green4,with a green 4clue,. cards in the deckred2yellowgreen1bluewhitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are green." green2,with a green 2clue,red2,with a red 2clue,white4,with a white 4clue,green4,with a green 4clue, Bob 🡲 color is better than number to avoid trash red2,with a red 2clue,.
Locked	A hand with all cards marked without any plays.	cards in the deckred3yellow2green3blue5white5multicolorblack powder red5,with a red 5clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,yellow5,with a yellow 5clue,green5,with a green 5clue, Bob 🡲
Early save	An attempt to save a card when there is already a known playable card in the same hand. This clue should be read as a play clue. This clue is a mistake, since save clues should only be given after all playable cards are played when the chop card is in danger of discard.	Discardedr2ygbwm Alice to Cathy: "This card is blue." red4,with a red 4clue,blue1,with a blue 1clue,white3,with a white 3clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 2." red4,with a red 4clue,blue1,with a blue 1clue,white5,with a white 5clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Cathy 🡲
Double save	Two consecutive saves in the same hand.	Discardedr2ygbwm Alice to Cathy: "This card is a 2." blue3,with a blue 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white5,with a white 5clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 5." blue3,with a blue 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white5,with a white 5clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Cathy 🡲
Double discard	Two consecutive players discard copies of the same chop card, resulting in a critical discard. A special problem, since, to each of the consecutive players, a number clue that marks their chop card does not look like a save clue (and therefore looks like a play clue).	white4,with a white 4clue,green2,with a green 2clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Bob 🡲 blue3,with a blue 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white5,with a white 5clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob discards red2,with a red 2clue,. Cathy discards red2,with a red 2clue,.
Blind play	An unmarked card play.	card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue, Alice 🡲 Alice plays slot 1.
Finesse Position	The newest (leftmost), unmarked card in a hand.	white3,with a white 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, green1,with a green 1clue,white3,with a white 3clue,white4,with a white 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue,
Finesse	A play clue that causes connecting unmarked card(s) to play.	cards in the deckredyellowgreenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Cathy: "This card is blue." blue1,with a blue 1clue,blue5,with a blue 5clue,green3,with a green 3clue,white1,with a white 1clue, Bob 🡲 red5,with a red 5clue,red2,with a red 2clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,green2,with a green 2clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob plays blue1,with a blue 1clue,. Cathy plays blue2,with a blue 2clue,.
Reverse(d finesse)	A finesse in reverse order.	cards in the deckredyellowgreenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Bob: "This card is blue." red5,with a red 5clue,red2,with a red 2clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,green2,with a green 2clue, Bob 🡲 blue1,with a blue 1clue,blue5,with a blue 5clue,green3,with a green 3clue,white1,with a white 1clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob discards. Cathy plays blue1,with a blue 1clue,. Bob plays blue2,with a blue 2clue,.
Bluff	A play clue that causes a non-connecting unmarked card to play.	cards in the deckredyellowgreenblue2whitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Cathy: "This card is green." yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,blue5,with a blue 5clue,green3,with a green 3clue,white1,with a white 1clue, Bob 🡲 blue4,with a blue 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue,red2,with a red 2clue,green2,with a green 2clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob plays yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,. Cathy knows her green2,with a green 2clue, cannot be green1,with a green 1clue, (and keeps it for later).
Bluff seat	The player directly before the player who is bluffed. The bluff seat is an H-Group convention which restricts which players are allowed to perform a bluff. Outside of H-Group, it is possible to bluff any player when the players before were unable to blind play (to reveal the bluff).	Order is Alice 🡆 Bob 🡆 Cathy: Alice is in the 'bluff seat' of Bob. Bob is in the 'bluff seat' of Cathy. Cathy is in the 'bluff seat' of Alice.
Discard clue	Clue that marks trash card(s) to be discarded (to prevent a misfire or unwanted discard). The receiver must know that all cards marked by this clue are trash.	cards in the deckred1yellow1green1blue1white1multicolorblack powder Alice to Bob: "These 3 cards are 1." red1,with a red 1clue,red1,with a red 1clue,yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue, Bob 🡲
Stall clue	A clue given to avoid discarding. Avoid a finesse misinterpretation by giving a negative clue e.g. 'You have no 2'.	1cards in the deckred5yellow5green5blue5white3multicolorblack powder yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,white5,with a white 5clue, Bob 🡲 Alice to Bob: "You have no 2."
Skip/Steal	A player gives a clue that could have been given by one of the skipped players. The players who were skipped have a better move than to give the clue that skipped them. Good reasons for skipping players: Clue-giver is locked, i.e., cannot play or discard. Gain tempo to play, e.g., skipped player(s) all have playable cards. Gain tempo to clue, e.g., skipped player(s) must give a fix clue. Avoid a bad/ensure a good clue, e.g., mark cards with good touch. Cause a discard, e.g., duplicate or trash card. Avoid a discard, e.g., double discard or nice-to-have card that cannot be saved. More examples below.	cards in the deckredyellowgreenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Cathy: "This card is blue." blue3,with a blue 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white1,with a white 1clue,white1,with a white 1clue, Bob 🡲 yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,blue1,with a blue 1clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white2,with a white 2clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob discards white1,with a white 1clue, (because he has nothing to clue or play).
Generation discard	An unexpected discard to gain 1 clue tokens intended to be used immediately by next player as they need to urgently clue or save another player card.	cards in the deckred2yellow2green2blue2white2multicolorblack powder 0 clue tokens card back3,with a 3clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue, Alice 🡲 yellow3,with a yellow 3clue,white2,with a white 2clue,green4,with a green 4clue,blue5,with a blue 5clue, Cathy 🡲 Alice discards her chop instead of playing card back3,with a 3clue,. Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 5."
Scream discard	An unexpected discard to save a critical card in another hand.	0 clue tokens card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue, Alice 🡲 yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,white5,with a white 5clue, Bob 🡲 Alice discards slot 3. Bob expected Alice to discard her chop. Bob's chop must be critical.
Scream play	An unexpected chop play to save a critical card in another hand.	0 clue tokens card back,with a clue,card back5,with a 5clue,card back5,with a 5clue,card back5,with a 5clue, Alice 🡲 red1,with a red 1clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,red4,with a red 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, Bob 🡲 Alice plays her chop card. Bob expected Alice to discard her chop. Alice is unable to perform a scream discard. Bob's chop must be critical.
Duplicate discard	Discard of a duplicate marked copy of a card in another hand.	cards in the deckredyellow1greenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Bob: "This card is green." white4,with a white 4clue,green2,with a green 2clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,red3,with a red 3clue, Alice 🡲 yellow3,with a yellow 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,green5,with a green 5clue,green2,with a green 2clue, Bob 🡲 Cathy discards green2,with a green 2clue, and Bob plays his marked copy.
Bottom-decked	When all copies of a card are too near the bottom of the deck to achieve a perfect score.	Both red2,with a red 2clue, are in the last 2cards in the deck cards of the deck.

Bad Skip (prevents bluff or finesse)

redyellow3green3blue3white3

Alice to Cathy: "This card is red."

red2,with a red 2clue,yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,white1,with a white 1clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue, Alice 🡲 blue1,with a blue 1clue,yellow5,with a yellow 5clue,white5,with a white 5clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue, Bob 🡲 red1,with a red 1clue,white4,with a white 4clue,white4,with a white 4clue,white3,with a white 3clue, Cathy 🡲

If Alice discarded instead, Bob would have clued Alice red to finesse red1,with a red 1clue, and red2,with a red 2clue,.

Good Skip (ensures good touch)

red1yellow1green1blue1white1

white1,with a white 1clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,white2,with a white 2clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Bob 🡲 white2,with a white 2clue,red1,with a red 1clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,green1,with a green 1clue, Cathy 🡲

Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a blue clue so that a duplicate white2,with a white 2clue, is not marked.

Advanced
	Definition	Examples
Long finesse	A finesse of three or more cards lasting more than one complete round.	cards in the deckred3yellow3green3blue3whitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Cathy: "This card is white." white1,with a white 1clue,white2,with a white 2clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,green1,with a green 1clue, Bob 🡲 white3,with a white 3clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue,green3,with a green 3clue,yellow3,with a yellow 3clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob plays white1,with a white 1clue,. Cathy also sees white2,with a white 2clue, and could hold white3,with a white 3clue,. Cathy discards. red5,with a red 5clue,white2,with a white 2clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,green1,with a green 1clue, Bob 🡲 yellow5,with a yellow 5clue,white3,with a white 3clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue,green3,with a green 3clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob plays white2,with a white 2clue,. Cathy plays white3,with a white 3clue,
Finesse Bluff	A finesse followed by a bluff.	cards in the deckred3yellow3green3blue3whitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Bob: "This card is a 3." white1,with a white 1clue,white3,with a white 3clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,green1,with a green 1clue, Bob 🡲 blue4,with a blue 4clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue,green3,with a green 3clue,yellow3,with a yellow 3clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob plays white1,with a white 1clue, (finesse). Cathy plays blue4,with a blue 4clue, as white2,with a white 2clue, (bluff).
Layered finesse	A finesse with unrelated playable card(s) in front of the target card(s).	cards in the deckred1yellow1green1bluewhite4multicolorblack powder Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are blue." blue2,with a blue 2clue,blue5,with a blue 5clue,yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,green1,with a green 1clue, Bob 🡲 red2,with a red 2clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,blue1,with a blue 1clue,green1,with a green 1clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob sees blue1,with a blue 1clue, in Cathy's hand, but layered behind other playable cards red2,with a red 2clue, and yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,. Bob discards. Cathy plays red2,with a red 2clue,. green3,with a green 3clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,blue5,with a blue 5clue,yellow1,with a yellow 1clue, Bob 🡲 white5,with a white 5clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,blue1,with a blue 1clue,green1,with a green 1clue, Cathy 🡲 Cathy knows this cannot be a bluff because Bob would not discard unless he sees a playable blue1,with a blue 1clue, in Cathy's hand. So Cathy is promised blue1,with a blue 1clue, and keeps playing each slot from left to right until a blue1,with a blue 1clue, is played.
Clued misplay	A play clue that causes a misfire to prevent a critical discard in the same hand.	cards in the deckred1yellow3green3blue3white3multicolorblack powderDiscardedr4ygbwm red1,with a red 1clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,red4,with a red 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, Bob 🡲 Alice to Bob: "These 3 cards are red." red1,with a red 1clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,red4,with a red 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, Bob 🡲 Bob misfires red1,with a red 1clue, (and keeps the remaining red cards).
Positional misplay	An unexpected play that marks the same slot position in another hand to play immediately. A risky move if the misplayed card is unknown.	cards in the deckred2yellow4green4blue4white4multicolorblack powder 0 clue tokens card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue, Alice 🡲 blue2,with a blue 2clue,red3,with a red 3clue,red4,with a red 4clue,red5,with a red 5clue, Bob 🡲 Alice blind plays slot 2 and causes a misfire. Bob expected Alice to discard her chop. Bob plays red3,with a red 3clue, in slot 2.
Positional discard	An unexpected discard that marks the same slot position in another hand to play immediately. When all remaining playable cards are visible.	cards in the deckred5yellow5green4blue5white5multicolorblack powder 0 clue tokens blue2,with a blue 2clue,red4,with a red 4clue,green5,with a green 5clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue, Bob 🡲 Alice discards slot 3. Bob expected Alice to discard her chop. Bob plays green5,with a green 5clue, in slot 3.
Gentleman's discard	Discard of a known card to play an unmarked copy in another hand. The value in this move can be: delay the discard of non-trash cards to the right of the unmarked copy play multiple cards generate a token (see Generation discard)	cards in the deckredyellowgreenbluewhite1multicolorblack powder card back,with a clue,card back2,with a 2clue,card back,with a clue,card back,with a clue, Alice 🡲 white2,with a white 2clue,red2,with a red 2clue,yellow3,with a yellow 3clue,green4,with a green 4clue, Bob 🡲 Alice discards card back2,with a 2clue,. Bob plays his finesse position (and each slot left to right) until an unmarked copy of white2,with a white 2clue, is played.
Play refusal	Instead of playing, a player clues or discards their chop. The next player must consider if the play refusal is: waiting for a potential reverse, or there are critical card(s) to save (see Scream discard, Generation discard).	cards in the deckredyellowgreenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder Alice to Bob: "This card is a 2." blue1,with a blue 1clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue,white1,with a white 1clue, Bob 🡲 blue1,with a blue 1clue,white4,with a white 4clue,yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,red4,with a red 4clue, Cathy 🡲 Bob discards waiting for Cathy's blue1,with a blue 1clue,. Cathy discards. Bob plays blue1,with a blue 1clue, and blue2,with a blue 2clue,.
Hesitation play	After a play refusal of a playable card, another player may be able to blind play an unmarked card. A hesitation play must not interfere with any future response(s). See Play refusal example.	cards in the deckred1yellowgreenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder red4,with a red 4clue,red2,with a red 2clue,yellow4,with a yellow 4clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue, Bob 🡲 white1,with a white 1clue,blue3,with a blue 3clue,blue4,with a blue 4clue,white1,with a white 1clue, Donald 🡲 Alice to Bob: "This card is a 2." Bob discards waiting for a white1,with a white 1clue, reverse. Cathy discards. Donald knows from the context that Bob's discard can only be waiting for a playable 1 in their hand. Donald plays white1,with a white 1clue,.

Gameplay Using Finesse Conventions

Receiving Clues

Check visible cards, including played and discarded, to determine the focus and the meaning of a clue.

Example A: you are given a 2 clue. You see red2,with a red 2clue, was played and the second red2,with a red 2clue, is in another hand. Therefore the clue means "2s which are not red".
Example B: you are given a 4 clue that marks only your chop. You see no 4s have been discarded and no 4s on the chop of the players next to you. Therefore the clue means "this 4 is playable".

Giving Clues

Don't mark trash cards (see Good Touch Principle).
Save critical cards as priority.

Look ahead for critical cards on chop. Sometimes more than one player must help to save consecutive critical cards.

With few clue tokens, work out which players need them.
Consider how the receiver can interpret your clue.

Discarding

Trust your teammates to manage your cards.
When there is nothing urgent to clue, don't be afraid to discard! Discarding is often the best move for the team.

Playing

When multiple cards are marked, determine the focused card. Each clue only has one focused card.
Logically playable cards are marked at the earliest opportunity, so the leftmost card is assumed to be the focus of play clues (where no other cards are known to be playable).

Triggering the final round

Sometimes a specific player should draw the last card to maximize the score.
Giving empty clues (e.g., "You have no red card") can help to manage which player draws the last card.

Last Card Example

1cards in the deckred5yellow5green3blue4white5 4 clue tokens

red3,with a red 3clue,yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,green1,with a green 1clue,blue5,with a blue 5clue, Bob 🡲 green2,with a green 2clue,red1,with a red 1clue,green4,with a green 4clue,green5,with a green 5clue, Cathy 🡲

Alice and Bob both give empty clues. e.g., Alice to Cathy: "You have no white card."
Cathy plays green4,with a green 4clue, and draws the last card.
Alice discards, Bob plays blue5,with a blue 5clue, and Cathy plays green5,with a green 5clue,.

More

For more moves and strategies, check out:

2 Player Strategy

Saves are given as late as possible.
Off-chop saves for consecutive critical cards.
Double discards can be avoided with a stall clue.
Last clue tokens is reserved to mark a critical or playable chop.
Playable first copies are clued.
Splash critical and already-marked trash cards.
Play in clued order.
Before playing, consider marking a connecting chop card.
Scream discard = save the chop card (and move chop one slot to the left).
Flamboyants: Consider not locking a hand with a 5 save.
Avalanche: Any card can be multicolor. e.g. wait for negative multicolor on a red5,with a red 5clue, before playing as red5,with a red 5clue,.
Avalanche: Playable cards marked with both color and number play first.
Black Powder: black powder1,with a black powder 1clue, is only marked on chop unless all other 1s (or black powder2,with a black powder 2clue,) are already clued/played.

Early game

Avoid discarding until at least 3 clue tokens are used.
With multiple marked unknown 1s in your hand, consider first playing your 1s or marking 1s individually with color.
Non-critical 2s / black powder4,with a black powder 4clue, can be marked with number.

Alternative Strategy

Any card may be saved, including non-critical cards.
Cards marked with a number are only splashed with color:
- If a previously unmarked card is playable.
- As a stall clue.

Other Convention Sets

Finesse Additional Skip Interpretation

This convention prevents discard management, finesse with number, layered finesse

An additional convention is that skipped player(s) cannot discard. i.e., Alice can clue Cathy only if Bob has a play or can give another useful clue. If a skipped player has no marked playable cards and no good clue to give, they must blind play their newest, unmarked card. A clue-giver who causes unmarked play(s) purely from a skip is responsible for any misinterpretation.

Skipped Players Cannot Discard Example

Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a 1 clue.

cards in the deckredyellowgreenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder

yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,white2,with a white 2clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Bob 🡲 white2,with a white 2clue,red1,with a red 1clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,green4,with a green 4clue, Cathy 🡲

Bob has no clue to give and no known play, so he blind plays his newest unmarked card. yellow1,with a yellow 1clue, does not connect to card back1,with a 1clue,, so Cathy interprets Bob's move as a skip play and plays red1,with a red 1clue,.

Forbidden Skip Example

Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a 3 clue.

cards in the deckred2yellowgreenbluewhitemulticolorblack powder

yellow1,with a yellow 1clue,yellow2,with a yellow 2clue,white2,with a white 2clue,red2,with a red 2clue, Bob 🡲 white2,with a white 2clue,red3,with a red 3clue,blue2,with a blue 2clue,red1,with a red 1clue, Cathy 🡲

Bob has no clue to give and no known play, so he blind plays his newest unmarked card. In this convention, yellow1,with a yellow 1clue, does not connect to card back3,with a 3clue,, so Cathy interprets as a bluff and her card back3,with a 3clue, is not playable.

This is a lie because red3,with a red 3clue, is playable. So Alice is forbidden from giving this clue. Instead, Alice should have discarded and allowed Bob to clue Cathy so that she knows her red3,with a red 3clue, is playable.

H-Group

Some key differences include:

non-critical saves
chop-focused play clues
context-dependent chop moves
number play clues are assumed to be a lie (bluff) over truth (finesse).

H-Group

Convention set	Definition	Examples
Logical Leftism	No convention, just logic	hanabi logic
Conventional Leftism	Another name for Finesse	hanabi logic Postmans
Hat-guessing	Clues relate to slot position, not the cards marked	H-Group Robert Kaspar H-Group empty clues
Closest Friend	Clue interpretation depends on which player gave the clue	H-Group
Secret convention	Each player randomly selects a secret restriction	Secret variant Secret hanabi restriction

For more convention sets check out this forum post by Romain672

Tips hanabi: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:41, 28 September 2026

Contents

Definitions and Terminology

Gameplay Using Finesse Conventions

Receiving Clues

Giving Clues

Discarding

Playing

Triggering the final round

More

2 Player Strategy

Early game

Alternative Strategy

Other Convention Sets

Finesse Additional Skip Interpretation

H-Group

Navigation menu

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== General ==
+==Definitions and Terminology==
-On BGA, there is no 1 set strategy (convention) to be played. However, if people start playing different conventions in one game, the game is doomed to fail. It is a good idea to discuss before the game which conventions you will be using.
-The strategies explained in this guide all have 1 goal in mind: to get the highest possible score, in the most amount of games. There are people who find score less important, and want to challenge themselves logically, or "just want to have fun". Again, communication in advance of the game is key.
+{|class="wikitable" style="width:auto;text-align:left;" border="2"
+|+Basic
+|-style="background:#ccd4;font-weight:600;"
+!
+!Definition
+!Examples
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Convention
+|style="text-align:left;"|Agreed set of clue, play, and discard interpretations.
+|style="text-align:left;"|
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>Discard the rightmost unmarked card in your hand.
+  <li>Color clues mean 'play this card'.
+  <li>Number clues that mark a chop card mean<br>'save this card for later, don't discard it'
+</ul>
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Strategy
+|style="text-align:left;"|Plan to achieve the highest score.
+|style="text-align:left;"|Mark first copies of cards.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Chop
+|style="text-align:left;"|The oldest (rightmost), unmarked card in a hand.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{cardholder|{{hw|3}}{{hw|4}}{{hw|4}}{{hr|5|p=🡅}} |Bob 🡲}} {{cardholder|{{hg|1}}{{hw|3}}{{hw|4|p=🡅}}{{hr|5|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Draw
+|style="text-align:left;"|The newest (leftmost) card in a hand.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{cardholder|{{hw|3|p=🡅}}{{hw|4}}{{hw|4}}{{hr|5}} }} {{cardholder|{{hg|1|c=|p=🡅}}{{hw|3}}{{hw|4}}{{hr|5}} }}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Trash
+|style="text-align:left;"|A card that can never be played successfully.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|3|3|3|3|3}} {{cardholder|{{hr|1|p=🡅}}{{hy|2|p=🡅}}{{hg|2|p=🡅}}{{hb|4}} }}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Playable
+|style="text-align:left;"|A card that can be marked by a play clue.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|1|1|1|1|1}} {{cardholder|{{hr|1|p=❌}}{{hy|2|p=🡅}}{{hg|2|p=🡅}}{{hb|4|p=❌}} }}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Critical
+/ Unique
+|style="text-align:left;"|The last remaining card of its rank and color (that can be played successfully at some point).
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hw|4}} when the other {{hw|4}} was discarded.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Marked
+|style="text-align:left;"|A card touched by a clue.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{cardholder|{{hr|1|c=|p=🡅}}{{hr|2|c=|p=🡅}}{{hy|2}}{{hw|5|n=|p=🡅}} }}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Save
+|style="text-align:left;"|A number¹ clue that marks a chop card to prevent discard.
+{{reminder|In 2-player games where one player must perform more than one consecutive save, a save may occur before it reaches the chop position.}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{cardholder|{{hw|3}}{{hw|4}}{{hw|4}}{{hr|5}} |Bob 🡲}}
-Imagine this 'ideal' game. You play with 3 players and reach the maximum score of 25 points (5-colour game). At the end, there will be (at least) 12 cards left in the hands of the players, (at least) 1 clue token available and 25 cards will have been played. This means, that from the 50 cards of the deck, (50 - 25 - 12 =) 13 cards have been discarded and converted into clue tokens. You get 8 clue tokens at the start, and you will have gotten a 5 clue tokens from playing the 5s. This means that in the entire game, there were 13 (discards) + 8 (start) + 5 (completing a colour) - 1 (token left at the end) = 25 clue tokens available for playing.
+Alice to Bob: "This card is a 5."
-On average, this means 1 clue token per 1 playable card. No matter what variant you play, you will end up with roughly this number. (Worst: 5-player game, with players that have 4 cards in their hands, playing 5 colours. This gives 22 tokens for 25 cards = 0.88 clue token per card. Best: 2-player game, with players that have 6 cards in their hands, playing 6 colours. This gives 35 tokens for 30 cards = 1.17 token per card.)
+{{cardholder|{{hw|3}}{{hw|4}}{{hw|4}}{{hr|5|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Play clue
+|style="text-align:left;"|Clue that marks a card to play i.e. cannot be a save clue.
+|style="text-align:left;"|Alice to Bob: "This card is green."
-The strategies below are based on an optimization of economical use of the clue-tokens. The strategies below are only the basic elements of the convention generally played at BGA. By combining them and using some logical extrapolations one can derive moves which are even more advanced. There are also groups of players on BGA and elsewhere who play with quite different convention sets, where each set has its advantages and downsides.
+{{cardholder|{{hr|1}}{{hy|2}}{{hg|2|c=}}{{hb|4}} |Bob 🡲}}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Focus
+|style="text-align:left;"|The target card of a clue.
+|style="text-align:left;"|Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are 5."
-== Basics ==
+{{cardholder|{{hr|5|n=}}{{hb|4}}{{hw|4}}{{hy|5|n=|p=🡅}} }}
-Before all other rules, every player must look at what cards they can see, and deduce what cards in a clue must be or cannot possibly be. Blindly following the other basic rules without checking for impossible cards will result in mistakes. This is critically important with the played and discarded cards, because everybody can see the same things, and so people will give clues knowing that you have this information. For example: if the played red stack is up to 3, and there is a red 2 in the discard pile, then you know that you cannot be holding a red 2, so when somebody gives you a clue of 2s, you should read it as "these cards are 2s which are not red" and think about whether that changes the way you interpret the clue. If you can narrow it down to one or two cards, the clue might mean something other than PLAY NOW.
+This clue can be a save so the focus is the chop card.
-This leads to '''Basic Rule #0''' (thinking).
+----
-    '''After you receive a clue, look for every visible card of that type.'''
-    '''Before following other rules, think about whether this changes the meaning.'''
+Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are 2."
+{{cardholder|{{hy|2|n=|p=🡅}}{{hg|2|n=}}{{hb|4}}{{hw|4}} }}
+This clue cannot be a save so the focus is the newer (leftmost) card.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Bomb
+|style="text-align:left;"|A play that causes a misfire.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|1|1|1|1|1}} Alice plays {{hb|3}}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Splash
+|style="text-align:left;"|Additional new color or rank information of cards that are not the focus.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|1|1|1|1|1}}
+{{cardholder|{{hg|2}}{{hb|3}}{{hw|4}}{{hg|4}} |Bob 🡲}}
+Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are green."
+{{cardholder|{{hg|2|c=}}{{hb|3}}{{hw|4}}{{hg|4|c=|p=🡅}} |Bob 🡲}}
+----
+{{hTable|3|2|2|2|2}}
+{{cardholder|{{hr|4}}{{hr|3|n=}}{{hw|3|n=}}{{hb|3|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
+Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are red."
+{{cardholder|{{hr|4|c=}}{{hr|3|n=|c=}}{{hw|3|n=}}{{hb|3|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
+Play clue for {{hr|4}} which splashes {{hr|3}}.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Reclue
+|style="text-align:left;"|A repeated clue that causes marked card(s) to play.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|2|1}} {{cardholder|{{hr|2}}{{hg|4}}{{hw|4}}{{hy|2|c=}} |Bob 🡲}}
+Bob does not yet know his marked yellow is playable.
+Alice to Bob: "This card is yellow."
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Fix clue
+|style="text-align:left;"|Follow-up clue required to change the focus of a play clue (and prevent a misfire).
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|1}}
+Alice to Cathy: "These 2 cards are white."
+{{cardholder|{{hw|2|c=}}{{hw|1|c=}}{{hr|1}}{{hb|3}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+Bob to Cathy:  "This card is a 2."
+{{cardholder|{{hw|2|c=|n=}}{{hw|1|c=}}{{hr|1}}{{hb|3}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Prompt
+|style="text-align:left;"|A play clue that causes connecting marked card(s) to play.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|2|5|1|3|4}}
+{{cardholder|{{hb|5}}{{hy|4}}{{hr|3|c=}}{{hw|5}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hw|2}}{{hw|4}}{{hy|1}}{{hr|4}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+Alice to Cathy: "This card is red."
+{{cardholder|{{hb|5}}{{hy|4}}{{hr|3|c=}}{{hw|5}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hw|2}}{{hw|4}}{{hy|1}}{{hr|4|c=}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+Bob plays {{hr|3|c=}}.
+Cathy plays {{hr|4|c=}}.
+|}
+¹Some uncommon convention sets allow color saves.
+{{infoBox
+|maxWidth=
+|state=collapsed
+|title=Save clue thought process
+|body=
+{{hTable|1|1|1|1|}} {{hDiscard|w=2}}
+{{cardholder|{{hr|2}}{{hy|4}}{{hr|3}}{{hw|5}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hr|4}}{{hy|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|2}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+Alice to Bob: "This card is a 5."
+{{cardholder|{{hr|2}}{{hy|4}}{{hr|3}}{{hw|5|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hr|4}}{{hy|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|2}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+Bob knows that there is only one 5 of each color in the deck, so all 5s need to be marked to keep them from being discarded. Bob sees Cathy's oldest card is {{hw|2}} and checks the discard pile to see if he needs to save it from being discarded. There is already a {{hw|2}} in the discard pile and Bob knows there are only two 2s of each color, so Cathy has the last remaining {{hw|2}} and Bob must save it.
+Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 2."
+Good job, Bob.
+{{cardholder|{{hr|2}}{{hy|4}}{{hr|3}}{{hw|5|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hr|4}}{{hy|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|2|n=}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+Cathy looks at the played cards to see if 2s are all playable. The {{hw|1}} has not been played yet, so she cannot be sure it is playable yet. Next, Cathy looks at the discard pile to see if there is a 2 in the discard pile. There is a {{hw|2}} discarded, so she interprets this number clue marking her oldest card as a save clue to prevent her from discarding it. Nice one, Cathy.}}
+{|class="wikitable" style="width:auto;text-align:left;" border="2"
+|+Intermediate
+|-style="background:#ccd4;font-weight:600;"
+!
+!Definition
+!Examples
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Good Touch Principle
+|style="text-align:left;"|All marked cards will eventually be played.
+|style="text-align:left;"|Alice to Bob: "This card is a 1."
+{{cardholder|{{hg|1|n=}}{{hw|4}}{{hg|4}}{{hg|4}} |Bob 🡲}}
+number is better than color to avoid duplicate {{hg|4}}.
-If there isn't an obvious meaning to the clue, then continue. It is unlikely to be anything complicated.
+----
-The basic game plays with 50 cards: 10 for each colour. If you want to get the maximum score of 25 points, you need to play 25 cards. Some of the cards are left in the players hands at the end of the game. Depending on the number of players, this will be 8, 12, 12, or 15 (for 2p, 3p, 4p, and 5p respectively). This means in the entire game, there are 17, 13, or 10 cards that can be discarded for clues. You also get 8 clue tokens at the start and 4 useable clues from suite completion, making the total number of clues in the entire game 29, 25, or 22. This gives the logical conclusion that you can not clue the colour AND number for every card in your hand, because there are simply not enough clues.
+{{hTable|2||1}}
-It is therefore paramount, that only useful cards are clued. If you mark a card that you know will not be played, it will cost another clue (-1) to make your team mate discard that card to gain a clue (+1), which is a net result of 0. If the card is not marked, your team mate will discard it eventually to gain a clue (+1), which is a net result of +1.
+Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are green."
+{{cardholder|{{hg|2|c=}}{{hr|2}}{{hw|4}}{{hg|4|c=}} |Bob 🡲}}
-This leads to '''Basic Rule #1''' (cluing).
+color is better than number to avoid trash {{hr|2}}.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Locked
+|style="text-align:left;"|A hand with all cards marked without any plays.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|3|2|3|5|5}}
-Every card that is marked, is either
+{{cardholder|{{hr|5|n=}}{{hy|4|n=}}{{hy|5|n=}}{{hg|5|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
-    a) (a) useful card(s) to be saved (interpret it as HOLD TO PLAY LATER), or
+|-
-    b) a useful card to be played (interpret it as PLAY NOW).
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Early save
-    Therefore: '''NEVER mark useless cards'''
+|style="text-align:left;"|An attempt to save a card when there is already a known playable card in the same hand.
-Most hanabi-players on BGA play by this main rule. So when a clue is given, ask yourself "Is this clue to save something"? If not, it is to get played.
+{{warn|'''''This clue should be read as a play clue.'''''<br>
-Saving cards is important because there are only 2 cards of value 2, 3, and 4 in each suit, and only 1 card of value 5. To not get stuck on that colour it is urgent to keep the last copy of a card safe (prevent from discarding it).
+This clue is a mistake, since save clues should only be given after all playable cards are played when the chop card is in danger of discard.}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hDiscard|r=2}}
+Alice to Cathy: "This card is blue."
-The game interface puts every new card you draw on the left-hand side of your hand. This means, the left-most card is the newest card, which makes your right-most card automatically the oldest. If a card has been in your hand for a long time, and you have not been given a clue that marks it, it is logical that it is a useless card and safe to discard.
+{{cardholder|{{hr|4}}{{hb|1|c=}}{{hw|3}}{{hr|2}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 2."
-Hence, '''Basic Rule #2''' (discarding).
+{{cardholder|{{hr|4}}{{hb|1|c=}}{{hw|5}}{{hr|2|n=}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-    '''Discard first what you know is useless (like a clued 1 when all 1s are already played).'''
+|-
-    '''After that: discard your oldest (right-most) unclued card.'''
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Double save
+|style="text-align:left;"|Two consecutive saves in the same hand.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hDiscard|r=2}}
-Note, that this rule is already a bit tricky. At the start of the game, every card can be considered equally old. This is where personal preference of players starts to matter.
+Alice to Cathy: "This card is a 2."
-Another result from the newest --> oldest order, is the interpretation of multiple marked cards. When you haven’t been clued a certain kind of clue (call it "X"), while there were tokens, and right after you draw a card, you receive a "X" clue on multiple cards including the newest and you can identify it as a play clue (see Basic Rule 1), you can logically deduce that the newest (left-most) card is the one to play. If an older card was "the playable card", it would probably have been clued earlier – provided you can identify your teammates did have the opportunity to give the same clue earlier. The logical conclusion must be that the card in the leftmost slot was the card your team have been waiting for (the "wait factor"), and you happened to draw it.
+{{cardholder|{{hb|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|5}}{{hr|2|n=}} |Cathy 🡲}}
+Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 5."
-'''Basic Rule #3''' (playing).
+{{cardholder|{{hb|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|5|n=}}{{hr|2|n=}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-    '''If the wait factor is validated, play the newer (left-most) clued card'''
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Double discard
+|style="text-align:left;"|Two consecutive players discard copies of the same chop card, resulting in a critical discard.
-So most people on BGA expect you to ONLY play the clued card on the left. The rest of the cards are just to be kept on your hand. Beware that there are different approaches and not all players play by this convention.
+{{reminder|A special problem, since, to each of the consecutive players, a number clue that marks their chop card does not look like a save clue (and therefore looks like a play clue).}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|
+{{cardholder|{{hw|4}}{{hg|2}}{{hy|4}}{{hr|2}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hb|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|5}}{{hr|2}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-'''Basic Rule #4''' (triggering end of game).
+Bob discards {{hr|2}}. Cathy discards {{hr|2}}.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Blind play
+|style="text-align:left;"|An unmarked card play.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{cardholder|{{hBack}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}} |Alice 🡲}}
-Once all cards have been drawn, each player has one more play, including the player who drew the last card. Therefore, it is often useful to delay the end of game by giving worthless or low-value clues instead of discarding.
+Alice plays slot 1.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Finesse Position
+|style="text-align:left;"|The newest (leftmost), unmarked card in a hand.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{cardholder|{{hw|3|p=🡅}}{{hw|4}}{{hw|4}}{{hr|5}} }}
+{{cardholder|{{hg|1|c=}}{{hw|3|p=🡅}}{{hw|4}}{{hr|5}} }}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Finesse
+|style="text-align:left;"|A play clue that causes connecting unmarked card(s) to play.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable}}
-== Basic Example ==
+Alice to Cathy: "This card is blue."
-Imagine the following starting situation:
+{{cardholder|{{hb|1}}{{hb|5}}{{hg|3}}{{hw|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
-            (newest ... oldest)
+{{cardholder|{{hr|5}}{{hr|2}}{{hb|2|c=}}{{hg|2}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-  Alice:  W1, Y1, B2, Y2, B2
-  Barry:  G1, G1, W3, Y2, B1
-  Carla:  B1, R4, W4, R3, G3
-Alice can clue 1s to Barry. But that will mark both G1's, so it's not the best option. Better is for Alice to clue Carla 1s, or blue. (If BLUE-clue is given, then Carla will not worry about the B1 in Barry's hand that is about to be discarded. Both 1-clue or BLUE-clue only mark 1 card, so give equal information about the other cards in Carla's hand.)
+Bob plays {{hb|1}}.
+Cathy plays {{hb|2|c=}}.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Reverse(d finesse)
+|style="text-align:left;"|A finesse in reverse order.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable}}
-Barry will clue 1s to Alice. He knows that Carla prefers to play her 1. And Barry is the only person who can see that the 1s in both Alice's hand, and Carla's hand are different.
+Alice to Bob: "This card is blue."
-Everyone will have to wait for B2 to be discarded, before the second B2 can be clued. Everyone will also have to wait for G1 to be discarded, before the second G1 can be clued. Alternatively, when R1 is drawn and clued, then both G1's may be clued, since all 1's will be played and all cards marked 1 can be safely discarded.
+{{cardholder|{{hr|5}}{{hr|2}}{{hb|2|c=}}{{hg|2}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hb|1}}{{hb|5}}{{hg|3}}{{hw|1}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-So, the first four moves are:
+Bob discards.<br>
+Cathy plays {{hb|1}}.
+Bob plays {{hb|2|c=}}.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Bluff
+|style="text-align:left;"|A play clue that causes a non-connecting unmarked card to play.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable||||2}}
-. Alice clues BLUE to Carla (7 clue-tokens).
+Alice to Cathy: "This card is green."
-. Barry clues 1 to Alice (6 clue-tokens).
+{{cardholder|{{hy|1}}{{hb|5}}{{hg|3}}{{hw|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hb|4}}{{hr|5}}{{hr|2}}{{hg|2|c=}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-. Carla plays B1 and draws R1.
+Bob plays {{hy|1}}.
-. Alice plays W1 and draws G4.
+Cathy knows her {{hg|2|c=}} cannot be {{hg|1}}
-The game now looks like this, with Barry to move:
+(and keeps it for later).
-            (newest ... oldest)
+|-
-  Alice:  G4, Y(1), B2, Y2, B2                   Played: R0, Y0, G0, B1, W1
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Bluff seat
-  Barry:  G1, G1, W3, Y2, B1
+|style="text-align:left;"|The player directly before the player who is bluffed.
-  Carla:  R1, R4, W4, R3, G3                     Discarded: -
+{{warn|[https://hanabi.github.io/level-11/#the-bluff-seat The bluff seat] is an H-Group convention which restricts which players are allowed to perform a bluff. Outside of H-Group, it is possible to bluff any player when the players before were unable to blind play (to reveal the bluff).}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|Order is Alice 🡆 Bob 🡆 Cathy:<br>
+Alice is in the 'bluff seat' of Bob.<br>
+Bob is in the 'bluff seat' of Cathy.<br>
+Cathy is in the 'bluff seat' of Alice.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Discard clue
+|style="text-align:left;"|Clue that marks trash card(s) to be discarded (to prevent a misfire or unwanted discard).
+{{reminder|The receiver must know that all cards marked by this clue are trash.}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|1|1|1|1|1}}
-. Barry clues RED to Carla.
+Alice to Bob: "These 3 cards are 1."
-There are two possible continuations from here.
+{{cardholder|{{hr|1|n=}}{{hr|1|n=}}{{hy|1|n=}}{{hb|3}} |Bob 🡲}}
-'''Option 1'''
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Stall clue
+|style="text-align:left;"|A clue given to avoid discarding.
+{{warn|Avoid a finesse misinterpretation by giving a negative clue e.g. 'You have no 2'.}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|5|5|5|5|3|d=1}}
-. Carla plays R1 and draws Y5.
+{{cardholder|{{hy|1}}{{hb|4}}{{hw|4|c=|n=}}{{hw|5|c=|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
-. Alice plays Y1 and draws Y3.
+Alice to Bob: "You have no 2."
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Skip/Steal
+|style="text-align:left;"|A player gives a clue that could have been given by one of the skipped players.
+{{reminder|The players who were skipped have a better move than to give the clue that skipped them.
+Good reasons for skipping players:
+<ul>
+  <li>Clue-giver is locked, i.e., cannot play or discard.</li>
+  <li>Gain tempo to '''play''', e.g., skipped player(s) all have playable cards.</li>
+  <li>Gain tempo to '''clue''', e.g., skipped player(s) must give a fix clue.</li>
+  <li>Avoid a bad/ensure a good '''clue''', e.g., mark cards with good touch.</li>
+  <li>Cause a '''discard''', e.g., duplicate or trash card.</li>
+  <li>Avoid a '''discard''', e.g., double discard or nice-to-have card that cannot be saved.</li>
+</ul>}}
+More examples below.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable}}
-. Barry discards B1 and draws G2 (7 clues).
+Alice to Cathy: "This card is blue."
-. Carla clues 1 to Barry (6 clues).
+{{cardholder|{{hb|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|1}}{{hw|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hy|4}}{{hb|1|c=}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|2}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-. Alice discards B2 and draws R4 (7 clues).
+Bob discards {{hw|1}} (because he has nothing to clue or play).
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Generation discard
+|style="text-align:left;"|An unexpected discard to gain {{Hclue|s=1.2|1}} intended to be used immediately by next player as they need to urgently clue or save another player card.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|2|2|2|2|2}} {{hclue|0}}
-. Barry plays G1 and draws B5.
+{{cardholder|{{hBack|3|n=}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}} |Alice 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hy|3}}{{hw|2}}{{hg|4}}{{hb|5}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-. Carla clues 2 to Alice (6 clues).
+Alice discards her chop instead of playing {{hBack|3|n=}}.
-And the game will look like this, with Alice to move:
+Bob to Cathy: "This card is a 5."
-            (newest ... oldest)
+|-
-  Alice:  R4, Y3, G4, B(2), Y(2)                Played: R1, Y1, G1, B1, W1
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Scream discard
-  Barry:  B5, G2, G(1), W3, Y2
+|style="text-align:left;"|An unexpected discard to save a critical card in another hand.
-  Carla:  Y5, (R)4, W4, (R)3, G3                Discarded: B1, B2
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{Hclue|0}}
-'''Option 2'''
+{{cardholder|{{hBack}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}} |Alice 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hy|4}}{{hb|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hw|5}} |Bob 🡲}}
-. Carla clues 1 to Barry (5 clues). This move delays him playing the R1, but will make Barry more confident in discarding since he knows all the useless 1s.
+Alice discards slot '''3'''.
-. Alice plays Y1 and draws Y5.
+Bob expected Alice to discard her chop.
-. Barry plays G1 in slot 2 and draws Y3.
+Bob's chop must be critical.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Scream play
+|style="text-align:left;"|An unexpected chop play to save a critical card in another hand.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hclue|0}}
-. Carla plays R1 and draws G2.
+{{cardholder|{{hBack}}{{hBack|5|n=}}{{hBack|5|n=}}{{hBack|5|n=}} |Alice 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hr|1}}{{hb|2}}{{hr|4}}{{hr|5}} |Bob 🡲}}
-. Alice discards B2 and draws R4 (6 clues).
+Alice plays her chop card.
-. Barry discards B1 and draws B5 (7 clues).
+Bob expected Alice to discard her chop.
-. Carla clues 2 to Alice (6 clues).
+Alice is unable to perform a scream discard.
-And the game will look like this, with Alice to move:
+Bob's chop must be critical.
-            (newest ... oldest)
+|-
-  Alice:  R4, Y5, G4, B(2), Y(2)                Played: R1, Y1, G1, B1, W1
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Duplicate discard
-  Barry:  B5, Y3, G(1), W3, Y2
+|style="text-align:left;"|Discard of a duplicate marked copy of a card in another hand.
-  Carla:  G2, (R)4, W4, (R)3, G3                Discarded: B2, B1
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable||1}}
-Both options are equally valid. They end up in the same situation, with only the cards in hands being in a different order. Since the cards are picked at random, there is no valid reason to say one option is better than the other.
+Alice to Bob: "This card is green."
-In both options, the 2-clue is given to Alice, to mark both 2s as playable. Since all 1s are played, all 2s will be playable.
+{{cardholder|{{hw|4}}{{hg|2|c=}}{{hy|4}}{{hr|3}} |Alice 🡲}}
-Note that, in this game, two 1s where marked with one clue (and played); and two 2s were marked with one clue (and will be played). As stated in the beginning, there are a total of 21 clues (in this variant) to mark 25 cards. At this point in the game, there are 16 clues left to mark 18 cards. With only two more "efficient" clues, the game can end with a perfect score.
+{{cardholder|{{hy|3}}{{hr|4}}{{hg|5}}{{hg|2|n=|c=}} |Bob 🡲}}
-== Advanced Moves ==
+Cathy discards {{hg|2|n=|c=}} and Bob plays his marked copy.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Bottom-decked
+|style="text-align:left;"|When all copies of a card are too near the bottom of the deck to achieve a perfect score.
+|style="text-align:left;"|Both {{hr|2}} are in the last {{hDeck|2}} cards of the deck.
+|}
-=== Play refusal ===
+{{infoBoxes |state=collapsed
+|title1=Bad Skip (prevents bluff or finesse)
+|body1={{hTable||3|3|3|3}}
-Sometimes you have a card to play but the next player’s chop card is critical and you have no tokens to tell them. So the only option you have is to discard your '''CHOP''' card, even when you know you have a playable card. This is a risky move, since your team mate(s) might expect you to play, instead of discard. ('''always try to give them a clue token to use or help them play their hand as fast as possible''').
+Alice to Cathy: "This card is red."
-So the next player will think "if s-he had played I would have been forced to discard, since there were no tokens, so s-he doesn’t want me to discard, so I should keep my chop card."
-=== Positional Discard ===
+{{cardholder|{{hr|2}}{{hy|1}}{{hw|1}}{{hb|3}} |Alice 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hb|1}}{{hy|5}}{{hw|5}}{{hb|4}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hr|1|c=}}{{hw|4}}{{hw|4}}{{hw|3}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-Sometimes at the end of the game you will have no useful cards to play. You want to give a clue, but you have no remaining clue-tokens. In this case, you can discard the card in the same position as the card that you want that player to play.
+If Alice discarded instead, Bob would have clued Alice red to finesse {{hr|1}} and {{hr|2}}.
-<code>
+|title2=Good Skip (ensures good touch)
-Example Positional Discard
+|body2={{hTable|1|1|1|1|1}}
-All players have agreed on the convention that a colour-clue means PLAY the left-most marked card.
+{{cardholder|{{hw|1}}{{hy|2|n=}}{{hw|2|n=}}{{hr|2|n=}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hw|2}}{{hr|1}}{{hb|2}}{{hg|1}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-            (newest ... oldest)
+Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a blue clue so that a duplicate {{hw|2}} is not marked.
-  Player 1:  XX, XX, XX, XX, XX                   Played: R5, Y5, G4, B5, W5
+}}
-  Player 2:  ??, ??, ??, ??, ?3
-  Player 3:  G5, B2, R4, B3, W1                   Discarded: -
-</code>
-In this example, when there are no clue-tokens left, Player 2 can discard their DRAW, to indicate to Player 3 the position of the last remaining playable card.
-=== Hint to Discard ===
+{|class="wikitable" style="width:auto;text-align:left;" border="2"
+|+Advanced
+|-style="background:#ccd4;font-weight:600;"
+!
+!Definition
+!Examples
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Long finesse
+|style="text-align:left;"|A finesse of three or more cards lasting more than one complete round.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|3|3|3|3|}}
-You can hint a player to discard specific cards in order to save multiple cards, to save cards without causing a confusion about finesse/reverse.
+Alice to Cathy: "This card is white."
-<code>
+{{cardholder|{{hw|1}}{{hw|2}}{{hy|4}}{{hg|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
-Example Hint to Discard
+{{cardholder|{{hw|3|c=}}{{hb|3}}{{hg|3}}{{hy|3}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-In this example, all 1s have been played already. Both the Y3 and the G4 need to be saved.
-  Player 1: G1, R1, B4, Y3, G4
+Bob plays {{hw|1}}.<br>
-</code>
+Cathy also sees {{hw|2}} and could hold {{hw|3|c=}}.<br>
-If Player 1 is given a 4-clue, the G4 will be saved, but the Y3 will be the new CHOP card. One option to save both Y3, and G4 is to give Player 1, a 1-clue. This would make the R1 the new CHOP card, and the G1 will be the next CHOP card.
+Cathy discards.
-Alternatively, you can give an empty clue to get the clued player to save two CHOP cards.
+{{cardholder|{{hr|5}}{{hw|2}}{{hy|4}}{{hg|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hy|5}}{{hw|3|c=}}{{hb|3}}{{hg|3}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-=== Double Save ===
+Bob plays {{hw|2}}.
+Cathy plays {{hw|3|c=}}
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Finesse Bluff
+|style="text-align:left;"|A finesse followed by a bluff.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|3|3|3|3|}}
-This is an alternative solution if you are low on clue-tokens, or don't have enough players to execute multiple saves in a row.
+Alice to Bob: "This card is a 3."
-<code>
+{{cardholder|{{hw|1}}{{hw|3|n=}}{{hy|4}}{{hg|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
-Example Double Save
+{{cardholder|{{hb|4}}{{hb|3}}{{hg|3}}{{hy|3}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-In this example, W1 has not been played yet. Both the Y3 and the G4 need to be saved.
-  Player 1: G1, R1, B4, Y3, G4
+Bob plays {{hw|1}} (finesse).<br>
-</code>
+Cathy plays {{hb|4}} as {{hw|2}} (bluff).
-This situation is similar as the Hint to Discard. However, in this situation a 1-clue will be interpreted as PLAY G1 (which isn't playable). To save both Y3 and G4, an empty clue can be given to Player 1 (either 2 or 5 or white in this situation). This will cause them to wonder why you would be wasting a clue to give no information, and find out it must be because cluing normally would enable you to save one CHOP card, not two. So it costs 1 clue-token for 2 saves, but gives you no information about the saved cards.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Layered finesse
+|style="text-align:left;"|A finesse with unrelated playable card(s) in front of the target card(s).
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|1|1|1||4}}
-----
+Alice to Bob: "These 2 cards are blue."
+{{cardholder|{{hb|2|c=}}{{hb|5|c=}}{{hy|1}}{{hg|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hr|2}}{{hy|2}}{{hb|1}}{{hg|1}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-'''2P GAMES'''<br>
+Bob sees {{hb|1}} in Cathy's hand, but layered<br> behind other playable cards {{hr|2}} and {{hy|2}}.<br>
-With 2 players, you are limited in your options. Therefore the gameplay is different from 3+P games.
+Bob discards. Cathy plays {{hr|2}}.
-----
+{{cardholder|{{hg|3}}{{hb|2|c=}}{{hb|5|c=}}{{hy|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hw|5}}{{hy|2}}{{hb|1}}{{hg|1}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-'''3+P GAMES'''<br>
+Cathy knows this cannot be a bluff because<br> Bob would not discard unless he sees a playable {{hb|1}} in Cathy's hand.<br>
+So Cathy is promised {{hb|1}} and keeps playing<br> each slot from left to right until a {{hb|1}} is played.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Clued misplay
+|style="text-align:left;"|A play clue that causes a misfire to prevent a critical discard in the same hand.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|1|3|3|3|3}}{{hDiscard|r=4}}
-=== Prompt ===
+{{cardholder|{{hr|1}}{{hb|2}}{{hr|4}}{{hr|5}} |Bob 🡲}}
-A prompt can clarify (an) already marked card(s) to be played as well as mark the next card to play.
-<code>
+Alice to Bob: "These 3 cards are red."
-Example Prompt
-            (newest ... oldest)
+{{cardholder|{{hr|1|c=}}{{hb|2}}{{hr|4|c=}}{{hr|5|c=}} |Bob 🡲}} Bob misfires {{hr|1|c=}}
-  Alice:  XX, XX, XX, XX, XX                   Played: R0, Y1, G0, B2, W0
-  Barry:  ??, ??, ??, ?2, ?5
-  Carla:  Y3, G5, R4, B3, W1                   Discarded: -
-</code>
-Alice gives a yellow-clue to Carla, marking Y3 as PLAY. Barry sees that the Y3 is ALMOST playable. This means that Barry has the LOGICAL in-between step: Barry has to play Y2. In this case, the Y2 is not on the DRAW card. The logical place for that card is the already marked 2. So Barry can assume that his card between his CHOP and the 5 is the Y2.
+(and keeps the remaining red cards).
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Positional misplay
+|style="text-align:left;"|An unexpected play that marks the same slot position in another hand to play immediately. A risky move if the misplayed card is unknown.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|2|4|4|4|4}} {{Hclue|0}}
-=== Finesse ===
+{{cardholder|{{hBack}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}} |Alice 🡲}}
-This advanced move can get you 2 cards into play, with only 1 clue-token. You do this, by marking an ALMOST playable card as playable. Someone else will have to play the LOGICAL in-between step, to make the card genuinely playable.
+{{cardholder|{{hb|2}}{{hr|3}}{{hr|4|n=|c=}}{{hr|5|n=|c=}} |Bob 🡲}}
-<code>
+Alice blind plays '''slot 2''' and causes a misfire.
-Example Finesse (#1)
-            (newest ... oldest)
+Bob expected Alice to discard her chop.
-  Alice: ??, ??, ??, ??, ??                   Played: R0, Y0, G0, B0, W0
-  Barry:  ??, ??, ??, ??, ?5
-  Carla:  G5, B2, R4, R3, W1                   Discarded: -
-</code>
-Alice gives a blue-clue to Carla, marking B2 as PLAY. Barry sees that the B2 is ALMOST playable. This means that Barry has the LOGICAL inbetween step: Barry has to play B1. The only logical place for that card is at the '''LEFT-MOST POSITION''' so Barry can assume that the '''DRAW''' card is the playable B1. If it was somewhere else in your hand, the card would have been clued earlier. '''Note: for the in-between player, a prompt always has priority over a finesse; if a player has a marked card that can be the in-between card, they should play it.'''
+Bob plays {{hr|3}} in '''slot 2'''.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Positional discard
+|style="text-align:left;"|An unexpected discard that marks the same slot position in another hand to play immediately. When all remaining playable cards are visible.
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|5|5|4|5|5}} {{hclue|0}}
-<code>
+{{cardholder|{{hb|2}}{{hr|4}}{{hg|5}}{{hb|3}} |Bob 🡲}}
-Example Finesse (#2)
-            (newest ... oldest)
+Alice discards '''slot 3'''.
-  Alice:  ??, ??, ??, ??, ??                   Played: R0, Y1, G2, B0, W1
-  Barry:  Y2, R1, R1, G5, W5
-  Carla:  XX, XX, R2, XX, XX                   Discarded: G4, R3
-</code>
-Alice gives a 5-clue to Barry, saving W5 and G5 from being discarded. Barry sees nothing of interest in the hand of Carla, so discards his CHOP (R1) and draws R4. Carla gives a setup for Alice by marking Y2 with a yellow-clue. The game now looks like this:
+Bob expected Alice to discard her chop.
-<code>
-            (newest ... oldest)
-  Alice:  ??, ??, ??, ??, ??                   Played: R0, Y1, G2, B0, W1
-  Barry:  R4,*Y2, R1, G5*,W5*
-  Carla:  XX, XX, R2, XX, XX                   Discarded: G4, R3, R1
-</code>
-Alice can't give a red-clue to Barry, because this would cause Barry to bomb with r4. Instead, Alice now gives a red-clue to Carla, marking R2 as PLAY. Barry sees that the R2 is ALMOST playable. This means that Barry has the LOGICAL inbetween step: Barry has to play R1. Barry knows that R1 can only be at the DRAW position, or at the middle position. Since Alice deliberately let Barry discard a playable R1 the round before, Barry concludes that he was already holding a second R1 at the time. Therefore, the LOGICAL place for the R1 to be, is at the middle position; NOT the DRAW position.
+Bob plays {{hg|5}} in '''slot 3'''.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Gentleman's discard
+|style="text-align:left;"|Discard of a known card to play an unmarked copy in another hand.
-=== Bluff ===
+{{reminder|The value in this move can be:
-This works the same as finesse. Only this time, the LOGICAL inbetween step, is a different playable card, so the player is tricked. It is slightly less strong than finesse, because it gives 1 play + 1 save for 1 clue-token.
+<ul>
+  <li>delay the discard of non-trash cards to the right of the unmarked copy</li>
+  <li>play multiple cards</li>
+  <li>generate a token (see ''Generation discard'')</li>
+</ul>}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|||||1}}
-<code>
+{{cardholder|{{hBack}}{{hBack|2|{{w}}|c=|n=}}{{hBack}}{{hBack}} |Alice 🡲}}
-Example Bluff
+{{cardholder|{{hw|2}}{{hr|2}}{{hy|3}}{{hg|4}} |Bob 🡲}}
-            (newest ... oldest)
+Alice discards {{hBack|2|{{w}}|c=|n=}}.
-  Alice:  XX, XX, XX, XX, XX                   Played: R0, Y3, G1, B1, W0
-  Barry:  W1, B3, R4, B2, G5
-  Carla:  ??, ??, R?, ??, ??                   Discarded: -
-</code>
-Alice gives a red-clue to Carla, marking it as PLAY. Barry sees that the R2 is ALMOST playable, so applies finesse logic and plays his DRAW card. Much to Barry's surprise, he has not played R1, but W1 (which was also playable). Because Carla saw Barry playing his DRAW, which was a different colour than the clue he received, Carla knows it was a bluffed finesse situation. She concludes that her red card is R2, and saves it for later.
+Bob plays his finesse position (and each slot left to right)
+<br>
+until an unmarked copy of {{hw|2}} is played.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Play refusal
+|style="text-align:left;"|Instead of playing, a player clues or discards their chop.
+{{reminder|The next player must consider if the play refusal is:
+<ul>
+  <li>waiting for a potential reverse, or</li>
+  <li>there are critical card(s) to save (see ''Scream discard'', ''Generation discard'').</li>
+</ul>}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable}}
-=== Reverse ===
+Alice to Bob: "This card is a 2."
-This works the same as finesse. Only this time, the LOGICAL inbetween step, is a different players hand. This also gets 2 plays for 1 clue-token, but takes longer than a normal finesse.
-<code>
+{{cardholder|{{hb|1}}{{hb|2|n=}}{{hb|4}}{{hw|1}} |Bob 🡲}}
-Example Reverse
+{{cardholder|{{hb|1}}{{hw|4}}{{hy|1}}{{hr|4}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-            (newest ... oldest)
+Bob discards waiting for Cathy's {{hb|1}}.
-  Alice:  XX, XX, XX, XX, XX                   Played: R2, Y0, G2, B1, W0
-  Barry:  ??, ??, W?, G3, ??
-  Carla:  W1, B2, R4, B3, G5                   Discarded: -
-</code>
-Alice gives a white-clue to Barry, marking it as PLAY. However, Barry sees that the DRAW card of Carla is a playable card of the same colour. Therefore, Barry may assume that it is (reversed) finesse, and that his white MIGHT be W2, nearly playable. Barry decides to then first play his G3, which is a safer option for the moment, and see how Carla reacts. Carla recognises the (reversed) finesse play, and plays her DRAW card to play the W1.
+Cathy discards.
+Bob plays {{hb|1}} and {{hb|2|n=}}.
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Hesitation play
+|style="text-align:left;"|After a play refusal of a playable card, another player may be able to blind play an unmarked card.
+{{warn|A hesitation play must not interfere with any future response(s).<br>
+See ''Play refusal example.''}}
+|style="text-align:left;"|{{hTable|1}}
-''Having the optimal player draw the last card (endgame)''
+{{cardholder|{{hr|4}}{{hr|2|n=}}{{hy|4}}{{hb|4}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hw|1}}{{hb|3}}{{hb|4}}{{hw|1}} |Donald 🡲}}
-At the end of the game, the person who draws the last card (which happens either by playing or discarding) triggers the end of the game. After the last card is drawn, each player receives exactly one more turn. Sometimes near the end of the game you will want a specific player to play or discard in order to get the last turn. Giving an unusable clue can prevent a player from drawing the last card and begin the last round.
+Alice to Bob: "This card is a 2."
-<code>
+Bob discards waiting for a {{hw|1}} reverse.<br>
-Table:
+Cathy discards.
-<br />'''1 card remaining in deck - Your turn'''
-<br />R Y G B W M
-<br />5 5 3 4 5 5
-XX|XX|B5 - me
+Donald knows from the context that Bob's<br>
+discard can only be waiting for a playable 1 in their hand.<br>
+Donald plays {{hw|1}}.
+|}
-??|??|?3 - you
+== Gameplay Using Finesse Conventions ==
-Y1|G4|G5 - 3rd player
+==== Receiving Clues ====
-</code>
-In this situation, assume everyone knows where the remaining playable cards are. Instead of discarding in this situation, you want the 3rd player be the one to play and draw the last card. Give any clue to prevent triggering the endgame so that 3rd player can play G4 triggering the endgame and then in their last turn play the G5.
+Check visible cards, including played and discarded, to determine the focus and the meaning of a clue.
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>Example A: you are given a '''2''' clue. You see {{hr|2}} was played and the second {{hr|2}} is in another hand. Therefore the clue means "2s which are not red".</li>
+  <li>Example B: you are given a 4 clue that marks only your chop. You see no 4s have been discarded and no 4s on the chop of the players next to you. Therefore the clue means "this 4 is playable".</li>
+</ul>
-== Strategies for 2-Player games ==
+==== Giving Clues ====
-'''Strategy #1'''
-Pro's: Easy to execute<br>
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
-Con's: Double discard possible for 4s. Easy to get the hands locked.<br>
+  <li>'''Don't mark trash cards''' (see Good Touch Principle).</li>
+  <li>Save critical cards as priority.</li>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Look ahead for critical cards on chop. ''Sometimes more than one player must help to save consecutive critical cards.''</li>
+    </ul>
+  </li>
+  <li>With few {{Hclue|s=1}}, work out which players need them.</li>
+  <li>Consider how the receiver can interpret your clue.</li>
+</ul>
-''Guidelines''<br>
+==== Discarding ====
-. Number-clue means “save all the cards that were marked by this clue”. Try to give save-clues as late as possible.
-. Non-unique 2s and 3s must be saved as much as possible. (Try to avoid double saves if possible.) Uniques should always be saved.
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>Trust your teammates to manage your cards.
+  <li>When there is nothing urgent to clue, don't be afraid to discard! Discarding is often the best move for the team.
+</ul>
-. Colour-clues mean “play the newest card that was marked by this clue”. Other cards that are marked by the clue may be discarded when not previously marked by a number-clue.
+==== Playing ====
-. If more than 5 clue-tokens are available, discarding unknown cards should be avoided, but known useless cards may be discarded freely.
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>When multiple cards are marked, determine the focused card. ''Each clue only has one focused card.''
+  <li>Logically playable cards are marked at the earliest opportunity, so the leftmost card is assumed to be the focus of play clues ''(where no other cards are known to be playable)''.
+</ul>
-. If there is only 1 clue-token available, colour-clues may be given only
+==== Triggering the final round ====
-a. If it leads to two or more plays in a row.
-b. If the playable card is on CHOP.
-. A colour-clue may re-mark a card that’s already marked by a number if:
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
-a. It also marks a previously unmarked card that is playable. (Either immediately, or immediately after playing the card that was marked with a number.)
+  <li>Sometimes a specific player should draw the last card to maximize the score.
-b. As a stall-clue (see 7).
+  <li>Giving empty clues (e.g., "You have no red card") can help to manage which player draws the last card.
+</ul>
-. When just 2 of the hand-slots are filled with non-saved cards, that player should try to avoid discarding two turns in a row (including the turn after the save-clue that leads to this state).
+{{infoBox |maxWidth=650 |state=collapsed
+|title=Last Card Example
+|body={{hTable|5|5|3|4|5|d=1}} {{hclue|4}}
-. If a clue is given while avoiding discarding twice in a row: guideline 4 no longer applies; also stall clues may be given:
+{{cardholder|{{hr|3}}{{hy|1}}{{hg|1}}{{hb|5|n=|c=}} |Bob 🡲}}
-a. A colour-clue that re-marks a saved card, without marking an unmarked card. For example to indicate an accidental double save, or to clarify a playable card.
+{{cardholder|{{hg|2}}{{hr|1}}{{hg|4|n=|c=}}{{hg|5|n=|c=}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-b. An empty-clue: a clue that marks none of the cards. This can be used to convey information on multiple playable cards.
-c. A 5-clue. If 5a and 5b are not possible, a re-clue on the 5s is allowed.
-. Nearing the end of the game, when the number of saved cards in all the hands + the number of cards in the deck is equal to the number of card that need to be played to get the maximum (possible) score, discarding should be avoided as much as possible - so stall clues may be given, non-unique 4s may be saved, etc.
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>Alice and Bob both give empty clues. e.g., Alice to Cathy: "You have no white card."
+  <li>Cathy plays {{hg|4}} and draws the last card.
+  <li>Alice discards, Bob plays {{hb|5}} and Cathy plays {{hg|5}}.
+</ul>
+}}
-'''Strategy #2'''
+==== More ====
-Pro's: Guarantees a score of 28+<br>
+For more moves and strategies, check out:
-Con's: Easy to get the hands locked.<br>
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>[https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/User:Sammy_McSam/Hanabi Sammy's BGA wiki]
+  <li>[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VzgN6WoeYwh5NYtHECzUNZqFvpVcg-EdObU-YNMlyhc Romain's Google doc].
+</ul>
-''Guidelines''<br>
+== 2 Player Strategy ==
-The game is divided into three stages:
-. The Early game: The first 3 or 4 moves of the game.
-. The Mid game: Everything that's not early or late game.
-. The End game: The last moves, starting from the point where the number of "saved cards" + deck = maximum achievable score.
-''Early game''<br>
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
-In the early game, the goal is to 'sort' the hand cards into "old" cards and "new" cards. Since all cards are equally old in the beginning, it is unclear which cards are relevant, and which aren't. In order to do so, players follow these guidelines:
+  <li>Saves are given as late as possible.
+  <li>Off-chop saves for consecutive critical cards.
+  <li>Double discards can be avoided with a stall clue.
+  <li>Last {{Hclue|s=1}} is reserved to mark a critical or playable chop.
+  <li>Playable first copies are clued.
+  <li>Splash critical and already-marked trash cards.
+  <li>Play in clued order.
+  <li>Before playing, consider marking a connecting chop card.
+  <li>Scream discard = save the chop card (and move chop one slot to the left).
+  <li>Flamboyants: Consider not locking a hand with a 5 save.
+  <li>Avalanche: Any card can be multicolor. e.g. wait for negative multicolor on a {{hr|5|c=|n=}} before playing as {{hr|5|c=|n=}}.
+  <li>Avalanche: Playable cards marked with both color and number play first.
+  <li>Black Powder: {{hk|1}} is only marked on chop unless all other 1s (or {{hk|2}}) are already clued/played.
+</ul>
-. Players are not allowed to discard before 3 clue-tokens are spent.
+==== Early game ====
-. After the early game, the right-most unclued cards will be considered "old" and therefore discardable. So the focus of the clues in the early game should be to save the valuable three right-most cards.
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>Avoid discarding until at least {{Hclue|s=1.2|3}} are used.
+  <li>With multiple marked unknown 1s in your hand, consider first playing your 1s or marking 1s individually with color.
+  <li>Non-critical 2s / {{hk|4}} can be marked with number.
+</ul>
-. 1s should be marked with colour as much as possible.
+==== Alternative Strategy ====
-. A 1-clue should only be given when it marks three or more unique 1s.
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>'''Any card may be saved''', including non-critical cards.
+  <li>Cards marked with a number are only splashed with color:
+    <ul>
+      <li>If a previously unmarked card is playable.
+      <li>As a stall clue.
+    </ul>
+  </li>
+</ul>
-. 4-clues should only be given, when the 4 is blocking a colour-clue in the future. Cards marked with 4 in the early game should be discarded in the mid game.
+== Other Convention Sets ==
-''Mid game''<br>
+==== Finesse Additional Skip Interpretation ====
-In the mid game, the goal is to play as many playable cards as possible, and save as many useful cards as possible. In order to do so, players follow these guidelines:
-. Players will be as efficient as possible with clue-tokens. Re-marking cards (spending a clue-token that gives MORE information on a saved card) is highly discouraged.
+{{warn|This convention prevents discard management, finesse with number, layered finesse}}
+An additional convention is that skipped player(s) cannot discard. i.e., Alice can clue Cathy only if Bob has a play or can give another useful clue. If a skipped player has no marked playable cards and no good clue to give, they must blind play their newest, unmarked card. A clue-giver who causes unmarked play(s) purely from a skip is responsible for any misinterpretation.
-. All 2s, 3s and 5s must be saved, even when the 2s or 3s are not unique.
+{{infoBoxes
+|maxWidth=650
+|state=collapsed
+|title1=Skipped Players Cannot Discard Example
+|body1=Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a '''1''' clue.
-a. Any clue means "play the newest, PREVIOUSLY UNMARKED, card". With the exception of a SAVE-clue, or a correction-clue.
+{{hTable}}
-b. A card can be saved in four possible ways:
+{{cardholder|{{hy|1}}{{hy|2}}{{hw|2}}{{hr|2}} |Bob 🡲}}
- I. A number-clue that marks the CHOP card.
+{{cardholder|{{hw|2}}{{hr|1|n=}}{{hb|2}}{{hg|4}} |Cathy 🡲}}
- II. A colour-clue that marks a PLAY card, and in addition marks another card of the same colour.<br> This other card is saved.
- III. A SCREAM discard. When player 1 can play a card, but chooses to discard instead, it is called a SCREAM discard.<br> This signals to player 2 that their CHOP card must be saved.<br> It is recommended that player 2 spends the token, in case they have a long chain of cards that need saving.
- IV. A deliberate misplay. When player 1 gives player 2 a PLAY-clue, that causes player 2 to BOMB.<br> Player 2 knows to SAVE all the cards OLDER than the card that was used to bomb.
-c. When a useless card is marked as SAVE, it is desired to give a correction-clue. This re-marks the card, indicating its uselessness. Preferably, this shouldn't mark any other cards. When it does, the clue is a PLAY-clue with the correction as an additional benefit.
+Bob has no clue to give and no known play, so he blind plays his newest unmarked card. {{hy|1}} does not connect to {{hBack|1|n=}}, so Cathy interprets Bob's move as a skip play and plays {{hr|1|n=}}.
-. Double discarding (discarding a card that could be the same card that was just discarded), is not allowed.
+|title2=Forbidden Skip Example
+|body2=Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a '''3''' clue.
-. Play-clues shouldn't be given when there are 3 or less clue-tokens available, except when it leads to more than 1 PLAY.
+{{hTable|2}}
-. When a player has only two unmarked cards in their hand (all other slots are filled with SAVES), then this player should keep discarding to a minimum.
+{{cardholder|{{hy|1}}{{hy|2}}{{hw|2}}{{hr|2}} |Bob 🡲}}
+{{cardholder|{{hw|2}}{{hr|3|n=}}{{hb|2}}{{hr|1}} |Cathy 🡲}}
-. When a player has only one unmarked card in their hand, then this player is forbidden to discard two turns in a row.
+Bob has no clue to give and no known play, so he blind plays his newest unmarked card. In this convention, {{hy|1}} does not connect to {{hBack|3|n=}}, so Cathy interprets as a bluff and her {{hBack|3|n=}} is not playable.
+This is a lie because {{hr|3|n=}} is playable. So Alice is forbidden from giving this clue. Instead, Alice should have discarded and allowed Bob to clue Cathy so that she knows her {{hr|3|n=}} is playable.
+}}
-''End game''<br>
+==== H-Group ====
-In the end game, the goal is to get the last remaining cards sorted in the correct hands, to maximise the score. This is achieved, by following these guidelines:
-. Discarding is highly discouraged. If there are enough clue-tokens, then stall-clues should be given.
+Some key differences include:
+<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
+  <li>non-critical saves
+  <li>chop-focused play clues
+  <li>context-dependent chop moves
+  <li>number play clues are assumed to be a lie (bluff) over truth (finesse).
+</ul>
+[https://hanabi.github.io H-Group]
-. Playable cards must be prioritised based on the number of plays it unlocks. This way the number of SAVED cards in hands is minimised.
+{|class="wikitable" style="width:auto;text-align:left;" border="2"
+|-style="background:#ccd4;font-weight:600;"
+!Convention&nbsp;set
+!Definition
+!Examples
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Logical Leftism
+|No convention, just logic || [http://hanabilogic.eklablog.com/basics-level-1-a117610126 hanabi logic]
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Conventional Leftism
+|Another name for Finesse || [http://hanabilogic.eklablog.com/no-conventional-leftism-a117757604 hanabi logic] [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sz3if8-9JJDAcbvdi3MHEAv9L5ljyHHnTSEACKk5RUY/edit#heading=h.q88fl7o62h8c Postmans]
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Hat-guessing
+|Clues relate to slot position, not the cards marked || [https://github.com/hanabi/hanabi.github.io/blob/main/misc/hat-guessing.md H-Group] [https://github.com/fpvandoorn/hanabi/blob/master/doc_hat_player.md Robert Kaspar] [https://github.com/hanabi/hanabi.github.io/blob/main/misc/empty-clues.md H-Group empty clues]
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Closest Friend
+|Clue interpretation depends on which player gave the clue || [https://github.com/hanabi/hanabi.github.io/blob/main/pdf/newest-friend.pdf H-Group]
+|-
+!style="background:#ccd4;text-align:center;font-weight:600;"|Secret convention
+|Each player randomly selects a secret '''[https://perchance.org/e6dtm5lj3r restriction]''' ||[https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26863 Secret variant] [https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=71264#p71264 Secret hanabi restriction]
+|}
-. It is recommended that both players keep at least one 5 in their hand. This way, in the last turn, both players can make a final move.
+For more convention sets check out '''[https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26863 this forum post]''' by [https://boardgamearena.com/player?id=84207926 Romain672]

Tips hanabi: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:41, 28 September 2026

Definitions and Terminology

Gameplay Using Finesse Conventions

Receiving Clues

Giving Clues

Discarding

Playing

Triggering the final round

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2 Player Strategy

Early game

Alternative Strategy

Other Convention Sets

Finesse Additional Skip Interpretation

H-Group

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