Tips_hanabi major revision

Refer to Game Help Definitions

Thinking

Check visible cards, including played and discarded to determine the focus and the meaning of a clue.
- e.g. you are given a clue. You see 2 was played and the second 2 is in another hand. Therefore the clue means " s which are not red".
- e.g. you are given a clue that marks only your chop. You see no s have been discarded and no s on the chop of the players next to you. Therefore the clue means "this is playable".

Cluing

Don't mark trash cards
Save unique cards as the first priority.
- Look ahead for unique cards on chop. Sometimes more than one player must help to save consecutive unique 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 maximise the score.
Giving empty clues (e.g. "you have no red card") can help to manage which player draws last card.

Last card example

5 5 3 4 5

5

Alice 🡲

3

1

3

Bob 🡲

4

5

2

1

4

5

Cathy 🡲

Alice and Bob both give empty clues e.g. "to Cathy: you have no white card".
Cathy plays 4 and draws the last card.
Alice plays 5.
Bob discards.
Cathy plays 5.

Worked example: first moves

1

2

Alice 🡲

1

3

1

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

Alice can clue to Bob, but that will mark a second, trash 1, so it's not the best option.

1. Alice to Cathy: this card is blue

1

2

Alice 🡲

1

3

1

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

2. Bob to Alice: these 2 cards are s

1

2

Alice 🡲

1

3

1

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

3. Cathy plays 1

1

2

Alice 🡲

1

3

1

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

4. Alice plays 1

1 1

1

4

1

2

Alice 🡲

1

3

1

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

5. Bob to Cathy: these 3 cards are red

1 1

1

4

1

2

Alice 🡲

1

3

1

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

6. Cathy plays 1

1 1 1

1

4

1

2

Alice 🡲

1

3

1

Bob 🡲

5

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

7. Alice plays 1

1 1 1 1

3

4

2

Alice 🡲

1

3

1

Bob 🡲

5

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

8. Bob discards 1

1 1 1 1

3

4

2

Alice 🡲

2

1

3

Bob 🡲

5

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

9. Cathy to Bob: these 2 cards are s

1 1 1 1

3

4

2

Alice 🡲

1

2

1

3

Bob 🡲

5

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

10. Alice discards 2

1 1 1 1

4

3

4

2

Alice 🡲

1

2

1

3

Bob 🡲

5

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

11. Bob plays 1

1 1 1 1 1

4

3

4

2

Alice 🡲

1

5

2

1

3

Bob 🡲

5

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

12. Cathy to Alice: this card is a

1 1 1 1 1

2

4

3

4

2

Alice 🡲

1

5

2

1

3

Bob 🡲

5

4

3

Cathy 🡲

clue tokens

Skip / steal

When a player gives a clue that could have been given by one of the skipped players, it means the skipped players have a better move than to give the clue that was used to skip.
Skipping should be avoided unless there is a good reason.

A bad skip / steal

3 3 3 3

2

1

3

Alice 🡲

1

5

4

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

Alice skips Bob to clue Cathy red to play 1.

3 3 3 3

2

1

3

Alice 🡲

1

5

4

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

If Alice discarded instead, Bob would have clued Alice red to finesse 1 and 2.

Potential reasons for skipping players:

Clue-giver is locked i.e. all cards are marked without any immediate plays.
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 clue e.g. mark cards with good touch.
Ensure a good clue e.g. mark cards with good touch.
Cause a discard e.g. of a playable card so that its copy can be marked with good touch, or of trash.
Avoid a discard e.g. a double discard, or of nice-to-have (non-unique) cards.

A good skip example 1

1 1 1 1 1

Alice 🡲

2

1

2

Bob 🡲

2

1

2

1

Cathy 🡲

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

A good skip example 2

1 1 1 1 1

Alice 🡲

2

1

2

Bob 🡲

4

2

1

2

Cathy 🡲

Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a blue clue because Bob has let let 2 reach chop and does not want to mark it because he might hold a copy.

Additional interpretation

An additional finesse convention is that skipped player(s) cannot discard.

i.e. Alice can clue Cathy only if Bob has a play or should give another clue.
If a skipped player has no marked playable cards and no good clue to give, they can blind play their newest, unmarked card.
A clue-giver who causes unmarked play(s) purely from a skip is responsible for any misinterpretation.

Example 1: lie

* Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a clue.

2

Alice 🡲

1

2

Bob 🡲

3

2

3

2

4

Cathy 🡲

Bob has no clue to give and no known play, so he blind plays his newest unmarked card.
In this convention, 1 does not connect to , so Cathy interprets as a bluff and her is not playable.
This is a lie because 3 is playable.
Instead, Alice should have discarded and allowed Bob to clue Cathy so that she knows her 3 is playable.

Example 2: bluff

* Alice to Cathy: this card is red .

1 1 1

Alice 🡲

1

2

Bob 🡲

4

3

2

Cathy 🡲

Cathy now knows her marked card 3 is playable.
Bob does not see the connecting 2, so assumes he has to play it now.
Bob does not have a marked card that could be 2, so Bob blind plays his newest unmarked card.
1 successfully plays and the bluff is revealed.
Before Bob played, Cathy thought her marked card was 2.
After Bob plays, Cathy knows her marked card is any valuable red (3, 4 or 5).

Example 3: unambiguous skip play

* Alice skips Bob to give Cathy a clue.

Alice 🡲

1

2

Bob 🡲

1

2

1

2

4

Cathy 🡲

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

2 Player strategy

Basic

Marked cards are not discarded.
Unique cards are saved.
Saves are given as late as possible.
Play clue focus is the leftmost card.
All known playable cards are played before discarding (including 5s with flamboyants).
Marked trash cards are corrected.

Intermediate

Playable first copies are clued.
Playable cards marked with both colour and number will play first.
Last clue tokens is only used to mark a unique or playable chop.
Off-chop saves for consecutive unique cards.
Double discards can be avoided with a stall clue.
- empty clue
- splash that marks no new cards
Cards are played in clued order.
Plays that lead to other plays are prioritised.
Lower ranked cards are prioritised.
Unique cards are splashed.
Black Powder: 1 is only marked on chop unless all other 1s (or 2) are already played.

Advanced

Number clues that mark a non-unique chop are play clues.
- e.g. with no s discarded, play the left .
Black Powder: s are marked with a playable 5 on chop. In a following turn the to the left of 5 is marked with colour to play 5.
Before playing, a connecting card on chop can be marked.
Flamboyants: consider not locking a hand with a 5 save.
Avalanche: any card can be multicolor.
- i.e. wait for negative multicolor on a 5 before playing as 5.
Scream discard = save the chop card (and move chop one slot to the left).
1-away from playable cards are splashed.
Trash cards are discarded before being splashed.
Already-marked trash cards are splashed.
An early game may be discarded.
Black Powder: avoid discarding after an early game 1 or 5 save.
- To allow consecutive 1 and colour 5 saves.

Early game

At least clue tokens are used before the first discard.
Black Powder: 5 is marked first if it is the leftmost .
s are marked next.
- Black Powder: 4 is marked if there are no other s.
s are marked next.
- With multiple marked unknown s in your hand, consider first playing your s or marking s individually with colour.

Alternative strategy

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

Clued misplay example

1 3 3 3 3

Alice 🡲

1

2

4

5

Bob 🡲

Discarded: 4

There are no misfires.
Alice needs to save 5 and 4.
Alice to Bob: these 3 cards are red.

1 3 3 3 3

Alice 🡲

1

2

4

5

Bob 🡲

Discarded: 4

Bob misfires 1 as 2.
Bob interprets this as a clued misplay to save the remaining red cards.

Scream discard example

1 4 2 2 2

5

Alice 🡲

5

1

5

Bob 🡲

clue tokens

There are clue tokens but Alice needs to save 5 and 5.
Alice discards her chop + 1 = 3rd slot while she has 5 to play.
Bob expected Alice to play their known playable card.
Bob knows Alice could have discarded her chop to save his chop.
Bob interprets Alice's move as moving his chop two places from his 3rd slot to 1st slot.
Bob now has two unmarked unique cards saved and discards 1.

Positional misplay example

1 3 3 3 3

5

Alice 🡲

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

Bob 🡲

clue tokens

There are clue tokens and no misfires.
Alice really wants 2 to play so that Bob can play all his marked cards.
Alice blind plays her second slot and causes a misfire.
Bob interprets this as a clue for him to play the same position in his hand.

Splash correction example

3 2 2 2 2

5

Alice 🡲

3

5

4

3

5

Bob 🡲

Alice to Bob: these 2 cards are red .

3 2 2 2 2

5

Alice 🡲

3

5

4

3

5

Bob 🡲

This marks 4 as playable and splashes 3 so that Bob knows it is trash.

Self prompt example

Alice 🡲

4

2

Bob 🡲

Bob to Alice: this card is red ⇨ 1
Alice to Bob: this card is red ⇨ 2

Advanced moves

Discard clue

A discard clue marks known trash cards to prevent an unwanted discard (or misfire).

Discard clue example

1 1 1 1 1

Alice 🡲

1

4

3

Bob 🡲

Discarded: 34

3 and 4 need to be saved.
If Alice gives a clue, 4 might be discarded.
Alice gives a clue so that Bob discards 1 and 1 before his chop card.

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 if there are unique card(s) to save.

Positional Discard

In the endgame when you can see all remaining playable cards, you can use a positional discard to communicate the slot position in another hand.
Typically used with clue tokens or where trash cards make it awkward to clue the target.

Positional discard example

5 5 4 5 5

Alice 🡲

5

2

4

3

Bob 🡲

clue tokens

Alice discards slot 1
Bob plays slot 1 ⇨ 5

Long finesse

Long finesse example

1 1 1

Alice 🡲

1

2

4

1

Bob 🡲

3

1

Cathy 🡲

Alice to Bob: this card is a 4.

1 1 1

Alice 🡲

4

1

2

4

1

Bob 🡲

3

1

Cathy 🡲

Bob has been given a play clue and does not see a playable card in any hand, so Bob blind plays his draw card.
1 successfully plays.
Cathy sees that Bob has 2 in front of 4 but 3 is missing, so Cathy knows she must play 3 at the correct moment.
Cathy discards, Alice discards and Bob blind plays his 2nd slot 2.

1 1 1 2

Alice 🡲

4

5

1

4

1

Bob 🡲

2

3

1

Cathy 🡲

Cathy blind plays her 2nd slot 3.
Alice discards and Bob plays the marked 4.

Layered finesse

Layered finesse example

1 1 1 4

Alice 🡲

2

5

1

Bob 🡲

2

1

Cathy 🡲

Alice to Bob: these 2 cards are blue.

1 1 1 4

Alice 🡲

2

5

1

Bob 🡲

2

1

Cathy 🡲

Bob sees a playable 1 in Cathy's hand, layered behind other playable cards 2 and 2.
Bob discards and Cathy blind plays for 1. 2 successfully plays.
Cathy knows this cannot be a bluff because Bob would not discard unless he sees a playable 1 in Cathy's hand.
So Cathy knows she is promised 1 and keeps playing each slot from left to right until her 1 is played.

Trash bluff

Trash bluff example

1 1 1 1

Alice 🡲

2

4

Bob 🡲

1

2

5

Cathy 🡲

Alice to Cathy: this card is a 1.

1 1 1 1

Alice 🡲

2

4

Bob 🡲

1

2

5

Cathy 🡲

Bob must act now to prevent a misfire of 1.
Bob blind plays 2.
Cathy knows Bob would not blind play for a playable , so Cathy now knows that her is trash and this was a trash bluff.

Finesse bluff

If the following two players both have a playable finesse position, you may be able to perform a finesse bluff.
The first blind play connects to the target.
The second blind play does not connect to the target.

Finesse bluff example

Alice 🡲

1

4

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

4

3

2

Donald 🡲

Alice to Donald: this card is white .

Alice 🡲

1

4

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

4

3

2

Donald 🡲

Bob blind plays 1.
Donald now thinks his white card is 2.
Cathy must act now to prevent a misfire of 3.
Cathy blind plays 1.
With two blind plays, Donald now knows his white is 3 and this was a finesse bluff.

Double bluff

If the following two players both have a playable finesse position, you may be able to perform a double bluff.

Double bluff example

Alice 🡲

1

4

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

3

2

Donald 🡲

Alice can bluff Bob's 1 with a blue clue to Donald.
Instead: Alice to Donald: this card is a 2.

Alice 🡲

1

4

Bob 🡲

1

4

3

Cathy 🡲

2

3

2

Donald 🡲

Bob blind plays 1
Without colour, Donald thinks his is 2.
Cathy must act now to prevent a misfire of 2.
Cathy blind plays 1.
With two blind plays, Donald now knows his is not 2 or 2 and this was a double bluff.

Promise bluff

This move only applies to 1-away-from-playable bluff interpretations.

Promise bluffs give more information than regular bluffs, as they promise the necessary connecting cards to make the clued bluff target 1-away-from-playable. These connecting cards must be either marked or unmarked in finesse position.

Promise bluff example

1 1 1 1 1

Alice 🡲

2

3

4

Bob 🡲

1

4

2

5

Cathy 🡲

Alice to Cathy: this card is white.

1 1 1 1 1

Alice 🡲

2

3

4

Bob 🡲

1

4

2

5

Cathy 🡲

Bob must act now to prevent a misfire of 4.
Bob blind plays 2 and the bluff is revealed.
Cathy sees Bob's 3 was in finesse position behind 2, so now knows that her marked card is either 4 or 3.
Bob knows that for the bluff target to be a valid 1-away-from playable, he is also promised 3 in his slot 2.

Empty clue double save

With not enough clue tokens or turns to save consecutive unique cards, an empty clue can save two chop cards.

Double save example

2 1 2 2 1

2

Alice 🡲

2

4

3

Bob 🡲

Discarded: 34

3 and 4 need to be saved.
If Alice gives a clue, 4 might be discarded.
A clue will cause a misfire of 2.
Alice gives an empty clue (e.g. or or white ).
Bob knows that if Alice played her 2, so this empty clue must mean something.
Bob does not have a playable card and knows Alice could have saved his chop card with this clue token.
Bob interprets this as 'do not discard two chop cards' and discards 2.

Average clue tokens per played card

Imagine the end of an 'ideal' game (without flamboyants):

playerscards in hand55555:

50 (deck) ➖ 25 (played) ➖ 12 (players× at leastcards in hand) 🟰 13 discards

clue tokens (discards) ➕ clue tokens (start) ➕ clue tokens (55555) ➖ clue tokens (last ) 🟰 clue tokens

clue tokens ➗ 25 🟰 clue tokens /

playerscards in hand55555 ⇨ clue tokens ➗ 25 🟰 clue tokens /

playerscards in hand5555551 ⇨ clue tokens ➗ 35 🟰 clue tokens /

User:Sammy McSam/Tips hanabi major revision

Contents

Tips_hanabi major revision

Thinking

Cluing

Discarding

Playing

Triggering the final round

Worked example: first moves

Skip / steal

Additional interpretation

2 Player strategy

Basic

Intermediate

Advanced

Early game

Alternative strategy

Advanced moves

Discard clue

Play refusal

Positional Discard

Long finesse

Layered finesse

Trash bluff

Finesse bluff

Double bluff

Promise bluff

Empty clue double save

Navigation menu

User:Sammy McSam/Tips hanabi major revision

Tips_hanabi major revision

Thinking

Cluing

Discarding

Playing

Triggering the final round

Worked example: first moves

Skip / steal

Additional interpretation

2 Player strategy

Basic

Intermediate

Advanced

Early game

Alternative strategy

Advanced moves

Discard clue

Play refusal

Positional Discard

Long finesse

Layered finesse

Trash bluff

Finesse bluff

Double bluff

Promise bluff

Empty clue double save

Navigation menu

Search