Hanafuda (kind of), online!

[tmw89]

I love this game.  The online version's scoring mechanic isn't quite in line with the "real life" game, but... oh well.  Check it out!

http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/hanafuda/hanafuda_e.html

[tmw89]

Just finished a game:



I imagine this isn't anything to be proud about, but a month or two in I'm still getting the hang of it.

The point being that if I can do it, certainly you can do it, too!

[Maximilian]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nlS8KU6p4o[/yt]

[tmw89]

Huh, I saw that movie a year or two ago and completely forgot about the Hanafuda in it!  Shows how much of an impression it made on me... I'll have to revisit it soon.

Interestingly enough, my first exposure to Hanafuda was in another movie released in the US in 2011, like Summer Wars:  Masahiro Shinoda's Pale Flower.  I think the trailer's still on YouTube.

The REALLY funny thing is that in Pale Flower, the Hanafuda deck isn't used for the usual "koi koi" game, as far as I remember; instead, it's re-appropriated for a variant of baccarat and the very, very obscure tehonbiki... which is hard enough to understand when the proper decks (yes, multiple decks native to Japan) are used!

[Maximilian]

Interestingly enough, my first exposure to Hanafuda was in another movie released in the US in 2011, like Summer Wars:  Masahiro Shinoda's Pale Flower.

Released as part of the "Criterion Collection" in 2011, but filmed in b/w in the early sixties, it looks like.
The trailer is sufficiently dramatic and disturbing that I don't think I'll watch the rest of the movie.

http://www.criterion.com/films/27604-pale-flower

[tmw89]

In that film's case, the parts were greater than the whole.  But the good parts were great, the gambling scenes almost mesmerizing (oddly enough, it's my understanding that card games didn't exist in Japan until after St. Francis Xavier arrived in 1549; men on his ship brought cards with them).

Tried re-watching Summer Wars yesterday, but was interrupted about 30 minutes in... did see a short game of Hanafuda, though, played between Natsuki and Wabisuke.

Also, downloadable Hanafuda (with proper scoring!) available here, for free:  http://entitygames.net/index.php?v=hanafuda