Hanabi Card Game Rules: How to Play, Setup, and Scoring

Last Updated on January 22, 2026 by The Official Game Rules Team

Hanabi is a cooperative card game where players work together to create a flawless fireworks display. As absent-minded pyrotechnicians surrounded by rockets, fuses, and panic, players must carefully share limited information, avoid a disastrous explosion, and pursue a common goal: completing all fireworks before time runs out.

buy now!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see our disclosures here.

How to Play Hanabi (Complete Guide)

Game Overview

Game type: Cooperative game
Number of players: 2 to 5
Ages: 8+
Objective: Build a complete fireworks display by playing cards in the correct order without seeing your own hand

The game of Hanabi is built around imperfect communication. Players see everyone else’s hand cards but never their own, meaning every clue or hint matters.

Components

60 Hanabi cards
- 6 suits (white, red, blue cards, yellow cards, green, multicolor)
- Each suit contains:
  - Three 1s
  - Two 2s
  - Two 3s
  - Two 4s
  - One 5
8 blue clock tokens (information tokens)
4 black fuse tokens
Box lid (used to hold spent tokens)

Setup

Place all blue clock tokens face up on the table.
Stack the black fuse tokens nearby, with the longest fuse on top and the explosion at the bottom.
Shuffle the cards to form a deck and place it face down as the draw pile.
Deal cards without anyone looking at their own hand:
- 5 cards each with 2 or 3 players
- 4 cards each with 4 or 5 players
Players hold their own hand facing outward so teammates can see it.

The multicolor suit is set aside unless you are using a variant.

Core Concept: Fireworks

Each firework must be built using one card of each value, in ascending order from 1 to 5.
There can only be one firework of each color, and cards must be played in the correct sequence.

Turn Order

The player wearing the most colorful clothing takes the first turn. Play then proceeds clockwise.

On each player’s turn, they must take exactly one action. Skipping is not allowed, and teammates may not comment during the active player’s turn.

Player Actions

Give Information

To give a clue, the player spends one blue token and places it into the box lid.

They may give one piece of information to a single teammate by pointing to cards and stating either:

All cards of one color, or
All cards of one value

This information must be complete. If a teammate has two cards of that value or color, both must be identified. You cannot give partial or negative information.

If no blue tokens remain on the table, this action cannot be chosen and the player must take a different action.

Discard a Card

The player announces they are discarding and places one card into the discard pile, face up.

One blue token is returned from the box lid to the table.
The player then draws a new card from the deck and adds it to their hand without looking.

If all blue tokens are already on the table, discarding is not allowed.

Play a Card

The player chooses a card from their hand and plays it face up.

If it correctly continues a firework, it is added to that firework.
If it does not fit, the card is discarded and one black fuse token is moved into the box lid, bringing the team closer to disaster.

After playing, the player draws a new card if any remain.

Bonus for Completing Fireworks

When a player successfully plays a 5 and completes a firework, the team gains a bonus: one blue token is returned from the box lid to the table.

This bonus is lost if all blue tokens are already available.

End of the Game

The end of the game occurs in one of three ways:

Immediate loss: The third fuse token is added to the lid, triggering an explosion.
Immediate victory: All fireworks are completed before the deck runs out, earning the maximum score.
Final round: When the last card is drawn, each player—including the one who drew the last card—takes one final turn. No new cards are drawn during this last round.

After the last turn, the game ends and scoring begins.

Scoring and Score Scale

Add together the highest card in each completed firework. The total determines your result on the score scale.

Overall Impression

0–5: Horrible, booed by the crowd
6–10: Mediocre, scattered applause
11–15: Honorable attempt
16–20: Excellent, crowd pleasing
21–24: Amazing
25: Legendary, everyone left speechless

A perfect fireworks display earns the maximum score of 25.

Strategy and Tips

Players who receive information may rearrange their own hand to help remember what was revealed.
Always check the remaining cards and the discard pile before discarding blindly.
Discarding unknown cards is risky, especially when only one card of each value remains.
Clearly signal an incomplete or impossible firework by subtly organizing known cards, helping teammates manage resources.
Managing information tokens is just as important as avoiding fuse losses.

Communication Rules (Optional)

Officially, communication is limited to giving hints during a player’s turn. However, many groups allow light table talk, such as reminders about known information or acknowledging uncertainty. Choose the level of communication that best suits your group.

Multicolor Variants

Variant 1: Sixth Firework

Add the multicolor suit as a normal firework. It is not wild and must be built separately.

Variant 2: Limited Multicolor

Same as Variant 1, but only one card of each value is used for the multicolor suit.

Variant 3: Wild Multicolor

Multicolor cards act as wild when receiving a clue but always build the sixth firework when played. You cannot call out the multicolor suit directly.

Variant 4: Perfect or Defeat

The game continues until the players either complete all fireworks or are defeated. The score scale is ignored, and the fireworks display must be perfect.

Conclusion

Hanabi is a card game that rewards careful cooperation, memory, and restraint. With limited clues, shared responsibility, and constant tension, every player’s turn matters. Whether you’re chasing a perfect score or simply trying to avoid panic and explosion, Hanabi delivers one of the purest cooperative experiences in modern tabletop gaming.