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How to play Hanabi (2026): Hanabi is a cooperative card game for two to five players, ages eight and up, in which everyone works together to put on a fireworks show. The twist is that you hold your cards facing away from you. You can see every hand except your own, so the team must give careful clues to play the right cards in the right order. This guide follows the official R&R Games rulebook, including the clue rules that trip up most first-time groups.
The box you need: Hanabi
The box holds 60 fireworks cards in six colors, eight blue clock tokens and four black fuse tokens. The basic game uses five colors; the sixth multicolor suit is for variants once you know the rules. It won the 2013 Spiel des Jahres.
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What is in a Hanabi deck
Each of the five basic colors has ten cards: three 1s, two each of 2s, 3s and 4s, and a single 5. That spread matters. Discarding a 5 means that firework can never be finished, and throwing away the last copy of any card has the same effect.
Setting up Hanabi
- Remove the multicolor cards for your first games and shuffle the remaining 50.
- Place the eight blue clock tokens face up in the middle and the four black fuse tokens nearby.
- Deal five cards each with two or three players, or four cards each with four or five players.
- Pick up your cards facing outward so everyone else sees them. Never look at your own hand.
The three actions on your turn
Each turn you must take exactly one of these actions. You cannot pass.
Give a clue
Spend one blue clock token by flipping it over, then tell one teammate about either one color or one number in their hand. You must point to every card that matches. “These two cards are red” is legal; “this card is a red 3” is not. You may not give a clue if all eight tokens are already spent.
Discard a card
Place one of your cards face up in the discard pile and return a spent clock token to its blue side. Then draw a replacement. You cannot discard if all eight clocks are already blue.
Play a card
Place a card in front of the group. If it is the next number in a firework of that color, starting from 1, it joins that firework. If it does not fit, it is discarded and the team flips a fuse token. Either way, draw a new card. Completing a firework with its 5 earns back one clock token.
How a Hanabi game ends
- Three fuses. If the team turns the third fuse token, the show explodes and the game ends immediately in defeat.
- All five fireworks finished. A perfect show of 25 points ends the game in a win.
- The deck runs out. When someone draws the last card, every player, including that one, gets one final turn.
Scoring your fireworks show
Add the highest card in each firework. A full set of five 5s scores the maximum of 25. The rulebook rates your show on a scale that runs from horrible at the bottom to legendary at the top, which makes every result worth comparing with your last game.
Clue etiquette at the Hanabi table
- No hints by tone. Do not sigh, frown or emphasize words when a teammate reaches for a card.
- Rearrange only to remember. The rules let you move clued cards around your hand so you remember them, but never use the order of your cards to pass along extra hints.
- Check the discard pile. Anyone may look through it at any time, which tells you which cards are now the last copies.
- Agree on conventions. Many groups treat a clue to the newest card as a hint to play it. Discuss conventions before the game, not during.
Variants with the multicolor fireworks
Once your group scores well, add the sixth suit. In the first variant it is simply a separate firework, raising the maximum score to 30. The second uses only one multicolor card of each number, so every one must be protected. In the third, multicolor cards are wild: you cannot name multicolor as a clue, and those cards count as whatever color you do name, though they still build the sixth firework when played.
Love the teamwork? See our Hanabi vs The Mind comparison, our games like Hanabi list and our best cooperative card games.
Hanabi rules questions
Can you tell a player they have no cards of a color in Hanabi?
No. The R&R rules say you must point to the cards you are describing, so a clue like “you have zero blue cards” is not allowed.
Can you look at your own cards in Hanabi?
No. You hold them facing outward and only learn about them through clues.
What happens when you discard a 5 in Hanabi?
That color can never be completed, because each color has only one 5.
How many clue tokens does Hanabi have?
Eight blue clock tokens. Discarding a card or completing a firework earns one back.
