Hanabi rules: how to play and how to win
Reviewed on 10 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check
Hanabi plays 2 to 5 players, all together: you build five fireworks without ever seeing your own cards. Here are the essential rules, setup and how scoring works, based on the official rulebook.
- Players
- 2 to 5, cooperative
- Play time
- About 25 minutes
- Winner
- The whole table: a score from 0 to 25, lost at the 3rd red token
Hanabi quick rules
- The goal
- Hanabi is a cooperative game: you win or lose together. You’re fireworks makers who mixed up their rockets, and you must build five fireworks, one per color: white, red, blue, yellow and green. Each firework goes in order, from 1 to 5. At the end, each firework scores the value of its highest card: a perfect score is 25.
- Your cards, backwards
- You hold your cards backward: the others see them, you never do. So you rely on your teammates to know what’s in your hand. During a player’s turn, the others may not comment or influence them.
- A turn
- On your turn, take just one of three actions: give a clue, discard a card or play a card. You can’t pass. In the middle of the table, eight blue tokens are the available clues.
- Giving a clue
- Spend a blue token to tell one teammate about a single color or a single number: “you have two red cards, here and here,” or “you have a 5, here.” Point to every card concerned, without leaving one out. You can also tell someone they have no cards of a color or number. With no blue token available, no more clues.
- Discard or play
- Discarding a card, face up, gets you a blue token back, unless all eight are already available. Playing a card puts it in the middle: if it continues a firework of its color, it’s added; otherwise, it’s a mistake, the card is discarded and a red token comes into play. Either way, draw a card without looking at it. A firework completed with its 5 returns a blue token.
- The end of the game
- At the third red token, the game ends at once and is lost. If all five fireworks are complete, it’s a dazzling win, at 25 points. Otherwise, when someone draws the last card, everyone takes one more turn, that player included. Then add up the highest card of each firework: that’s your score.
- Beginner traps
- Discarding a 5: each 5 exists only once, and its firework will never be complete. Giving an incomplete clue: if you talk about blue cards, point to all of them. Reacting when a teammate hesitates: not a word, not a face. And check the discard pile often: it tells you which cards have become rare.
How to win Hanabi
- Fireworks
- The highest card of each firework (white, red, blue, yellow, green), added up: 0 to 25. Game lost at the 3rd red token: the rules give no score.
- Multicolor firework (Avalanche of Colors)
- The highest card of the 6th firework, the multicolor one: 0 to 5 more.
- Missing black cards (Hanabi: Black Powder)
- The black firework is played from 5 down to 1 and scores nothing: −1 per black card it’s missing.
- Audience rating
- The rulebook’s scale: Horrible (5 or less), Mediocre (6 to 10), Honorable (11 to 15), Excellent (16 to 20), Amazing (21 to 24), Legendary (25, or 25 to 29 with the multicolor), Divine (30, with the multicolor).
Example ending
The draw pile is empty and everyone has taken their last turn. The white firework reaches 4, red 5, blue 3, yellow 5 and green 2: 4 + 5 + 3 + 5 + 2 = 19 points, an Excellent show.
Common mistakes
- Adding up every card played: only the highest card of each firework counts.
- Giving a score to a game lost at the third red token: the rules don’t provide one.
- Stopping as soon as the draw pile is empty: everyone takes one more turn, including the player who drew the last card.
- With Black Powder, forgetting to subtract 1 point per missing black card.
How to set up Hanabi
Setup takes a minute. Hand size depends on the number of players.
The tokens
- Put the 8 blue tokens in the lid of the box.A blue token in the lid is a clue still available. In the Grands Feux edition, the clue tokens go on the bag.
- Place the 3 red tokens next to the lid.Each wrongly played card puts a red token into the lid; at the third, the game is lost. In the Grands Feux edition, these are 3 Mistake tiles placed blue side up.
The cards
- Shuffle the 50 cards and place them face down: this is the draw pile.The multicolor and black cards are only used with the expansions: leave them in the box for a normal game.
- With 2 or 3 players, deal 5 cards to each player; with 4 or 5 players, 4 cards.
Each player
- Pick up your cards without looking at them, with their backs facing you.The others can see your cards, but you never can, for the whole game.
- Leave room in the middle of the table for the fireworks and for the discard pile.One firework per color, laid out in the order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discarded cards stay visible, fanned out.
- The first player starts, then play goes clockwise.According to the rules, it’s the player wearing the most colorful clothes.
Frequently asked questions
How many cards do you hold in Hanabi?
5 cards each with 2 or 3 players, 4 cards with 4 or 5 players. You hold them backward: you never see your own.
How many clues can you give in Hanabi?
There are 8 blue tokens. Each clue costs one; discarding a card or completing a firework with its 5 gives one back.
How is Hanabi scored?
Add up the highest card of each firework: from 0 to 25. At the third red token, the game is lost.
Ludingo’s Hanabi sheet was last reviewed on 10 October 2026, based on: cocktailgames.com 1, cocktailgames.com 2, rulebook (PDF), BoardGameGeek.