Hey guys. Most people know Nintendo started out as a playing card company way back in 1889, but a lot of people haven't actually played the main game they were making: Hanafuda. I actually wrote a pretty deep dive on the history of the game and Nintendo's roots over on Unseen Japan if you want to read more about that (https://unseen-japan.com/hanafuda-card-game-japan-history/).
I first got into playing it from Clubhouse Games on the Switch (and honestly, the Yakuza minigames lol). But it's really hard to get friends to play it with you. You either have to convince them to buy a Switch game or make them download some random mobile app filled with ads.
I'm a web dev, so I ended up just making my own version that runs directly in the browser. It's called Hanafuda Legends (https://www.hanafudalegends.com).
It's completely free and there are no accounts or downloads. You literally just click play, send your friend a 4-letter room code, and you're in. I also added a ranked mode if you want to play against randoms, and a daily puzzle thing (kind of like Wordle) to help people learn the winning hands. Since Hanafuda cards are super art-focused, I even added a gallery section where artists can show off their custom deck designs.
Anyway, I just pushed the 1.0 version live today. Would love for some fellow Nintendo history nerds to try it out. If you've never played, there's a tutorial on the site that explains how it works.
Let me know if it breaks or if you have any feedback!
Posted by DougSolana
5 Comments
I bought a couple decks of hanafuda a couple months ago and have been teaching everyone I could how to play Koi Koi.
There are a lot of games you can play with hanafuda, but pretty much the only thing I see on apps and games like Clubhouse Games is Koi Koi, would like to learn to play others.
I just played the tutorial and the moment it let me play on my own the opponent just kinda froze, it didn’t do anything on its turn.
Other than that I like what you did, I love the colors, music, the rules are very well explained, and it the movements are very fluid. As a front-end dev, my respect to you.
who made the logo ?
I played a game really quick, it’s pretty good. There could be some more animation to make it easier to follow what’s going on, the card just sort of snap into place and I could see it being a bit bewildering to someone who is just learning the game. Also, on my phone the cards are petty small and there’s a lot of negative space on the screen. It feels pretty sparse and the small cards make some suits a little difficult to differentiate.
Overall I like it, have bookmarked it, and will probably continue play it.
Mario was after 1889??