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Hana-awase Strategy and Tips

Here is how to think about winning at Hana-awase, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.

Take Brights as soon as you can

Lesson 1

In Hana-awase every captured card scores: Bright 20, Animal 10, Ribbon 5, Plain 1. With three players the whole deck of 264 splits to an average of 88 each, so everything above 88 is profit.

Here your pine Plain takes the crane of pine, a Bright, while your paulownia Plain can only take another Plain. That is 21 points against 2. When unsure, take the higher card.

Brights also build the biggest yaku: Five Brights (200), Four Brights (60), the pine-paulownia-moon set (20), Sugawara (30) and the Drinking Party (30). Leave one on the table and the next player takes it — and moves closer to their own yaku.

Block the other players' yaku

Lesson 2

A completed yaku is paid by both other players. If an opponent finishes Red Poem Ribbons (40), you pay 40 and they collect 80 in total — a 120-point swing between you.

Here the next player already holds the pine and plum poem ribbons and needs only the cherry one. The table shows the cherry ribbon and the paulownia Bright. The Bright is 20 for you, but leaving the ribbon may hand them the yaku.

Use your cherry Plain to take the cherry ribbon and block it. The yaku-progress chips on the board show which yaku the others are one card away from. When you have two captures available, compare not only your gain but what you leave behind.

Two matches? Take the higher one

Lesson 3

When two table cards share the month of the card you play, you pick which one to take. The other stays on the table for whoever plays the last card of that month.

Here your wisteria ribbon can take either the cuckoo of wisteria (Animal, 10) or a wisteria Plain (1). On points, the cuckoo wins.

When cards feed a yaku, prefer the one that moves you closer even if the points match. All four wisteria make All Wisteria (20), and the wisteria ribbon counts toward Grass Ribbons. Also check that the card you leave doesn't complete someone else's yaku.

Collect ribbons for Six and Seven Ribbons

Lesson 4

A Ribbon is only 5 points, but six of the nine non-willow ribbons make Six Ribbons (30) and seven make Seven Ribbons (40). They stack with Red Poem, Blue and Grass Ribbons, so a ribbon collector can build several yaku at once.

Here you already hold five ribbons. Your bush-clover Plain takes the bush-clover ribbon on the table — your sixth — and completes Six Ribbons for 30, collected from each of the other two players.

Six Ribbons stops counting once you reach seven; it is replaced by the 40 of Seven Ribbons. When the progress chip reads 6/7, you are one ribbon away. When ribbons appear on the table, watch whether someone else is collecting them too.

Try it on the board

Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

Play with friendsLearn how to play (3 min)

Last updated 2026-09-25 · Run by Qdan, Inc.