Hanabi Is On Fire!

Hanabi

Designed by Antoine Bauza

Published by RandR Games

2 to 5 Players

25 Minutes

Cooperative Sequence Deduction and Memory Set Building Card Game

Oooo....Awwww...Ooooo...Awwww. Firework displays can be some of the most amazing and impressive shows to watch in the night sky. There is always a lot of excitement in the air, along with all the ash of course. Hanabi is also a pretty exciting experience and fun for the entire family.

Hanabi won the Spiel des Jahres (or Game of the Year award in Germany for 2013) and for good reason. Being a set collecting game where you are all holding cards away from you so that all the other players can see your cards and you can see everyone else's cards except your own - I have a hard time saying that the theme really thrives in this game. The game is a set building game where you have to play in order cards in each color 1 to 5. I like that the goal is simple and the game play is very easy to learn and play too. You can either give a clue (if a counter is available), play a card to the center, or discard a card (gaining back a counter). So simple!

The blue counters are limited however, so you may need to make a best guess to discard a card to gain one back for the team. If you choose a card to play to the center and it's wrong, Ssssss, the fuse shortens - you have 3 chances for a mistake. The clue giving can be very strategic, but it can be hard sometimes to not give more information than you can. 

The game is light and is very enjoyable, but some may have a hard time with the game if they don't have a very good memory or are not very good at making logical deductions. For me and my wife however, this is a perfect game. It definitely is going to be different with 2 than it is with 5, but I have enjoyed both ways and will continue to do so. Lots of fun. I do need to mention however that the cards just barely fit in the box - too tight for my liking. I don't know if it is just my copy of the game, but it seems to me that they should have made the box slightly bigger. The counters are good quality though and so are the cards. This game is definitely worth your while and that is How Lou Sees It!