Tournament (Hardcore)¶
Nintendo scoring with the Viewings removed. Built for competitive play, Tournament removes the cheap, luck-based Viewing combos and treats the Sake Cup as a plain animal.
Summary¶
- Hanami-zake and Tsukimi-zake are disabled. Curtain + Sake Cup and Moon + Sake Cup score nothing.
- The Sake Cup is a normal animal card. It counts toward Tane and nothing else.
- Everything else scores the same as Nintendo.
- One Koi-Koi call per player per round, then a forced Shobu on the next score increase, as in Nintendo.
Why Viewings are removed¶
The Viewings are the most common source of quick points in Nintendo: a Curtain or a Moon plus a Sake Cup gives 5 points for two cards. Tournament removes that, so players have to build combinations (Brights, animals, ribbon sets) to score.
Differences from Nintendo¶
| Item | Nintendo | Tournament |
|---|---|---|
| Hanami-zake (Curtain + Sake Cup) | 5 | Disabled |
| Tsukimi-zake (Moon + Sake Cup) | 5 | Disabled |
| Sake Cup | Animal | Animal |
| Koi-Koi calls per player per round | 1, then forced Shobu | 1, then forced Shobu |
Piles without a Viewing score identically under both rule sets.
Example¶
You capture Curtain, Moon, and the Sake Cup:
Under Nintendo that is Hanami-zake and Tsukimi-zake, 10 points. Under Tournament the three cards score 0 as a combo. The Sake Cup still counts as one animal toward Tane.
Why this is called Tournament¶
The name marks the intent, not an official body: this is the strict table — the cheap, luck-heavy yaku taken out so that every point has to be built. The Viewings are widely singled out as the problem:
"the sake cup yaku … [is] simply too easy to get compared to other yaku" — r/Hanafuda
「菊に盃」…「壊れ性能」 — the Sake Cup is "overpowered", the Viewings "too convenient" — nix-in-desertis
"some just don't count the viewing yaku … even Nintendo put a toggle for these yaku in their 51 clubhouse games version of koi-koi" — r/Hanafuda
Dropping them entirely is the most thorough form of that fix: the competitive cut of the game.
Related¶
- Rule set comparison
- Yakuza, which uses Tournament scoring plus the dealer's privilege
Ruleset Source¶
- 月見酒・花見酒は何点か問題 (nix-in-desertis) — why the Viewings are considered overpowered.
- Scoring in Nintendo's koikoi (r/Hanafuda) — the Viewings "too easy to get compared to other yaku".
- Koi-Koi dev discussion (r/Hanafuda) — modes that drop the Viewings; Nintendo's Clubhouse Games toggle.
- Kirin house rules (JP) — 5 points judged too high for a two-card set.
- Hanafuda addendum (PDF) — the Viewings as "easy sets"; rules that "remove luck elements".