Sudaoshi - 素倒し [すだおし, lit. “knocking down Chaff”] is a 3-player hanafuda game of secondary popularity, appearing alongside more popular games like Hachi-Hachi in many video games and rule books. It has two major distinguishing features: an unusual distribution of card values, with Chaff cards being the most valuable rather than the least; and the relative paucity of yaku: only 2 that are capturable by any player, and 2 more that can only be captured by the player to the left of the dealer.
¶ Setup (3 Players)
Game setup involves choosing a dealer [親 - おや, oya], shuffling the deck, and distributing the initial cards. Like many hanafuda games, Sudaoshi is usually played for 12 rounds, one for each month of the year, although 6 round games (half a year) or even 3 round games (a season) may be played. Naturally, house rules should also be established at this point in order to keep gameplay smooth and fair.
This section describes game setup for three players; for more players please see the “number of players” section of the Hachi-Hachi page.
¶ Choosing the Dealer
No method is stipulated for choosing the initial dealer. A hanafuda-specific method involves each player drawing a card from the deck, and the player with the earliest month becomes the dealer. In the event of a tie, the highest-ranked card within the month is considered the earliest. If there is still a tie, then the players re-draw.
The winner of each round becomes the dealer for the next round.
¶ Dealing the Cards
The player to the left of the dealer [尾季 - びき, biki] shuffles the deck, and the player to the right of the dealer [胴二 - どうに, douni] cuts. Then, starting with the player to their right and moving anti-clockwise (↺), the dealer deals 4 cards to each player in turn, followed by 3 card face-up to the table. They then give a further 3 cards to each player, and an additional 3 cards face-up to the table.
In total, 7 cards are dealt to each player, and 6 cards to the table face-up to form the field.
The remainder of the deck is placed face-down next to the field to form the draw pile.
- If 4 cards of the same month are dealt to the table, then a misdeal is declared (since these 4 cards are impossible to capture). In this case, the cards are thrown in, shuffled again, and re-dealt.
Unlike in Hachi-Hachi, there are typically no field multipliers for Bright cards appearing on the opening field.
¶ Lucky Hands
The Lucky Hands - 手役 [てやく, teyaku] in this game are generally the same as those used in Hachi-Hachi. See here for more information. (Values given in kan may be converted to points at a rate of 10 points per kan for the purpose of this game.)
A variant of Sudaoshi from 1921 only included 4 Lucky Hands, which may be used if a simpler game is desired:
| Points | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Triplet/Three of a Kind 三本 [さんぼん, sanbon] |
Any three cards of the same month. |
| 20 | Three Pairs 喰付 [くっつき, kuttsuki] (lit. sticky?) |
Three pairs of cards of different months. |
| 30 | Four-Three 四三 [しそう, shisou] |
Four cards of one suit and a triplet of another. |
| 10 | Three Ribbons 短三枚 [なさけ, nasake] |
Any 3 Ribbons and/or  Willow cards. Note that only the second player, i.e. the one to the right of the dealer, may claim this particular Lucky Hand! |
¶ Gameplay
In each round, the dealer is the first to play, and turn to play passes anti-clockwise (↺) around the table. The core gameplay and turn structure of Hachi-Hachi is typical of games in the Hana-Awase family. Note that there is no sage/koi-koi decision when a yaku is made; rather, all hands are fully played out, and any point exchanges for yaku are calculated in conjuction with the points for captured cards.
¶ Turns
On their turn, a player chooses a single card from their hand and plays it to the table.
- If it belongs to the same month as another card on the table, then the cards match, and this matching pair is moved to the player’s score pile.
- If the played card matches with two cards on the table, then the player may choose which one they capture.
- If the played card matches three cards on the table, then all three are captured along with the played card (this is to prevent cards from becoming ‘stuck’ on the table and unable to be captured). To help in recognising this case, three cards of the same month on the table are often collected into a small pile at the beginning of the round.
- If the played card does not match any card, then it remains on the table, and may subsequently be captured by other played cards.
If a card is played that matches something on the table, then the player must capture, as described above. However, there is no obligation to play a card that matches something, even if the player has one in their hand; they may, if they wish, elect to play a card that matches nothing on the table.
As is typical of hanafuda games, each player’s score pile should be kept face-up and laid out on the table, so that its contents are fully visible to all players. Ideally, the cards should also be arranged by type (Brights, Animals, Ribbons, and Chaff) to make assessing the state of the game easier.
After a card has been played from their hand, the player takes the top card of the draw pile, turns it face-up, and immediately plays it to the table in the same fashion.
¶ End of Round and Scoring
The round ends once all players have exhausted their hands; at this point, all cards in the deck will have been captured.
Each player’s score is calculated as (captured card points) + (2 x captured yaku points) - (opponents' captured yaku points) - (point burden). See below for card and yaku values.
The total value of all cards in the deck is 330. However, the point burden is different for each player: The dealer subtracts 100 points from their captured card points, the player to their right subtracts 110, and the last player subtracts 120.
The winner of the round is the one whose score as calculated above is the greatest. That player becomes the dealer for the next round.
¶ End of Game
After the predetermined number of rounds have elapsed, the winner of the entire game is the player with the highest cumulative score across rounds.
¶ Card Values
| Card Type | Value | Number in Deck |
|---|---|---|
| Chaff | 10 | 24 |
 Curtain and  Phoenix |
10 | 2 |
 Crane,  Moon, and Rain Man |
5 | 3 |
| Animals | 5 | 9 |
| Ribbons | 1 | 10 |
In an earlier variant of Sudaoshi, the Curtain and Phoenix were worth 5 points rather than 10, and Chaff were worth 8 points rather than 10, which matches with the card values Jun Kusaba gives for Kekoro.
¶ Yaku
The yaku in Sudaoshi fall into two categories. While any player may score points for the two Susuki Grass yaku, only the last player (the one sitting to the left of the dealer) may score for either Willow yaku.
Note that only one yaku may be captured within each category.
As usual, these yaku may be known by different names depending on the source.
| Value | Name of Yaku | Composition |
|---|---|---|
¶ Susuki Grass Yaku |
||
| 10 | Top Baldies 坊主頭 [ぼうずかぶり, bōzu-kaburi] |
  |
| 20 | Set of Baldies 坊主ぞろ [ぼうずぞろ, bōzu-zoro] |
  |
¶ Willow Yaku |
||
| 10 | Top Rains 雨頭 [あめかぶり, ame-kaburi] |
  |
| 20 | Set of Rains 雨ぞろ [あめぞろ, ame-zoro] |
  |
¶ Variants
- In some variants, only the 2 “Set” yaku are used, not the “Top” ones.
- Since Sudaoshi is often treated as a modification of Hachi-Hachi, the kan - 貫 [かん] system is sometimes used, with a rate of either 10 or 12 points per kan. In this case, the yaku are set to 1 and 2 kan apiece.
- Other gameplay elements of Hachi-Hachi may also show up, such as field multipliers.
¶ Bibliography
- Hanafuda Geemu Dai Shōgō. iOS version, MocoGame, 2019.
- Johnson, Jason, and Antonietta Fazio-Johnson. Hanafuda Games, Hanami ed., IndianWolf Studios, 2017. pp. 98-103.
- Shiono, Suehiko. Teikei Aru Hanzai No Chōsa. Shihōshō Chōsaka, 1921, National Diet Library, dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1878761. pp 72-74.