WARNING: It is not yet confirmed if this game is a Traditional game or a Modern game.
Kazu-Tori [数取り, lit. “number taking”] is a game for 4 players, played using a Daini deck (a 1-suited deck containing 40 cards, with a similar structure to Kabufuda).
¶ Equipment
40 cards of a Daini deck are used. Remove the special 1 and special 4 from the deck, and replace them with Oni-fuda (Demon card) and Jizo-fuda (Buddha card).
Since not all Daini decks include a Jizo-fuda, the blank card may be used in its place.
In the absence of a Daini deck, a standard Kabufuda deck may be used. Treat the special 1 as the Oni-fuda, and either the special 4 or the blank card as the Jizo-fuda.
You may also use a hanafuda deck, if you are familiar with the month sequence of the cards.
¶ Goal
To keep as many cards as possible before the game ends.
¶ Setup
First, decide within the group what will be the counting limit. It could either be 10, 15, or 20.
Next, decide what will happen at the end of the game in case two winners are tied, using a house rule.
Choose a dealer using any method you like.
The dealer deals 10 cards in a pile face down to each player. The players may not look at the cards in the pile.
¶ Gameplay
Turns start from the dealer and moves counter-clockwise.
The dealer starts by taking 1 card from their pile and immediately placing it on the center of the table face up, while declaring the number “one”.
The next player does the same, except they declare the number “two”.
The next player declares “three”, and the next “four”, and so on.
Counting starts at “1” and ends at the agreed-upon counting limit.
If players have discarded cards equal to the counting limit, and no one has taken any discarded cards (procedure described below), then the cards on the field are shuffled and then returned to the players who have discarded. The player next to the last player who discarded will start the turn and declare “one”.
¶ Taking the Number
At any moment, if the ones digit of the number on the card that was discarded matches the ones digit of the number that was declared by the player who discarded that card, any player may take the discarded card by placing their palm on the card.
The player who gets to place their hand first takes all discarded cards on the table.
In any case, all taken cards are added to the player’s pile, shuffled well, and put back into the table near them face down.
They then proceed to discard a card onto the table while declaring “one”, and the gameplay continues.
¶ Penalty for Taking the Wrong Number
If the ones digit of the number on the card that was discarded does not match the ones digit of the number that was declared by the player who discarded that card, the card may not be taken.
Should any player attempt to take the card in this case, they must give 1 card to each of the other players.
The “taken” card remains on the table, and gameplay continues from where the counting stopped.
¶ Special Cards
¶ Onifuda (Demon card)
This card may be taken as soon as it is on the table, regardless of the declared number.
If the last card you discarded is Oni-fuda, the game ends immediately (in this case, the remaining cards on the table other than the Oni-fuda are considered dead cards and cannot be taken).
The player takes back the Onifuda. Scoring is then counted as usual.
¶ Jizofuda (Buddha card)
When the Jizo-fuda is discarded on the table, then all the cards on the table under Jizo-fuda are returned to the players starting from the player to the right of the person who put out Jizo-fuda.
Progression of returning the cards is as follows:
- Give the Jizo-fuda to the player to your right.
- Moving counter-clockwise, each player is given a card until no more cards are left on the table.
Jizo-fuda cannot be taken when it’s placed on the table.
If Jizo-fuda is incorrectly taken, that player must pay the penalty first, and then play the effect of Jizo-fuda.
After Jizo-fuda is used 3 times, it is removed from the game. (This is a reference to an old Japanese saying: Even Buddha may be upset if his face is hit three times.)
¶ Last Call and End of Game
When a player runs out of cards, that player is out of the game.
Once at least 1 player becomes out of the game, the game becomes a Last Call.
At this point, once a player has taken the cards on the table, the game ends.
If players have discarded cards on the table equal to the counting limit, and no one has taken any discarded cards, there will be no re-shuffling involved; instead, the next player will count again back to “one”.
¶ Scoring
Each player counts the number of remaining cards in their pile.
The player with the most cards wins the game.
The player who ran out of cards do not pay anything; The other players pay the winner points equal to the number of cards remaining in their piles.
The player who put out the Oni-fuda as their final card takes back the Oni-fuda, which means they must pay 1 point to the winner.