Kakkuri [カックリ] is a card game of the Yomi family, played in the town of Yafune, part of the city of Echizen, Fukui prefecture in Japan. It is considered to be the last surviving Yomi game that is still played in Japan.
7 players are required to play the game.
It is also possible to play with 8 players, but the player who is dealt the “3 of Clubs” must drop out.
¶ Equipment
A specific type of Mekurifuda is traditionally used: Komatsu.
Use 48 cards from the deck; remove the extra Onifuda (demon card).
Any type of Mekurifuda may be used. In the absence of Mekurifuda, a deck of western playing cards may also be used by removing all 10’s. Clubs=Clubs; Swords=Spades; Cups=Hearts; Coins=Diamonds.
A hanafuda deck may also be used, if you are familiar with the Nagoya month sequence.
Chips for counting the scores of players may be helpful. Decide first the number of chips per share before playing.
¶ Setup
¶ Choosing the Dealer
The dealer is chosen in any method you like.
¶ Dealing the Cards
The dealer then deals 6 cards to each player. The remaining 6 cards are placed on the table face down as the “box”.
If playing with 8 players, then there will be no cards left for the “box”. So, the player who is dealt the “3 of Clubs” must drop out. Their cards are shuffled and the “box” is formed.
If using hanafuda, the Curtain is used in place of the “3 of Clubs”.
¶ Swapping with the Dealer
One by one, each player may choose to exchange all of the cards in their hand with all of those currently held by the dealer.
After all players who wanted to swap hands have done swapping hands, then they check the cards in their hand.
¶ Lucky Hand
The player who has all “1 of swords”, “1 of cups”, and “1 of coins” in their hand automatically wins the round (the round prematurely ends), and is paid 3 shares by each of the other players who haven’t dropped out.
If using hanafuda, this is composed of the Pine Ribbon and two Pine Chaff.
¶ Opening the Box
The dealer draws 1 card from the box and places it on the table to form the discard pile. Then the gameplay begins.
¶ Gameplay
Turn starts from the dealer and moves counter-clockwise.
During a player’s turn, the player must discard a card of the next number to that on the top of the discard pile.
If a player successfully discards a card, that player may discard another card, and so on.
If a player no longer has a card in hand to discard, that player passes their turn to the player to their right.
¶ Special Cases
- If the card on the discard pile is a “1” (dragon) or a “2”, Then the player may discard a card of the same number to that on top of the discard pile.
- If the card on the discard pile is a “12” (king), then any card may be discarded next.
- If the player has a triplet (3 cards of the same number), then they may play them all at once.
- If the player has three pairs (a pair being 2 cards of the same number), then they may declare “Three Pairs!”. Afterward, the player must play their cards in pairs.
¶ Wild Cards
The “1 of clubs” and “2 of coins” are considered wild cards in the game.
- If a player has a wild card, it may be discarded regardless of the number of the card on the discard pile. Afterward, any card(s) may be discarded to follow it.
- If the wild card is drawn from the “box”, then it counts as a normal card (worth its number).
If using hanafuda, then the Crane and the Lightning are considered wild cards.
¶ Passing Penalty
If a player fails to discard any cards during their turn, they must place one share to the pot before passing their turn to the next player.
¶ Taking another Card from the Box
If all players pass their turn without discarding a card, then the last player who discarded a card draws one card from the “box” and places it face-up on the discard pile, before playing their turn.
¶ Winning the Round
The first player to get rid of all cards in their hand wins.
All other players who haven’t dropped out pay 1 share to the winner. In addition, the winner also takes all shares from the pot.
The winner becomes the dealer for the next round.
¶ Guri
If a player discards all 6 cards during any one of their turns, it is called Guri [グリ].
This may not necessarily be played during a player’s first turn. If a player didn’t play any cards during their previous turns, and then played all 6 cards in one turn, it is still counted as Guri.
All other players who haven’t dropped out pay 2 shares to the winner instead of 1 share. The winner still takes all shares from the pot.