The following rules are based on the rulesheet included in the set of Kwa-Dō, a card game with cards of the same material and construction as western playing cards, but is functionally a hanafuda/hwatu deck hybrid, with patterns drawn by Virginia Seeger. It was published by K.K. Corner and R. Whitbeck in 1959 for the American market.
The game is designed to be played by 2 to 6 players (team-playing is also allowed) , and is largely based on Sakura, with elements from other hanafuda games mixed in.
¶ Goal
The goal of a player/team is to reach a total score of 200 points before another player/team does the same.
¶ Setup
First, determine how many are to play and who will make up each team.
For 2, 3, or 5 players, each participant plays on their own.
A 4-player game may be either played individually, or in teams consisting of 2 players each.
A 6-player game can likewise be played individually, in 3 teams of 2 players, or 2 teams of 3 players.
If playing in teams of 2, teammates should sit opposite one another; for teams of 3, players from each team should be seated alternately around the table.
It is also a good idea to establish house rules and come to an agreement over scoring and whether to include the Yaku rules and Gaji rules in the game.
Next, determine who will be the first dealer. As per the rulebook, any player may deal first, but any method of determining the dealer may be used.
There are no rules described in the rulebook regarding who will become the dealer on the next round. Traditionally, the player with most points becomes the dealer for the next round, but you may try other options, such as having the player to the dealer’s left become the dealer of the next round regardless of scores. House rules prevail.
¶ The Deal
Once the cards have been shuffled and cut, the dealer passes out cards face down to each player and face up to the field according to the following chart.
| Number of Players | Cards to each Player | Cards to the Field | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 🧍🧍 | 8 | 8 |
| 3 | 🧍♂️🧍♂️🧍♂️ | 7 | 6 |
| 4 | 🧍🧍🧍🧍 | 5 | 8 |
| 5 | 🧍♂️🧍♂️🧍♂️🧍♂️🧍♂️ | 4 | 8 |
| 6 | 🧍🧍🧍🧍🧍 🧍 |
3 | 12 |
Any remaining cards form the draw pile for the round and are to be placed in a single face down stack beside the field cards.
It is not stated in the rulebook what to do when four cards of the same suit have been dealt to the table. Usually it is considered a misdeal, although there are also other ways of dealing with this situation. House rules prevail.
¶ Gameplay
The player to the left of the dealer takes the first turn, followed by each player around the table in clockwise order.
When playing with teams, each team shares a common score pile.
¶ Turns
The core gameplay is the same as in Hana-awase, albeit not fully explained in the rulebook.
On their turn, a player chooses a single card from their hand and plays it to the field.
- If it belongs to the same month as another card on the field, 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 field, then the player may choose which one they capture.
- If the played card matches three cards on the field, 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 field 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 field, 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 to make detecting yaku easier.
However, since Chaff are worth 0 points and play no role in any yaku, it is practical to discard all Chaff cards to a common junk pile.
¶ End of Round
The round ends once all players run out of cards. Afterward, the round is scored.
¶ Scoring
The rulebook provides two methods of dealing with scoring in the game. Players must agree first which method to be used before playing the game.
¶ Method A: Floor Method
Each player/team counts the total value of their captured cards.
Then, the “floor” (par score) is subtracted to each player’s/team’s captured card score to obtain the net scores.
Net Score = Total of captured card points - Floor value
The floor is obtained by dividing 240 points, which is the total card points in the deck, by the number of players/teams participating in the game.
Floor Value = 240 points / Number of players
| Number of Players/Teams | Floor Value |
|---|---|
| 2 | 120 points |
| 3 | 80 points |
| 4 | 60 points |
| 5 | 48 points |
| 6 | 40 points |
A player/team with a positive net score adds that score to their total score in the game.
Player's/Team's Total Score = Sum of the net scores obtained in every round
Negative net scores are treated as 0 points.
¶ Method B: Easy Method
Each player/team counts the total value of their captured cards.
Then each player/team adds that score to their total score in the game.
Player's/Team's Total Score = Sum of captured card scores obtained in every round
¶ End of Game
Regardless of which method of scoring is used, the goal remains the same: to obtain a total score of 200 points.
As soon as a player/team reaches that goal, the game ends, and that player/team is declared the winner of the game.
If the goal is not reached, play continues for another round.
¶ Card Values
Card values are standard except that Chaff are worth 0 points.
| Card Type | Value | Number in Deck |
|---|---|---|
| Brights (“Kwang”) | 20 | 5 |
| Animals | 10 | 9 |
| Ribbons | 5 | 10 |
| Chaff | 0 | 24 |
The total card points in the deck is 240 points.
The rulebook suggests that a player must declare “Kwa-Dō!” everytime they capture a Bright card, just for fun.
¶ Yaku (Optional Rule)
Decide first which of these Yaku are to be used before playing the game.
¶ Months Yaku
Worth 30 points each.
| Month | Composition |
|---|---|
| May | Four Iris  cards:    |
| October | Four Maple  cards:    |
| December* | Four Willow  cards:    * The cards follow the Korean month sequence. |
¶ Five Brights
Worth 100 points.
¶ “Dragon” Bonus
The Phoenix card (Bright of Paulownia 
), which is erroneously refered to as a “Dragon” in the rulebook, is worth 25 bonus points in addition to its card value of 20 points.
¶ Sakura Yaku
The 8 Yaku from the game Sakura were also borrowed for this game.
Each Sakura Yaku is worth 30 points.
The rulebook states that you must declare to be “building a yaku”, then place any one of the three cards in a yaku into the field, before trying to capture all cards in the yaku during that round.
| Sakura Yaku | Composition |
|---|---|
| Set #1 |  |
| Set #2 |  |
| Set #3 |  |
| Set #4 |   |
| Set #5 |  |
| Set #6 |   |
| Set #7 |   |
| Set #8 |    |
¶ Gaji (Optional Rule)
The Lightning card is known as Gaji in this game, and acts as a wild card.
When played from the hand, it may pair with and thus capture any card on the field. However, if the Gaji is already on the field, it can only be captured by another Willow card.
Once captured, keep the Gaji with the card it was paired with. At the end of the round, if any other cards of the paired card’s suit are present on the field, they are automatically captured by the player who used the Gaji.
¶ Bibliography
- “Kwa-Dō Rules”, K.K. Corner and R. Whitbeck