how to play koi-koi.
match the months. gather the light. · two players
- 1
The goal
Capture cards into yaku — scoring sets. Complete one and choose: bank it, or press on.
- 2
Match by month
Play a hand card to capture a table card of the same month. Then flip the deck and match once more. No match, the card rests on the table.
- 3
The sets
Brights, ribbons, animals, the sake cup. Three brights (6), the boar-deer-butterfly (5), the red poetry ribbons (6) — each a yaku of its own; five brights is the whole moon (15).
- 4
Koi-Koi — or stop
Score a yaku and stop to keep the points — or call koi-koi to hunt for more, doubling the stakes for both.
note
Three rounds. The sake cup counts among the animals — and pours for both the moon and the curtain.
“the moon rises over the sake cup. one more, or enough?”
— the dealer
Twelve months, forty-eight cards — the dealer keeps count.