Hanamikoji

I'd seen a list of unique 2-player games online and Hanamikoji was rightfully on the list. It's an easy game to learn but a challenging game to master. I've played this game twice so far. The first time gave me a lot of enjoyment because of the combination of cards I had, needed, and was unable to play. The 2nd game made more sense but was also frustrating because you can't just play a card that you want to play. Almost every Action during every round is dictated by what your opponent chooses so it's hard to plan a stragegy - at least for me. By the time we were done with the 2nd game I was done playing it for the day. But now I can't wait to get it back on the table again! I'm recommending this game because it truly is unique. It's beautiful, quick to play, and inexpensive. I think it's worth the try!

The design of this 2 player game is beautiful. The available actions are simple to understand but involve giving you opponent difficult choices to make. Plays quickly and is deceptively deep. The artwork is excellent. Also the whole game can store in a ziplock if space is an issue but I keep it in the box to protect the cards. This game was a wonderful surprise.

This is a very fast playing little card game with some very distinctive mechanisms. I've never played a game quite like it and the I split, you choose nature of the choices makes for a very intense little brain burner, even though the rules are easy and it plays quite fast. The only reason it isn't 5 stars is that it is a fairly simple game, that doesn't have just tons of depth to explore. Still, I've really enjoyed my plays of it and look forward to more.

This game is a tight battle of wits and decisions. At first the strategy is hard to grasp but after you make some mistakes you realize what went wrong. The games are short as well. There is some luck of the draw involved but much less than you would expect since if you make an uneven cut your opponent will gladly take the larger half.

Simple to play but the strategy is deep. Every decision feels like you're helping your opponent more than you (but your opponent has to deal with the same decisions at some point on their turns). Tense in that each decision has meaning, but not in a bad way. Excellent art work.

I love how quick a game you can get in of Hanamikoji. The choices feel agonizing at times, but I love the give and take of each decision. One of my favorite card games

A simple card game that has more depth than what it seems, one of those games that will have you thinking 2 turns ahead, but such easy to learn that you could teach it to anyone in about 3 minutes. You have 4 simple actions: Keep 1 card face down. Discard 2 cards without revealing them. Show 3 cards to the other player to pick one and you keep the other two. Show 4 cards in 2 pairs to the other player to pick a pair and you keep the other one. After taking every action you will check if you have a majority over the cards on the middle, if you have it in 4 of them or if you have scored 11 points or more you win, if not play another one.

I was super grateful to find the game Hanamikoji here AND at a price that makes sense. Game came brand new and sealed. It really is a beautiful game and with high quality cards. I love it!

Weighing choices! Started playing this with my 10 yr old, and it's great that we both have the same choices to make (action cards to use), so it's 'fair', but you need to choose wisely. Lots of gaming packed in this little box.

I picked this up after seeing lots of people mention it when talking about two player games. All the hype was right on. It's such a small game, but is chock full of goodness. You play over rounds, and every game we've played has never gone more than 3, so you can be done in about 20 minutes, but odds are that you'll want to play again. It's a cliche, but it is one of those games that is easy to learn, but difficult to master. Each turn you draw a card, and then choose from 1 of 4 actions. The trick comes in when you have to see the options available and try to outthink your opponent. You can try to math it out, but hidden information means that sometimes you are going to have to bluff, or hope they don't have just the right card. And since you discard one card without looking at it each round, you'll never be absolutely certain of all the cards out there. And I can't skip over the art, with is beautiful. The game itself is pretty abstract, but nice art never hurt anything. Overall, especially given how much game you get for the price, I would highly recommend this game if you like to play with just 2 players, or maybe if you just want a filler for game night.