Hanabi is a cooperative card based game where your team of pyrotechnicians is trying to make a successful firework show! Hanabi is the word for firework in Chinese and you will be trying to make a number of these by making runs of the same colored cards. The problem is nobody can look at their hand but instead must place their cards in their hand facing them towards the other players so they can see their hand. The group will try and give specific hints to what kinds of cards you have and players will need to keep track of the information given to them to try and lay down cards in a specific order. The hardest part of the game is trying to make sure you give valuable information at all times. You definitely need to do this in a sort of informational triage. Since there is only one 5 of each of the colors if a player has a 5 they need to know immediately so they don’t accidentally discard it, otherwise you will ruin that hanabi! This can get challenging also as you start to run out of time and need to decide whether you will give a hint or discard a card for time, the problem is if nobody has been telling you what you have then you may end up discarding a card that is valuable to the group. Leadership in this game definitely comes by working as a perfect team! The team will need to minimize unhelpful hints and only give clear, concise information that will further the team to complete the firework show successfully! Beyond this group communication, the game also gives players a chance to work and develop their time management and prioritization skills. Players need to prioritize certain types of information and will be working against the “clock” to get their show up and running on time. I think my friend Christian would love this game because he really enjoys cooperative games that involve high levels of group communication!

This was my last assignment I will be submitting for the class. I submitted 6 game blog reviews and the blog review of She Kills Monsters so if you didn’t see those they are published (or should be) within the blog. Thanks for the class, it was one of my favorite classes I have ever taken! Also, I really want to publish my board game one day so if you want to give me feedback of the game or point me in the direction of next steps that would be awesome!

~ Ryan Estep