Hwatu (화투, 花鬪), is the name given to a set of cards used to play a number of games, the most common being 'Go Stop', which is Korea's most beloved card game. "Hwatu" literally means "flower cards." When Koreans get together in a social setting, it's quite likely a game will begin. In parks throughout Korea, groups of elderly gather to play it. It is a gambling game, so it is considered a grown-up's game, like poker is in the West.
[edit] History
The Hwatu are a modified version of the Japanese Hanafuda cards, which are used in Japan and Hawaii with similar play, and a different scoring system. Hanafuda were developed from, or was at least inspired by Western playing cards. They were first mass-produced in Japan by Nintendo and introduced to Korea around the turn of the 20th century. In Japan, Hawaii, and other places in the South Pacific, Hanafuda are used for a game similar to Go Stop with a different scoring system.
[edit] How to play Go Stop!
The two things that make this game challenging to learn are distinguishing the beautiful cards on the fly, and absorbing the many little extra rules about special scoring plays, combining cards, extra points, and doubling (and redoubling, and redoubling!) your points. What makes this game challenging is also what makes it interesting and engaging. You must be able to identify the cards, and know which cards are in which suit, and play the game with all the scoring possibilities in mind if you are to regularly get huge scores in a single hand, which should always be your goal.
With so many little rules, it's not surprising that there are many variations on the scoring. The rules as laid out here represent one common way of playing the game. For more info, see the Online vs. Real Play section.
[edit] The cards
There are 48 cards in the game, broken up into twelve months (suits) of four cards each. Each month has a corresponding plant which is represented on the card:
| Month | Plant | Cards
|
| January
| Pine
|    
|
| February
| Plum
|    
|
| March
| Cherry
|    
|
| April
| Wisteria
|    
|
| May
| Iris
|    
|
| June
| Peony
|    
|
| July
| Bush Clover
|    
|
| August
| Hay
|    
|
| September
| Chrysanthemum
|    
|
| October
| Maple
|    
|
| November
| Paulownia
|    
|
| December
| Willow or Rain
|    
|
[edit] Stakes
Before the game begins, the stakes are agreed upon. The stakes are the penalty per point suffered by each of the losers. A stake can be some poker chips or money (typically 100W in a friendly game) paid to the winner, or two-finger slaps by the winner to the upturned wrist of the losers, or whatever people agree upon.
[edit] Set-up
There are three players, one being the dealer. The player to the right of the dealer cuts the deck, leaving two piles of cards, or just taps the top. The dealer begins dealing with the lower half of the deck, if the cards were cut, or the whole stack if they were just tapped. The dealer receives cards first, and the deal continues counterclockwise. The dealer first gives four cards to each player, and three in the middle, then three more to each player (for a total of seven each), and a final three in the middle (for a total of six). The rest of the cards are stacked face down in the centre of the table, and the six cards in the middle are turned face up. If there are three cards of the same suit turned up, then the three are stacked into one pile. Players then pick up their cards, and the gameplay begins.
[edit] Gameplay
Players, starting with the dealer, play two cards, the first from their hand and the second from the stack in the middle, onto the table trying to match suits with a card face up in the middle. If either of the cards played matches suit with a card already on the table, the player claims the matched cards and puts them face up in front of them. If there are already two cards on the table of that same suit and the player matches that suit, they choose which one to claim. After both cards are played and any cards are claimed, the player's turn is over. Play continues counterclockwise.
[edit] Sulssa
If a player plays a card from their hand onto a matching card on the table, then turns over a third matching card from the pile in the middle, these three cards get stacked together, and are left on the table. The player gets nothing. This is sulssa. The only exception is if the fourth matching card is already on the table, in which case, the player gets all four cards (see Ttadak below). If sulssa happens to a player in their first play of the hand, they receive payment worth three points from each player (that's to say, chips or money or slaps on the wrist, not cards), and play continues. (note: there's disagreement as to whether this is called "ppuk" or "sulssa" or "bok.")
[edit] Special scoring plays
In each of the following four conditions, the player receives one pi card from each of the other players' scoring cards (not their hand). If a player only has a 2-pi card showing, they must give it. If a player has no pi cards, they are lucky, and pay nothing. If a player combines two of these in one turn, (like sseul and ppuk) they get 2 pi from each player.
- Chok (or kiss): This occurs when a player plays a card from their hand onto the table, then turns up a matching card and plays it on their first card. This does not apply on the player's last turn of the hand.
- Sseul/쓸 (or sweep): This occurs when a player removes all the face-up cards from the table. This does not apply on the player's last turn of the hand.
- Ttadak/따닥: This occurs when a player removes all four cards from a month in one turn by matching each of the two cards they played with two cards from the same month on the table.
- Ppuk/뿍: If there is a stack of three matching cards on the table from a sulssa (not from the original deal), and a player plays the fourth matching card, they collect all four cards, as well as the pi from each player.
[edit] Play ends
The hand can end in a variety of ways:
"Go! and Stop!"
If a player has just earned three or more points on a turn, they must call "Go!" or "Stop!" If they call "Stop," they win the hand, and collect according to the stakes and how many points they have. If they call "Go," the play continues. Calling "Go" gives the player the chance to collect even more points the next time it's their turn to play, and thus increase their winnings. This is a risk, however, because it also gives the other players a chance to win. To be able to call "Go" or "Stop" again, the player must have earned more points than they had the last time they called "Go." So, if a player calls "Go" with 3 points, that player cannot call "Go" or "Stop" again until they have at least 4 points.
If a player uses their last card, and has just made three or more points, that player must call "Stop!"
Nagari/나가리
If all the cards are played and nobody has called "Stop!" then the play ends. In this case, the same dealer deals again, and the points for the next round are doubled.
Chong tong
If a player is dealt all four cards of a suit, they score 5 points, and the hand ends immediately. None of their other points count.
3 sulssa
If a player gets three sulssas in one hand, they score 5 points, and the hand ends immediately. None of their other points count.
5 kwangs
As mentioned in the scoring section, if a player collects all 5 kwang cards, it's worth 15 points in addition to any other points in their hand, and the hand ends immediately.
[edit] Scoring
The object of the game is to collect at least three points and call "Stop!" When a player calls "Stop!" they win the hand, and collect one stake for each point they have, from each player. Since the minimum points to win is 3, and there are two other players, the winner will always collect at least six times the stake, and often quite a lot more.
[edit] Scoring categories
There are four different scoring categories of cards:
Kwang (광, 光, light) cards are identifiable by the Chinese character in one corner:
Yul (animal) cards all depict an animal or an object of some sort:
Tti (띠, ribbon) cards all have a ribbon on them. There is a family of three red ribbons with writing, a family of three red ribbons without writing, and a family three blue ribbons with writing. There is also another tti card, the December card, which has a red ribbon on it, but is not part of the red ribbon family:
Pi (junk) cards mostly have no picture at all besides the plant, the lone exception being the December (Willow) card:
The last two pi cards count as 2 pi each when scoring.
[edit] Points
Points are accumulated by combining the cards won in the four scoring categories.
Kwang
If a player has all 5 kwang cards, it counts for 15 points, and the kwang-bak rule automatically applies, so it's effectively worth 30 points. Wow, devastating. The hand ends immediately.
If a player has any 4 kwang cards, it counts for 4 points.
If a player has 3 kwang cards, and none are the Willow kwang , this is worth 3 points:
If a player has 3 kwang cards, including the Willow kwang, this is worth 2 points:
Yul
If a player has any five yul cards, it's worth 1 point. Each additional yul card is worth one more point. So six yul is worth 2 points, and eight yul is worth 4 points.
If a player collects all three bird cards, it's called godori. They are worth 5 points:
Note that these two cards do not count as birds , although the second card does count as yul.
If a player collects seven or more yul cards (with or without godori), their score doubles, including all other points.
Tti
If a player collects five tti cards, it is worth 1 point. Each additional tti card is worth one more point.
If a player collects all three tti cards in one family, it's worth 3 points:
Note again that is not a member of the above family, but it does count as tti.
Pi
If a player has ten pi cards, it counts for 1 point. Each additional pi card is worth one more point. So, eleven pi cards is worth 2 points, and fourteen pi is worth 5 points. 2-pi cards count as 2.
[edit] Extra points, etc.
If a player has three of more cards from one month in their hand, at any time while they still have all three cards in their hand, they can show them. If they win that hand, their points double. This is called heundeum, which means "shaking". If a player happens to have two sets of three matching cards (six cards altogether), they can "shake" twice, and if they win, their score quadruples.
If a player calls "Go" 1 time in the hand and still wins, 1 point is added to the score.
If a player calls "Go" 2 times in a hand and still wins, 2 points are added to the score.
If a player calls "Go" 3 times in a hand and still wins, their score doubles.
If a player calls "Go" four times in one hand and wins, their score quadruples.
As mentioned in the "points" section, if a player has 7 or more yul cards, their score doubles. This is called mong tta bak.
As mentioned in the "play ends" section, if play ends without anyone calling "Stop!" a new hand is dealt, and the points are worth double.
If a player wins with any points from pi (ten or more cards), any player with four or fewer pi cards must pay double. This is called pi bak.
If a player wins with any points from kwang (three or more cards), any player with no kwang cards must pay double. This is called kwang bak.
If a player calls "Go," but somebody else wins the hand (by any means), the player who called "Go" pays both players' penalties. That's to say, the other loser pays nothing. If both losers called "Go" during the hand, they each pay their own penalty.
Because of the three rules above, the two losing players often pay different penalties.
[edit] Variations
With a game this complex, it's predictable that variations will arise. Furthermore, each online site likes to have their own special rules that distinguish it from the others. These are some common variations. Make sure all the players agree on what rules you are playing by before you start.
- If a player scores a ppuk on a sulssa that they made themselves, the player receives 2 pi, not just one from the other players.
- If a player has three cards of the same suit in their hand, and the fourth is on the table, the player can play all three cards at once on the card facing up, and turn over just one card from the middle pile. This is called a bomb at some sites. All the cards are collected immediately as if they had been won as a ppuk. This counts as hendeum too, doubling the stakes if that player wins. Further, in future turns --as the player will now have two fewer cards than they should have-- the player may twice elect not to play any cards from their hand, but merely turn over one card from the middle pile. This is a good tactic when nothing in the player's hand matches what's on the table.
- If you score 5 kwang, play continues.
[edit] Bonus Cards
Some varieties, including just about every online variety, add extra bonus cards into the deck. They can be worth 2 or 3 pi or grant special powers, like immunity to kwang bak.
Any bonus cards dealt into the middle at the beginning go straight into the dealer's collected card pile as if the dealer had already played them. Another card is turned over into the middle to replace it.
When someone plays a bonus card from their hand, they take a replacement card from the middle pile into their hand so they have the same number of cards as before. This does not count as the player's turn, just an exchange of cards. The player then takes their normal turn.
If the player turns over a bonus card from the middle pile while playing their second card, they put that down on top of the first card played from their hand, flip over an additional card from the pile, and collect it (and everything that was matched) after the turn is done. If the player turns up a bonus card and then gets sulssa on the next turned card, the bonus card gets stuck in the pile of three cards, and the player gets nothing. Whoever is lucky enough to get ppuk on that pile gets the bonus card too.
