Hanabi

Putting on a beautiful fireworks show can be a difficult challenge. Now imagine you can only say very limited instructions to your coworkers.  Then you are playing a game similar to Hanabi, a game filled with deduction and figuring out how best to communicate within the rules.

Players are dealt a number of cards based on the number of players. Unlike almost any other card game, you put the cards facing away from you. The cards in your hand can be rearranged freely - you can never see the front of the cards you’re holding. However, that means you can see what everyone else is holding - which can help you figure out what is in your hand to some degree.

Each turn one action is taken; giving a clue, discarding a card, or playing a card. The goal of the game is to get the numbers 1 - 5 (in order) of each of the five colors before you run out of time or make too many mistakes. The group relies on players giving good clues with perhaps unspoken information coming along. The only things you can say are how many cards in one person's hand are a color or how many of those cards are a specific number.

Sometimes it can be very hard to not cheat while playing the game, but as long as everyone is there to have a good time they just become points of amusement. One of the most obvious ways players can unintentionally cheat is when someone goes to discard a card and the rest of the players flinch. We always try best not to but it's amusing when we can’t help ourselves. Some people can find the game stressful because sometimes you have to play hunches from your hand. Overall though it's always been a fun game that can be played almost anywhere!