variants.md

Variants

Hanab Live is programmed by enthusiasts who have played the game thousands of times. In order to keep the game fresh, the server allows you to create games using many different variants. Players also have the ability to further customize a game by using a number of custom game options.

A Quick Overview of Special Suits

Normal amount of cards per suit (e.g. 10 in total):

	No color clues	Own color clue	All color clues
No rank clues	Null	Brown	Muddy Rainbow
Own rank clue	White	No Variant	Rainbow
All rank clues	Light Pink	Pink	Omni

One of each card per suit (e.g. 5 in total):

	No color clues	Own color clue	All color clues
No rank clues	Dark Null	Dark Brown	Cocoa Rainbow
Own rank clue	Gray	Black	Dark Rainbow
All rank clues	Gray Pink	Dark Pink	Dark Omni

The pips that are assigned to each suit is documented on the pips reference page.

Detailed Rules per Variant

No Variant

• This is the "normal" game, with 5 suits. Unlike some other versions of the game, the website uses the following five suit colors:
  • Red
  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Purple

6 Suits

• A teal suit is added.
• It works identical to the other suits in that you can clue teal cards with teal clues.

4 Suits

• The purple suit is removed.

3 Suits

• The yellow and purple suits are removed.

Black

• One of the suits is replaced with a black suit.
• It works similar to the other suits in that you can clue black cards with black clues.
• There is only one of each black card in the deck, which means that every black card is "critical".

Rainbow

• One of the suits is replaced with a rainbow suit.
• All color clues will "touch" the rainbow suit.

Pink

• One of the suits is replaced with a pink suit.
• All rank clues "touch" the pink suit.

White

• One of the suits is replaced with a white suit.
• No color clues "touch" the white suit. (It is a colorless suit.)

Brown

• One of the suits is replaced with a brown suit.
• No rank clues "touch" the brown suit.

Omni

• One of the suits is replaced with an omni suit.
• All color clues and all rank clues "touch" the omni suit.

Null

• One of the suits is replaced with a null suit.
• No clues "touch" the null suit.

Muddy Rainbow

• One of the suits is replaced with a muddy rainbow suit.
• All color clues will "touch" the muddy rainbow suit.
• No rank clues will "touch" the muddy rainbow suit.

Light Pink

• One of the suits is replaced with a light pink suit.
• All rank clues will "touch" the light pink suit.
• No color clues will "touch" the light pink suit.

Prism

• One of the suits is replaced with a prism suit.
• The prism 1 is touched by the left-most color, the prism 2 is touched by the second-to-left-most color, and so forth.
• If there are less than 5 colors available in the variant, then the colors used for prism cards will wrap-around.

Orange

• One of the suits is replaced with an orange suit.
• When one tries to discard a card from the orange suit, it is played instead.
• When one tries to play a card from the orange suit, it is discarded instead.

Dark [Suit] / Gray / Cocoa Rainbow / Gray Pink

• One of the suits is replaced with a "dark" version of a special suit.
  • Gray is the "dark" version of white.
  • Cocoa rainbow is the "dark" version of muddy rainbow.
  • Gray pink is the "dark" version of light pink.
• There is only one of each dark card in the deck, which means that every dark card is "critical".

Special Suit Combinations (e.g. Black & Rainbow)

• Two suits are replaced with special suits.

Suit-Ones (e.g. Rainbow-Ones, Pink-Ones, White-Ones, etc.)

• Ones have the property of the suit prefix. For example, rainbow-ones are "touched" by all colors.

Suit-Fives (e.g. Rainbow-Fives, Pink-Fives, White-Fives, etc.)

• Fives have the property of the suit prefix. For example, rainbow-fives are "touched" by all colors.

Deceptive-Ones

• Ones have the property that they are only touched by certain rank clues:
  • The first suit is touched by a rank 2 clue
  • The second suit is touched by a rank 3 clue
  • The third suit is touched by a rank 4 clue
  • The fourth suit is touched by a rank 5 clue
  • The fifth suit is touched by a rank 2 clue (wrapping around)

Deceptive-Fives

• Fives have the property that they are only touched by certain rank clues:
  • The first suit is touched by a rank 1 clue
  • The second suit is touched by a rank 2 clue
  • The third suit is touched by a rank 3 clue
  • The fourth suit is touched by a rank 4 clue
  • The fifth suit is touched by a rank 1 clue (wrapping around)

Suit-Ones or Suit-Fives with Another Special Suit (e.g. Rainbow-Ones & Pink)

• Suit-Ones or Suit-Fives of a special suit inherit the special suit's properties.
  • For example, consider the "Rainbow-Ones & Pink" variant:
    • The rainbow suit has the property of being touched by all colors.
    • The pink suit has the property of being touched by all ranks.
    • These add together and the pink 1 is touched by all colors and touched by all ranks.
• If a conflict is present, the suit property will override the special property.
  • For example, consider the "Null-Ones & Rainbow" variant:
    • The null suit has the property of being touched by no colors and touched by no ranks.
    • The rainbow suit has the property of being touched by all colors.
    • These add together, but the color touch property is in conflict. The rainbow property takes precedence, so the rainbow 1 is touched by all colors and touched by no ranks.

Ambiguous

• Two suits share a color. There is no way to disambiguate between them with color clues.
• In the 6-suit version, the suits are as follows:
  • Tomato (red)
  • Mahogany (red)
  • Emerald (green)
  • Lime (green)
  • Sky (blue)
  • Navy (blue)
• In the 4-suit version, the green suits are removed.

Very Ambiguous

• Three suits share a color. There is no way to disambiguate between them with color clues.
• In the 6-suit version, the suits are as follows:
  • Tomato (red)
  • Carrot (red)
  • Mahogany (red)
  • Sky (blue)
  • Berry (blue)
  • Navy (blue)
• In the 3-suit version, the red suits are removed.

Extremely Ambiguous

• Four, five, or six suits share a color. There is no way to disambiguate between them with color clues.
• In the 6-suit version, the suits are as follows:
  • Ice (blue)
  • Aqua (blue)
  • Sky (blue)
  • Berry (blue)
  • Navy (blue)
  • Ocean (blue)
• In the 5-suit version, the Ocean suit is removed.
• In the 4-suit version, the Ocean and Navy suits are removed.

Matryoshka

• The 6 "basic" suits are replaced with 6 nested ones:
  • Ruby (red)
  • Yam (red / yellow)
  • Geas (red / yellow / green)
  • Beatnik (red / yellow / green / blue)
  • Plum (red / yellow / green / blue / purple)
  • Taupe (red / yellow / green / blue / purple / teal)
• In a 5-suit game, the Taupe suit would be removed, and so on.
• The name of the variant comes from nested doll sets.

Dual-Color

• Each suit is touched by 2 separate colors.
• In the 6-suit version, there are 4 different colors:
  • Tangerine (red / yellow)
  • Violet (red / blue)
  • Maroon (red / black)
  • Jade (yellow / blue)
  • Tan (yellow / black)
  • Cobalt (blue / black)
• In the 5-suit version, there are 5 different colors:
  • Tangerine (red / yellow)
  • Lime (yellow / green)
  • Teal (green / blue)
  • Indigo (blue / purple)
  • Cardinal (purple / red)
• In the 3-suit version, there are 3 different colors:
  • Tangerine (red / yellow)
  • Purple (red / blue)
  • Green (yellow / blue)
• There are also dual-color variants with one standard special suit in addition to either the 3-suit or 5-suit versions above.

RGB Mix (6 Suits)

• There are three colors and six suits:
  • Red
  • Yellow (red / green)
  • Green
  • Teal (green / blue)
  • Blue
  • Purple (red / blue)
• The color names are taken from the colors of light in the RGB model.

Special Mix (5 Suits)

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Black (one of each)
  2. Rainbow (all colors)
  3. Pink (all ranks)
  4. White (colorless)
  5. Brown (rankless)

Special Mix (6 Suits)

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Black (one of each)
  2. Rainbow (all colors)
  3. Pink (all ranks)
  4. White (colorless)
  5. Brown (rankless)
  6. Null (clueless)

Ambiguous Mix

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Tomato (red)
  2. Mahogany (red)
  3. Sky (blue)
  4. Navy (blue)
  5. Black (one of each)
  6. White (colorless)

Dual-Color Mix

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Tangerine (red / yellow)
  2. Purple (red / blue)
  3. Green (yellow / blue)
  4. Black (one of each)
  5. Rainbow (all colors)
  6. White (colorless)

Ambiguous & Dual-Color Mix

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Peach (red / yellow)
  2. Tangerine (red / yellow)
  3. Orchid (red / blue)
  4. Violet (red / blue)
  5. Lime (yellow / blue)
  6. Forest (yellow / blue)

Candy Corn Mix (5 Suits)

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Red
  2. Tangerine (red / yellow)
  3. Yellow
  4. White (colorless)
  5. Brown (rankless)

Candy Corn Mix (6 Suits)

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Red
  2. Tangerine (red / yellow)
  3. Yellow
  4. White (colorless)
  5. Brown (rankless)
  6. Cocoa Rainbow (all colors, rankless, one of each)

Holiday Mix (5 Suits)

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Dark Pink (all ranks, one of each)
  2. Green
  3. White (colorless)
  4. Sky (blue)
  5. Navy (blue)

Holiday Mix (6 Suits)

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Light Pink (all ranks, colorless)
  2. Red
  3. Green
  4. White (colorless)
  5. Sky (blue)
  6. Navy (blue)

Valentine Mix (5 Suits)

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Red
  2. Pink (all ranks)
  3. White (colorless)
  4. Light pink (colorless and all ranks)
  5. Cocoa rainbow (all colors, rankless, one of each)

Valentine Mix (6 Suits)

• This is a mix of several variants. The suits are as follows:
  1. Red
  2. Pink (all ranks)
  3. White (colorless)
  4. Light pink (colorless and all ranks)
  5. Cocoa rainbow (all colors, rankless, one of each)
  6. Null (rankless and colorless)

Critical Fours

• One 4 is removed from each suit.

Scarce Ones

• One 1 is removed from each suit.

Clue Starved

• Each discard or 5 played only generates 0.5 clues. (The team still starts with 8 clues.)

Color Blind

• Color clues touch no suits. (Empty color clues are always allowed.)

Number Blind

• Rank clues touch no suits. (Empty rank clues are always allowed.)

Totally Blind

• Color clues and rank clues touch no suits. (Empty clues are always allowed.)

Color Mute

• Color clues cannot be given.

Number Mute

• Rank clues cannot be given.

Alternating Clues

• The first clue of the game has no restrictions. After that, each successive clue must be the opposite type as the one prior.
• For example, if the first clue of the game is a color clue, then the second clue must be a number clue, the third clue must be a color clue, and so forth.
• This variant was invented by Jake Stiles.

Cow & Pig

• When players give a clue, they point at the cards clued, but say "moo" if it is a color clue, and "oink" if it is a rank clue.

Duck

• When players give a clue, they point at the cards clued, but say "quack" instead of a color or number.
• This variant was invented by Jack Gurev's group.

Odds and Evens

• Rank clues are limited to 1 and 2.
• "O" (Odd) rank clue touches all odd cards, "E" (Even) touches all even cards.

Synesthesia

• Only color clues may be given.
• In addition to their normal color, cards with rank 1 count as the first color, cards with rank 2 count as the second color, and so on.
• If the brown suit is in use, its cards only get clued by brown, and not as the color of their rank.

Reversed

• One of the suits is replaced with a reversed suit.
• The reversed suit must be played in the opposite order (e.g. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1).
• Two 1's are removed from the reversed suit.
• Two 5's are added to the reversed suit.

Up or Down

• Two 1's are removed from each suit.
• One "START" card is added to each suit.
• When a stack is empty, you can play either a 1, a 5, or a START card on it.
• When a stack has a START card on it, you can play either a 2 or a 4 on it.
• If a stack was started with a 1 (or a START + 2), then it works as a normal stack.
• If a stack was started with a 5 (or a START + 4), then it must be completed in reverse.
• A clue token is given when a stack is completed, regardless of whether it is a normal stack or a reversed stack.
• This variant was invented by Sean McCarthy on the BoardGameGeek forums.

Throw It in a Hole

• When players play a card, they do not flip it over like normal but instead place it face down in the center of the table.
• The score of the game is not revealed until the game is over.
• Players do not get a clue back for successfully playing a 5.
• The game will automatically end if 3 strikes are accumulated.
• This variant was invented by Jack Gurev's group.

Funnels

• Rank clues also touch all lower ranked cards.

Chimneys

• Rank clues also touch all higher ranked cards.

Sudoku (5 Suits)

• Instead of the stacks starting with a rank of 1, the stacks can be started with any rank. They will wrap around from 5 to 1 until 5 cards are played.
• Each stack has to be started with a different rank. However, it is not predetermined which stack has to start with a particular rank.
• Instead of the normal card distribution, there are two copies of each card.
• Similar to a no variant game, playing the fifth card of a suit gives back a clue.

Sudoku (4 Suits)

• Similar to 5-suit Sudoku, stacks can be started at arbitrary but different ranks.
• Cards of rank 5 are removed from the game. Therefore, stacks only consist of 4 cards each and will wrap around from 4 to 1.
• Playing the fourth card of a suit gives back a clue.

Full Variant Listing

• See this page.

Variant Order Summary

• Normal Variants
• Black
• Rainbow
• Pink
• White
• Brown
• Omni
• Null
• Muddy Rainbow
• Light Pink
• Prism
• Orange
• Dark [Suit] / Gray / Cocoa Rainbow / Gray Pink
• Special Suit Combinations (e.g. Black & Rainbow)
• Suit-Ones (e.g. Rainbow-Ones, Pink-Ones, White-Ones, etc.)
• Suit-Fives (e.g. Rainbow-Fives, Pink-Fives, White-Fives, etc.)
• Deceptive-Ones
• Deceptive-Fives
• Suit-Ones or Suit-Fives with Another Special Suit (e.g. Rainbow-Ones & Pink)
• Ambiguous
• Very Ambiguous
• Extremely Ambiguous
• Dual-Color
• Mixes
• Critical Fours
• Scarce Ones
• Clue Starved
• Color Blind
• Number Blind
• Totally Blind
• Color Mute
• Number Mute
• Alternating Clues
• Cow & Pig
• Duck
• Odds and Evens
• Synesthesia
• Reversed
• Up or Down
• Throw It in a Hole
• Funnels
• Chimneys
• Sudoku