Hanami Hanafuda & Fusion (Poker) Playing Cards. (Kickstarter coming soon)

[DoubleOOJ]

Hello everyone.
Our newest project, Hanami Hanafuda & Fusion (Poker) Playing Cards, will be launching soon on Kickstarter.

Hanami (“flower viewing”) was inspired by the floral motifs and symbolism-rich imagery of traditional Japanese hanafuda. Every card in the Hanami deck is unique. Hanami was designed as 13 tetraptychs, creating a unique floral scene for each month.

Hanami will be printed by Legends Playing Card Company (LPCC) on Emerald Finish card stock and will feature gold gilded edges, a numbered seal, and a foil-stamped tuck.



What is Hanafuda?
Hanafuda (known in Korea as 'Hwatu') are floral-themed playing cards that are rich in symbolism and popular in Japan, Korea, and Hawaii. Hanafuda cards have 12 suits. Each suit is represented by a month (e.g. June) of the year and each month is represented by a flower (e.g. Peony).


What is the Fusion deck?
Since traditional hanafuda cards lack pips and indices, we designed our own hanafuda indices to indicate the flower, month, and type of each card. We combined these indices with traditional hanafuda imagery and standard poker indices to create a multipurpose deck that could be used to play both Eastern and Western games.


Hanafuda Rulebook
Given the popularity, long history, and wide geographical range of hanafuda cards, there have been many games invented over the years. Unfortunately, rules for hanafuda games can be difficult to find and interpret, so we decided to create a rulebook that would gather these rules into a single clearly written source. Our 250 page rulebook contains 31-games with numerous illustrations, intuitive scoring examples, and quick reference charts and will be available as part of our Kickstarter project.



Hanami was inspired by our love for hanafuda. We hope to bring that joy to others with our Kickstarter project.

Kickstarter Link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iws/434670968?token=75f48f08

Thank you for taking the time to read our post and checking out our project!

Jason & Antonietta

*Edited to update the Fusion deck image to reflect the new design.

[Don Boyer]

Seriously, this really looks like a lovely deck - I wish you all the best on it!

[DoubleOOJ]

Thanks for the kind words Don.

Based on the feedback we’ve received in the UC Forum we are exploring some potential changes to the Fusion deck.

We have created four design options based on the feedback.

Samples of each design can be found here:
http://www.indianwolfstudios.com/hanami-fusion.html

We are still deciding which design we prefer. Feedback is welcome.

Thanks,
Jason & Antonietta

[Mark]

Looking forward to this project. It took me many games of koi koi to get comfortable with the standard cards so I see this project as a great tool to learn the cards and games.

For the new design, I would vote for #1. The cartouche is very prominent.

[DoubleOOJ]

Yes, the learning curve for picking up traditional hanafuda cards can be tough. One of the reasons we created the rulebook and Fusion deck was to make hanafuda more accessible.

Since we designed them, we’ve been using the Fusion cards ourselves. They are convenient even when you know how to play. They also make a great teaching tool.
On the other hand, playing with the Hanafuda deck in public can be a fun conversation starter. 

Thanks for your vote. We are currently leaning towards #1 ourselves.

[DoubleOOJ]

We have decided to go with option #1 Cutout with Border.
We feel its a cleaner look for the Fusion deck. The cutout indices are simple, clean, and fan nicely, while still allowing for more art to be on the cards than the original Fusion design.

We have updated the kickstarter to reflect the new Fusion design, in preparation for the launch tomorrow (5/2 @ 9am EST).

Thanks!

[DoubleOOJ]

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have launched!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iws/hanami-hanafuda-and-poker-playing-cards-and-hanafu

[Don Boyer]

I think the choice of #1 was a good one, though personally I would have gone for just the white border, without the hard black line around the art.  That's just me, though.  It was definitely a smart idea to not go full-bleed - you can actually identify full-bleed cards with varying art from the edge of the deck, if you know what to look for!

[DoubleOOJ]

I think the choice of #1 was a good one, though personally I would have gone for just the white border, without the hard black line around the art.  That's just me, though.  It was definitely a smart idea to not go full-bleed - you can actually identify full-bleed cards with varying art from the edge of the deck, if you know what to look for!

We’re glad you agree with the decision to go with the cutout design (#1). Your opinion means a lot to us.

We were personally 50/50 between the borders, but the majority of our voters on the UC forum liked the thin black border. The cards look nice either way.

[DoubleOOJ]

We have decided to relaunch Hanami. The new project is now live.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iws/hanami-hanafuda-and-poker-playing-cards-and-rulebo

We have made a lot of great changes.

The Goal

• The project goal has been reduced to $11,500.

The Decks

• Decks now include free US shipping and reduced ROW shipping.
• We have lowered the price of the decks. For example, for a US backer, One Deck, including shipping, is now $16 (previously $22).
• Decks will no longer have foil, gilding, or seals.
• Decks will still be printed by LPCC on their casino-quality Emerald Finish card stock.

The Rulebook

• We have switched book printers.
• The Color Rulebook now has free worldwide shipping.
• The Color Rulebook is now EU & AU friendly.
• The Color Rulebook will now be printed on 70# paper.
• The Digital Rulebook price has been reduced to $16 (previously $20).
• We have added a Print + Digital Rulebook Bundle option.
• Color Rulebook and Rulebook Bundle options have been added to the pledge tiers.

Thanks,
Jason & Antonietta