At this point, you should already know that we split up the game of Hanabi into the Early Game and the Mid-Game (based on when someone discards).
In a similar way, we also split up the game of Hanabi into the Low Score Phase and the Normal Score Phase:
The Low Score Phase is defined as when the score is below 2 x number of suits. (e.g. 10 points in a no variant game, 6 points in a 3-suit game, etc.)
The Normal Score Phase is defined as when the score is equal to or past this threshold.
Some special moves using a number 5 clue can only be performed in the Low Score Phase of the game.
On Hanab Live, the score will be colored cyan when the Low Score Phase is active.
No Play Clues with a Number 5 Clue in the Low Score Phase
Normally, if a player uses a number 5 clue to clue a 5 that is two-or-more-away-from-chop, and that player is not a stalling situation, then it would be a Play Clue on the 5.
However, all number 5 clues in the Low Score Phase are never to be interpreted as a direct Play Clue.
They are instead interpreted as a more advanced move. (See the 5 Pull section below.)
This means that if players need to give a Play Clue to a playable 5, and the score is less than 2 points per stack, then they must use a color clue, or wait until later.
In the Early Game, players are only allowed to perform a 5 Stall if there is nothing left to do. (Or, as a special exception, if there is only one Play Clue to give and that card is on Finesse Position.)
Thus, if someone clues a 5 and there is something else to do, they must be trying to send an additional message.
If the 5 is one-away from chop, they intend for an Early 5's Chop Move. This functions in the exact same way a normal 5's Chop Move does (except it was done in the Early Game, which is not normally possible).
For level 22+ players, there are additional rules relating to Early 5's Chop Moves.
This convention only applies in the Low Score Phase.
Players are only allowed to perform a 5 Stall in certain situations. If a player performs a 5 Stall when it would otherwise be illegal, then it is not a 5 Stall at all, and would instead be:
a 5's Chop Move if the 5 is one-away-from-chop
a Play Clue if the 5 is two-or-more-away-from-chop
However, since Play Clues with number 5 clues are "turned off" in the Low Score Phase, then the cluing player must be intending something else: a 5 Pull.
A 5 Pull causes the player to blind-play the card to the right of the 5. The clued 5 is not actually related to the blind-play. This is why it is called a Pull instead of a Finesse or a Bluff.
5 Pulls are typically done to 5's that are on slot 1. But, for example, you can also clue a 5 in slot 2 in order to get a blind-play on slot 3.
5 Pulls take precedence over Finesses and Bluffs, because a number 5 clue is never considered to be Play Clue.
For example in a 3-player game:
It is the Early Game and the Low Score Phase.
Red 3 is played on the stacks.
Alice clues Cathy number 5, touching a red 5 on slot 1. (There are other Play Clues for Alice to give, so this cannot be a 5 Stall.)
Normally, Bob would think that this is a Finesse and that he should blind-play his Finesse Position card as the red 4.
However, Bob knows that Play Clues with a number 5 clue are "turned off" in the Low Score Phase, which means that Alice is not indicating that the red 5 is playable.
Bob can see that there is a playable blue 1 to the right of the 5, so Alice must be intending a 5 Pull. When it gets to Cathy's turn, Cathy will blind-play that card.
Since 5 Pulls are never Play Clues on the 5, it is possible to 5 Pull a 4 without promising that the 5 is the same suit.
Confusingly, 5 Pulls work differently from Finesses. Even though they involve playing a blind card, a 5 Pull should be treated as a Delayed Play Clue (or a potential Prompt). This means that the blind card could play through any existing touched cards.
When a player is Finessed or Bluffed, they are allowed to defer playing the blind card in order to do a Finesse or Bluff of their own. However, if they could be Bluffed, they are not allowed to initiate a 5 Pull. (Players are still allowed to defer playing into a Finesse in order to initiate a 5 Pull.)
In the rare case where a 5 Pull is performed in a 3-player game by touching two 5's in slot 1 and slot 3, then the 5 Pulled card is slot 2.
5 Pulls are also allowed to initiate a Prompt or Finesse.
For example, in a 4-player game:
It is the first turn of the game and nothing is played on the stacks.
Cathy's hand is as follows, from newest to oldest: blue 4, blue 5, red 2, red 2
Donald's hand is as follows, from newest to oldest: yellow 4, green 1, yellow 3, yellow 3
Alice clues number 5 to Cathy, touching the blue 5 on slot 3.
Bob knows that since the team is the Early Game, Alice's clue might be a 5 Stall.
However, Bob also knows that you are only allowed to perform a 5 Stall if there are no normal Save Clues or Play Clues to give. Bob sees that Donald has a green 1 that could be Play Clued. Thus, Bob knows that Alice's clue cannot be a 5 Stall, which makes it a 5 Pull instead (since it is two-or-more-away from the chop).
Bob knows that if this was a 5 Pull, it would be pulling the red 2. If Bob does nothing, Cathy might go on to misplay the red 2 as some playable 1.
Thus, this must be a 5 Pull Finesse, so Bob blind-plays his Finesse Position. It is a red 1 and it successfully plays.
Cathy knows that the only reason that Bob would blind-play a card is it this was a 5 Pull Finesse. Cathy blind-plays her slot 3 card. It is a red 2 and it successfully plays.
Unlike other types of Finesses, 5 Pull Finessesmust be demonstrated with a blind-play between when the 5 Pull is given and the 5 Pulled player's next turn (e.g. a Forward Finesse).
Subsequently, 5 Pulls are not allowed to initiate a Reverse Finesse. (This is because we don't want the person with the pulled card to have to entertain too many possibilities.)
Remember that during a 5 Pull Finesse, the pulled card always connects to the blind-play. In other words, it not possible to perform a 5 Pull Bluff.
As you would expect, it is also possible to perform a 5 Pull Double Finesse in the exact same way that you can 5 Pull Finesse.
The "pulled" card will always connect to the final blind-play.
For example in a 4-player game:
It is the first turn of the game and nothing is played on the stacks.
Donald's hand is as follows, from newest to oldest: blue 4, blue 5, red 3, blue 2
Alice clues number 5 to Donald, touching the blue 5 on slot 2.
Bob blind-plays the red 1 (because he knows that it cannot be a 5 Stall).
Cathy blind-plays the red 2 (because she knows that she needs to play into the Double Finesse).
Donald knows that the 5 Pulled card is the red 3 (connecting to the red 1 and the red 2).
Previously, we said that 5 Pull Finessemust be a Forward Finesse. However, 5 Pulled players do have to respect that a 5 Pull Finesse can be a 5 Pull Double Finesse with the second blind-play as a Reverse Finesse. (Specifically, we refer to this as a Finesse with a Reverse Finesse component.)
More examples of a 5 Pull Double Finesse can be found here.
However, 5 Pulled players do have to respect that the Finesse can be Clandestine.
For example in a 3-player game:
It is the first turn of the game and nothing is played on the stacks.
Bob's hand is as follows, from newest to oldest: red 1, green 1, green 4, green 4, green 5
Cathy's hand is as follows, from newest to oldest: blue 4, blue 1, blue 5, green 2, blue 2
Alice clues number 5 to Cathy, touching the blue 5 on slot 3.
Bob blind-plays the red 1 (because he knows that it cannot be a 5 Stall).
Normally, Cathy would think that Alice performed a 5 Pull Finesse, and she would blind-play her slot 4 card as the red 2 (which would connect to the red 1).
However, Cathy also sees that at the time of the clue, Bob had a playable green 1 behind the red 1. Thus, it is possible that Alice might be performing a 5 Pull Clandestine Finesse.
Cathy performs an unrelated action.
Alice performs an unrelated action.
Bob blind-plays the green 1 from slot 2.
Cathy now knows that this was indeed a 5 Pull Clandestine Finesse and that she has the green 2 on her slot 4.
Normally, 5 Pulls have to be treated as Delayed Play Clues. This means that sometimes, it can take a long time for the pulled card to blind-play.
From the perspective of the player who is 5 Pulled, if a follow up Play Clue is given to a currently unplayable card, then they can disregard the Delayed Play Clue interpretation - the 5 Pulled player is promised the card that makes the unplayable card playable.
For example, in a 4-player game:
Alice has two clued 1's in her hand - red 1 and blue 1.
Bob does a 5 Pull on Donald. Donald knows that the 5 Pulled card could be either red 2 or blue 2 (if it is a Delayed Play Clue).
Cathy clues Alice about a red 3. Now, Donald knows that he is promised the red 2 as his 5 Pulled card (and he no longer has to wait for the blue 1 to come down before blind-playing).
Sometimes, a 5 Pulled player may not play their pulled card right away. Maybe they have to wait for existing cards to play first, or maybe they want to capitalize on a Finesse while it is still available.
Any Finesse that a 5 Pulled player performs is to be treated as a Certain Finesse.
Any Certain Discard that is performed in response to a Finesse that a 5 Pulled player did applies to the 5 Pulled card.
If a player is already Finessed, it is possible to Finesse them again and get them to play their Second Finesse Position card.
Similarly, if a 5 Pull is performed, and the card immediately to the right of a 5 is already clued or already "gotten", then the 5 Pull skips over that card and gets the next card after that.
This convention only applies in the Low Score Phase.
Players are only allowed to perform a 5 Stall in certain situations. If a player performs a 5 Stall when it would otherwise be illegal, then it is not a 5 Stall at all, and would instead be:
a 5's Chop Move if the 5 is one-away-from-chop
a 5 Pull if the 5 is two-or-more-away-from-chop and the card to the right of it is playable
a 5 Pull Finesse if the 5 is two-or-more-away-from-chop and the card to the right of it is one-away-from-playable
However, what if the 5 is two-or-more-away-from-chop and the card to the right of it is two-or-more-away-from-playable? This would be quite strange.
We agree that this signals an Ejection and that the next player should play their Second Finesse Position.
For example, in a 3-player game:
It is the first turn and nothing is played on the stacks.
Alice clues number 5 to Cathy, touching a 5 on slot 1.
Cathy's hand is, from newest to oldest: red 5, red 3, green 2, green 1, green 2
Bob thinks about what Alice's 5 clue could mean:
The clue cannot be a 5 Stall, because there is a green 1 to Play Clue.
The clue cannot be a 5 Pull, because the red 3 is not playable.
The clue cannot be a 5 Pull Finesse, because the red 3 is two-away-from-playable.
Since Bob would have to blind-play two cards into the Finesse (the same rule as in 5 Color Ejections), Bob knows that he should instead treat this as a 5 Number Ejection. Bob blind-plays his slot 2 card and it successfully plays as the red 1.
After a 5 Number Ejection, the card next to the 5 should be globally marked as Chop Moved, and marked accordingly as two-or-more-away-from-playable. For example, in a no variant game, the card would always be a 3 or 4.
After a 5 Number Ejection, the card next to the 5 will be marked as a Chop Movedtwo-or-more-away-from-playable card.
Normally, Chop Moved cards are not on Finesse Position, because they are on the right-side of the hand. However, after a 5 Number Ejection, it is possible for the Chop Moved card to become on Finesse Position.
If a Finesse happens in such a situation, the holder of the Chop Moved card should either play the Chop Moved card or skip over it, depending on the situation:
Normally, they should simply treat the Chop Moved card as being on Finesse Position, and play the Chop Moved card.
However, if the Finesse is calling for a card that was not two-or-more-away-from-playable at the time of the 5 Number Ejection, then obviously the Chop Moved card cannot be the Finesse target, and they should instead skip over the Chop Moved card and play the next Finesse Position card.
Normally, players are only allowed to 5 Stall if there is nothing else to do. If there is something else to do, then the number 5 clue signals a more advanced move.
Sometimes, a player can receive a 5 Stall clue when:
A 2 Save still needs to be done to another player
That 2 Save is the only clue left
In this situation, players should assume the least complicated thing: a 5 Stall. Because of the Visible Rule, the player who gave the 5 Stall clue was not allowed to perform the 2 Save because the other copy was visible.
In this situation, the player who received the 5 Stall should write Elimination Notes on their hand for the other copy of the 2. Furthermore, they are not allowed to 2 Save the other copy of the 2, so they must give some other clue or discard.
For example, in a 4-player game:
It is the first turn and nothing is played on the stacks.
Alice clues number 5 to Bob, touching a 5 on slot 1.
From Bob's perspective, he does not see any other Play Clues or Save Clues that Alice could have given, with the exception of a 2 Save on a red 2 on Cathy's chop.
Thus, Alice's number 5 clue could be either a 5 Pull or a 5 Stall, depending on whether or not Bob has the other copy of the red 2 in his hand.
Bob knows that in this situation, 5 Stalls take precedence over 5 Pulls, so he marks his hand for the other copy of red 2 and discards.