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Summary / Cheat Sheet

This page is a summary of the most commonly used conventions in the "Basic Strategies" section. It is intended to be used as a quick reference and overview, and does not cover the details of each convention, edge cases, rarely-used conventions, and so on.

Playing and Saving Cards​

Focus and Clue Interpretation​

  • Normally, every clue is focused on one specific card.
  • If the Chop (oldest unclued card) is touched, then the clue is focused on the chop. Otherwise, the clue is focused on the left-most new card.
  • Good Touch Principle states that the other touched cards (besides the focus) will be eventually useful.
  • Normally, every clue is either a Play Clue or a Save Clue.
  • We can only give a Save Clue to a card which is on chop, and only if it is a 5 (by number), a unique 2 (by number), or a critical card (by either number or color).

Prompts and Finesses​

  • A Play Clue is a promise that a card is playable now. If there are "connecting" cards, the team is promised that the connecting cards are present and accounted for.
    • For example, if a red 3 is given a Play Clue, and the red 1 and 2 have not been played yet, then the player who is giving the clue is also making a promise that the team collectively has the red 1 and the red 2.
  • In such a situation, these teammates need to fulfill the promise of the clue giver by playing the connecting cards.
  • They should first look among their clued cards for cards that match, and play those from left to right (called a Prompt). If there are no clued cards that match (or all matching cards have been played, and the promise is still not fulfilled), they should blind-play their unclued cards from left to right until the promise is fulfilled (called a Finesse).
    • If there are potential Prompts or Finesses, then other players may need to wait before playing their cards.
    • The Double Prompt, Double Finesse, Reverse Finesse, Hidden Finesse, Layered Finesse, and Clandestine Finesse are all special cases of this general principle.

Chop Moves​

  • The H-Group has several conventions which can tell a player that a card on their Chop is important and should not be discarded, even without touching the card with a clue. This is called a Chop Move.
  • When a Chop Move occurs, the player considers the card on their chop to be touched with an "invisible" clue. Thus, their chop will "move" to the next right-most unclued card.
  • Chop Moved cards don't count as "matching" for the purposes of Prompts.

Types of Chop Moves​

  • Order Chop Move. When a player receives a 1's clue at the beginning of the game, the 1's that were in the starting hand should "normally" be played in a special order:

    • If a 1 was on Chop at the start of the game, that 1 should be played first.
    • Any 1's that were drawn after the start of the game should be played from newest to oldest.
    • Any remaining 1's should be played from right to left.

    If the 1's are played in a different order, this triggers an Order Chop Move based on the number of 1's which are "skipped" over: skipping over a single 1 Chop Moves the next player, skipping over two 1's Chop Moves the player after that, and so on.

  • 5's Chop Move. The 5's Chop Move is a number 5 clue that touches a 5 which is one-away from chop. In that case, we agree to also Chop Move the Chop card.

  • Trash Chop Move. The Trash Chop Move is a move in which a clue is given that touches only cards that are known to be trash. In that case, we agree to Chop Move every card to the right of the rightmost trash card.

    • In expert play, there is a similar kind of move in which a card plays and is revealed to be a duplicate of an already globally known clued card in someone else's hand (rather than obviously known trash to be discarded). This is covered in the chapter on Dupe Tech; such clues may or may not cause a Chop Move depending on whether the complicated move also picked up any extra cards.

  • Tempo Clue Chop Move. A clue which only gets a single card to play that already had a clue on it is called a Tempo Clue, and would normally not be worth giving. Thus, if the clue giver is not stalling, we agree this low-value clue should also Chop Move the player receiving the clue. This is called a Tempo Clue Chop Move.

  • Scream Discard Chop Move and Generation Discard. If Alice has a known playable card in their hand, and she chooses to discard her chop anyway instead of playing their card, then this signals to the team there is some sort of emergency. There are two common moves this corresponds to.

    • If the team has 0 clues and Bob has a playable or critical card on his chop, this triggers a Scream Discard Chop Move on Bob. the purpose of Alice's discard is to prevent Bob from discarding. So, Bob should Chop Move once.
    • Bob is also required to not discard on the turn he is screamed at (because he could have multiple critical cards), and can stall if necessary.
    • If the team has 0 clues and Cathy has a playable or critical card on her chop, and does not have something to do, we instead consider this a Generation Discard; the purpose of Alice's discard is to generate a clue so that Bob can save Cathy's card.

  • Trash Order Chop Move. When a player has multiple known-trash cards, they are normally expected to discard known trash from left to right. Skipping over trash cards triggers a Trash Order Chop Move similarly to an Order Chop Move.

Discarding​

Discarding Clued Non-Trash Cards​

  • If a player discards a known non-trash card, it promises someone else has the other copy.
  • Like with prompts vs finesses, clued cards that match should first be considered. (This is rare because Good Touch prohibits cluing both copies of the same card, but sometimes it happens due to a mistake or an awkward situation.) In this case, we call this move a Sarcastic Discard. Such a discard is useful because it resynchronizes the team, communicating the duplication to the other players and preventing potential confusion.
  • Otherwise, it promises the other copy in someone's Finesse Position. This is called either a Gentleman's Discard or Baton Discard, depending on whether the card is already playable or not.

Double Discard Avoidance​

  • A Double Discard situation is one where the previous player discards (or misplays) a card; and the current player could be discarding the other copy of that card.
  • If the team is unlucky, this could lose the game. So, we agree to treat this as a "stalling" situation as well.
  • If advanced H-group features are turned on in hanab.live, Double Discard situations will be indicated by a different discard sound effect, a yellow border around the discard pile, and small blue question marks on cards which might match the card just discarded or misplayed.
  • In hard variants, Double Discard Avoidance is turned off.

Elimination Notes​

  • Sometimes a player can realize that they must have a specific card somewhere in their hand.
    • If nothing special is happening, and a player sees a playable card or a 2 get unexpectedly discarded, it follows someone has the other copy.
    • If a player discards when they should be in Double Discard Avoidance, it follows someone has the other copy of the card that initiated the Double Discard situation.
  • In that case, one player should make notes on all cards in their hand for the "missing" card.
  • These cards notes can be used to make deductions, sometimes even letting the card blind-play "for free". This is covered in the chapter on Elimination.

Stalling​

  • There are some situations in which the team might need to "stall" by giving a low-value clue. In order of severity, such situations include:
    • Severity 1: The Early Game is the period of time before the first unknown discard. We agree to allow 5 Stalls (defined below) to extend the Early Game a bit longer than would normally occur if only normal Play Clues and Save Clues are allowed.
    • Severity 2: Double Discard situations and Scream Discards, which were defined above.
    • Severity 3: A Locked Hand is one where every card is clued or Chop Moved. In this case, a player cannot discard safely, so they are allowed to stall instead.
    • Severity 4: The game rules prohibit discarding if the team already has 8 clues.
  • There is a big stall table which indicates what kind of stalls are permitted at what severities, and what their precedence is. This fairly strict table makes it easier to distinguish between stall clues and things like Finesses.
  • The types of stalls covered in the table are summarized below:
    • A 5 Stall is the most preferred kind of stall, and available in any situation where no normal Play Clues or Save Clues are allowed. It simply consists of giving a 5's clue to a 5 which is off-chop. It does not trigger a 5's Chop Move.
    • At Severity 2 and higher, one can give a Tempo Clue Stall by re-cluing a card to make it play; this does not trigger a Tempo Clue Chop Move.
    • If there are no valid 5 Stalls or Tempo Clue Stalls, then:
      • At Severity 2 and higher, one can also simply fill-in a card (giving extra information to already-clued or chop moved cards).
      • At Severity 3 or higher, a player can save any card on chop, even if it is not critical or playable. This is called a Locked Hand Save.
      • At Severity 4 or higher, a player can save any card not on slot 1, even if it is not critical or playable. This is called an 8 Clue Save.
    • At Severity 2 or higher, if no other types of stalls are available, the player can Hard Burn by spending a clue to provide no new information (e.g. re-cluing a known unplayable 5).

End-Game​

  • In the End-Game, stalling is often necessary in order to win the game before time runs out. Because End-Game strategy is so complicated, the stalling table does not prescribe conventions for what is and isn't legal, and players need to instead use context and common sense.
  • In the End-Game, when almost all cards are trash, a player can also opt to discard an unclued card off their chop to communicate the position of a card to their teammate: for example, discarding slot 2 for no apparent reason tells the team that a player has a playable card on slot 2. This is called a Positional Discard.
    • If a Positional Discard wouldn't work, for example because there are multiple players with a card on a given slot or if the desired slot is the usual Chop, one can expend a strike to use a Positional Misplay instead.

Bluffs​

  • A Bluff is a special move in which one tells a "fib" to the next player, causing them to blind-play a card as if they were being Finessed, only for the fib to revealed as soon as Bob blind-plays.
  • The focused card of the clue that triggers a Bluff is called a Bluff Target.
  • Because Bluffs involve not telling the truth, we impose several restrictions on them. Say Alice is giving the clue.
    • A Bluff can only be done on Bob.
    • A Bluff is only legal if Bob would blind-play on the very next turn, even assuming a Finesse over a Bluff. In other words, Bob must blind-play even if he did not know about the Bluff convention. This is called Bob's Truth Principle.
    • The only cards which may be used as the Bluff Target are:
      • Any card which is one-away-from-playable.
      • Any 3 which is two-away-from-playable. This is called a 3 Bluff.
      • Any 4 which is critical, but only if a color clue is used. This is called a Critical Color Bluff.
    • Finally, the Bluff Target must not "connect" to the blind-played card from Bob, so the clue is not mistaken for a Finesse after the blind play. This is called Cathy's Connecting Principle, and the cases for what "connects" means exactly are written in detail there.

Double Bluffs​

  • A Double Bluff is similar to a Bluff, but it causes both Bob and Cathy to blind-play their first slot.
  • The focused card must not be a valid Bluff Target, and at least two-away-from-playable. (There is an exception called the Pestilent Double Bluff.)
  • In practice, Double Bluffs are almost always given to a 4, for which the corresponding 2 is not yet played. (This is because the 5 case is overwritten by the 5 Color Ejection defined later.)
  • A Double Bluff must be demonstrated immediately to be legal: both players must blind play immediately.

Special Blind Plays​

Trash Pushes​

  • Normally, a clue which focuses known trash causes a Trash Chop Move on cards to the right of the trash. However, if the trash is already on chop, this interpretation does not make sense as no cards would be Chop Moved.
  • Instead, this causes the card to the left of the clued trash to blind-play right away. This is called a Trash Push.

Ejections, Discharges, and Charms​

  • An Ejection, Discharge, or Charm refers to a special move by Alice which causes Bob to immediately blind-play his Second Finesse Position, Third Finesse Position, or Fourth Finesse Position, respectively. Like Bluffs, these may not be deferred. The most common types of these moves are given below.
  • 5CE. If Alice gives a Play Clue by color to a fresh 5, and Bob sees he would have to blind-play two or more cards to fulfill this promise, we agree this is not a Play Clue at all, but a 5 Color Ejection (5CE). Bob must immediately blind-play his Second Finesse Position.
  • UTD. Sometimes, Alice can give a Play Clue to a card which is trash, but for which the recipient of the clue cannot tell it is trash. In that case, the rest of the team needs to blind-play something to signal to the clue recipient to prevent the card from bombing.
    • In some cases, blind-playing a single card is enough to prove the card is trash. For example, if Cathy receives a 1's clue, and Bob blind-plays in response to the clue, then Cathy knows the focused 1 is trash.
    • This is called a Trash Bluff or Trash Finesse, and promises all the touched cards are trash.
    • If a single blind-play would not resynchronize the team, then a different move is called for: an Unknown Trash Discharge (UTD). Bob must immediately blind-play his Third Finesse Position.
    • Once this happens, the clue recipient marks the focused card as trash. However, Good Touch still applies to any other touched cards (unlike with the Trash Bluff or Trash Finesse).
  • 4 Charm. If Alice gives a Play Clue to a fresh 4, and Bob sees he would have to blind-play three or more cards to fulfill this promise, we agree this is not a Play Clue at all. Bob would normally expect a Double Bluff, but sometimes Bob can rule out this interpretation too because Cathy's Finesse Position is not playable. In this case, Alice's clue instead triggers a 4 Charm. Bob must immediately blind-play his Fourth Finesse Position.

Ignition​

  • A Double Ignition is a move which causes two players to blind-play their finesse position.
    • If Alice gives the clue, then Bob, and the last player with a playable card, should blind-play.
  • When not in a stalling situation, several "useless" moves trigger a Double Ignition:
    • Replay Double Ignition. A Replay Double Ignition is triggered by re-cluing a globally known playable card.
    • Poke Double Ignition. A Poke Double Ignition is triggered by re-cluing a globally known trash card.
    • Trash Double Ignition. Towards the end of the game, Trash Double Ignition is triggered by cluing new trash cards, when the move cannot be mistaken for a Trash Chop Move (off-chop) or Trash Push (on chop).
  • Chop Move Ignition. A Chop Move Ignition is triggered by Chop Moving a card that could have simply been given a direct Play Clue. (It is only calls for one blind play, unlike the previous Double Ignitions.)

5 Tech​

  • Up until now, the precedence for "special" 5 moves are 5 Save > 5 Stall > 5 Chop Move > Play Clue.
  • We define the Low Score Phase as the period when the score is at most twice the number of suits.
  • In the Low Score Phase, we turn off Play Clues by Number 5. So, if Alice gives a number 5 clue to a 5 which is two-or-more-away-from-chop, and a 5 Stall can be ruled out, then a different interpretation is needed. The team should react based on the card which is to the right of the touched 5:
    • 5 Pull. The usual interpretation is a 5 Pull, which calls for the card to the right of the 5 to be blind-played. We say the card is Pulled.
    • 5 Pulls can also trigger Prompts and Finesses like a normal Play Clue.
    • However, if a blind-play is necessary, we require the first blind-played card to be held by someone between Alice and the Pulled player. (This limits the number of possibilities the Pulled player needs to consider.)
    • 5NE. However, if Bob would require two or more blind-plays to fulfill a promise on the Pulled card, we agree to instead use a different interpretation: Bob should react with a Ejection (immediately blind-playing slot 2). This is called a 5 Number Ejection, much like a 5CE.
    • 5ND. Finally, if the Pulled card is actually trash, then Bob should react with a Discharge (immediately blind-playing slot 3). This is called a 5 Number Discharge, much like a UTD.

Priority​

  • When a player has two known cards, we agree on an order that the cards should be played in. The order of precedence is given in a Priority table, but is fairly intuitive and usually matches what you expect.
    • In short: play cards that lead into other people's hands if possible. Otherwise, play any 5's to get a clue back; then play lower-ranked cards starting from unknown cards, from left-to-right.
  • If a player chooses to play a fully-known card that does not have Priority, and nothing special is happening, then it promises that the "next" card is in someone else's hand.
    • Like with other promises, this triggers either a Priority Prompt or Priority Finesse. This can also be layered. It's also possible to perform a Priority Bluff.
    • It's also allowed to use Priority to get the next card even if it is not on Finesse Position; however, this forces someone to give a Play Clue to the player with the card to prevent an impending misplay (since they will think it's a Priority Finesse otherwise). This kind of Play Clue is called a Load Clue.
  • Normally Priority is only triggered by playing known cards, not by unknown cards. However, if playing an unknown card is obviously really dumb, Priority is still triggered anyway.

Unnecessary Moves​

  • An Unnecessary Move is a "complicated" move that could have just been a normal Play Clue, with no other benefits (like picking up extra cards or filling in information).
  • If Alice performs an Unnecessary Move, one "extra" thing is called for:
    • If the move used known trash, the "extra" thing is an Ignition on Bob.
    • If the move used unknown trash off chop, the "extra" thing is a Chop Move on the clue receiver.
    • If the move used unknown trash on chop, the "extra" thing is a Trash Push on the clue receiver.