HWA-tu: Korean Flower Card Game by Song WOL

This seemed to be the most affordable all-weather deck and they have proven to be very durable, plastic not cardboard (think in terms of weighted plastic poker chips vs. clay chips in terms of authenticity). If durability and outdoor use is a consideration, these are the right choice, if you are looking for the authentic feel of cardstock construction, these aren't for you. With a small child opening and playing 52 or 48 card pickup frequently (and at times even bending or marking) every deck of cards in reach, these have held up admirably to her abuse! The cards shipped featured a Panda as the publishing logo (much like Rider featured on Bicycle decks) (B004NF7T70 published by Song Wol?) The art is nice, fairly simplified, with a few cosmetic details that I found odd (mixed rounded and pointed chrysanthemum petals in particular, an flipped ribbon, etc) but not too confusing. Colorful and color printing was in the range of reasonable. I also purchased to learn Hanafuda, and I note out of another great review that Amazon is deleting external links. Although you can google this, here you need to 'out of the box' for Japanese-style play. There are two cards representing the card of 'Rain & Lightning' (in red and black) - one has the publishing logo (a panda) on the right side. The logo flavor is used in Hwatu play to mean a double-junk card rather than single, and players of any game will set aside one or the other, (a Hanafuda dealer will likely dump the logo-flavored card unless they find the logo illustration especially kawaii). You will have five jokers remaining - each with a considerable amount of Korean text (specific instructions for play in Hwatu). The jokers will look unlike any of the typical flower cards, and are side aside from play for Hanafuda. With those six cards removed, you should be all ready to play or learn Hanafuda with this outstanding deck!

Was very impressed with quality of cards.

These are nice quality, thick cards. The images are clear with quality printing. These cards are just larger than a Domingo, which is how they should be. They have a slightly textured back and a slick laminated face. The game is easy to learn and fun to play for kids and adults. The scoring is the hardest part to pick up. It would be nice if the came with instructions and/or a scoring cheat sheet. However, these are easily found online. If you like card games and have not tried this, then I recommend it. If you are looking for a new set of cards, then this is a good value for the money.

At least the value is there. These aren't the quality cards that we used to buy in the past. I would so love to be able to find some quality cards with smooth edges, and more give on the cards themselves when bending it. These are not it. Maybe you may like it. If you haven't owned the better stuff that was available to buy in the old days, you couldn't hold these in your hands. They just don't feel right.

First off, for those unfamiliar with the differences between this deck and a regular Japanese/Hawaiian Hanafuda (flower card) deck, check out: [...] Short version: this deck is usable in all of the same contexts as a Hanafuda deck - it just has a few more cards. The cards in this deck are, for the uninitiated, really more like tiles - they're about three times as thick and half as large as standard western playing cards - which means they take a little getting used to, esp. when it comes to shuffling. This particular deck features a cross-thatch-style texture applied to the backs of the cards which adds some grip when playing. The illustrations on the cards are high-quality and printed in brilliantly vibrant colours on the smooth and glossy card fronts - they're pretty eye-catching (even compared to many other Hanafuda/Hwa-tu decks). They come packaged in two piles in a sturdy plastic case a bit smaller than, say, two Altoids tins - perfect for carrying them around (it stays shut, too - no cards dumped everywhere in or out of your pocket). Every aspect of this deck is excellent - however, there is one caveat: there are no instructions of any sort. You get the deck and the case, and that's it. That said, instructions are readily available online for various games to be played with these cards (most notably Korean Go-Stop and Japanese Koi-Koi) if you're unfamiliar with the cards. I'm a pretty avid Koi-Koi player (and cards games in general), and I'd easily recommend this deck to anyone interested in learning either flower card games in particular or simply new card games in general. It may be a little more pricey than most western-style card decks, but the durable construction of these cards definitely makes them worth it.

I've seen Go-Stop played in different shows that I've watched and always wanted to try so I was excited to see these cards on Amazon. I knew in advance that they didn't come with instructions so I went online and found instructions. There are numerous websites that have this information. When they arrived I was ready to play right away. The cards themselves are smaller, plastic, and thicker than U.S. playing cards as others have said. It was a little tricky trying to keep referencing back to my phone or the computer for instructions, an insert would have been very helpful, but it didn't take too long before I got the hang of it. It's a bit daunting at first to learn a new game such as this, but once the group I was playing with got the hang of it we had a lot of fun. It's was nice to have a new, unique game to add to my collection. It might be a little too overwhelming for children. I would recommend ages 14+

At first glance the 'back plate' of the cards seems high quality, and the 'front' of the card with the standard go-stop art printing, is acceptable (not stellar) printing quality. The reason for the two star reduction is that after 2 lively days of go-stop playing with the family, I see several cards where the front of the card is slightly peeling from the side, where the front-face and back-plate meet - this is very slight and so far does not detract from game play but still shows that this is not a top quality product. OK, especially for the price, good enough for 3 stars

I wanted an inexpensive pack of hanafuda/koi-koi cards as a gift for someone, quickly, and these were it. Neither of us has played before so I didn’t want to get an expensive set and end up not liking the game. The cards are nice and sturdy plastic, shiny smooth on the face and textured checker on the back. The only thing I don’t really like about them are some of the details (or lack thereof) in the pictures of the cards. This set comes with several cards that unique to this deck and not needed for koi koi (the 6 in the picture with quarter for scale). The plastic case that comes with it is plain but stays shut so cards won’t fly everywhere if put in a bag. As other people have noted it doesn’t come with instructions but it’s easy enough to look up online, there are several different games that can be played with these cards. Overall a decent deck and I can’t wait to play with them