The reason why I reject conventions and want to play by logic only is my philosophy, how I see this amazing game, i.e. as a logic game. And also self reward.

I suppose we all (or most of us do) play cooperative games for how rewarding it is to beat the game. Once you have beaten the easy mode, you want to switch to medium, then hard mode. How fun and rewarding would it be to win in easy mode all the time? Not much.

In Hanabi, I find pleasure in thinking, analysing a situation and figuring out the logic in the clues that my teammates give.

For me, using conventions in hanabi is by-passing the amazing richness of the game, by-passing the great challenge it displays, playing in easy mode. Conventions like leftism, anyone could use them, even beginners. Conventions get you a good score, ok, you may feel glad, but what was your actual personal contribution to that good score, except for applying in a soulless way the get-rich-quick scheme that was "written in the book"?

In opposition, playing a game where you try and find the twisted meanings for your teammates' clues by yourself,  with no other artifice than your experience and logical mind, getting a good score and being able to think to yourself "damn, we've been good and we only owe it to our analysis of every situation!", that is freaking awesome.

The logical way does takes much more thinking effort and time to master, but it makes the game immensely more challenging and interesting (for who likes challenges).

Also, it turns out that logical leftism can make you work around some situations conventional leftism can't handle.

Hanabi is not about "solving" the game with computers or artificial conventions, it is about challenge.

Situation is everything.

A few days ago, I had an interesting conversation with a player used, like 99% "good players or more" on BGA, to the "play left discard right" technique. I invited him and another such player on a table where I wanted to play with no conventions and no finesses, only logic and basics (see Definitions).

During the game, there was a situation where I (player A) had no clue tokens left and player B's chop card was critical. I had just been clued a card to play. I discarded to let B know that he should save his chop.

In the end game conversation, that player told me "ok you want to play with no conventions, but discarding to tip the next player not to discard his chop is a convention".

I found this very interesting, since it shows that playing with coded conventions (which are derived from an initial logical trick and then go astray) distorts how one perceives logic.

Playing newest card of several clued with one clue (leftism) is logical only in some situations and most players on BGA play so in situations where it is not. And they get so used to it, so blinded by how easy this convention is, that they forget it is not always logical.

And they end up seeing convention in purely logical moves. To make myself clearer, here is why intentional discarding is logical.

Player D > player A, this is yellow, play it (there are no clue tokens left).

Player A > I discard.

Player B > What the--?? He knows he has to play it and he chooses to discard instead, man, what was that?!. Why is he doing this? Is he stoopid? Oh, wait a minute, there were no clues left. If he played, I would have to discard. Eureka, perhaps he didn't want me to discard. Ok, I have to save my chop.

This is a logical reflexion that even a smart newbie could have.

I will be happy to teach anyone a logical game with no conventions on BGA. Just send me a PM on Boardgamearena.

For more basics, also see "Over-assuming -- do you have what it takes for finesse?".

Here are a few types of clues you should know. They are often interpreted as a finesse, while they do have another more basic purpose.

The best way to practice and get familiar with these basics is to play many games where finesses are forbidden. After this, you will be shielded for finesses.

Lire la suite...

Finesse is an awesome thing. When I heard about finesse, I thought it was genious. The logical reasoning behind it is brilliant. However, I have never seen a trick cause so many strikes (wrongly played card).

This, in my opinion, is due to a vast majority of players having been taught finesse too soon, before they even mastered the game basics. Finesse is a very advanced move. I could never get tired of repeating it. My vision of finesse is that it should be assumed only if there is no other possible meaning for the clue and this requires to master all the possible meanings for clues, i.e. knowing all the less advanced types of clues (see "Tricky clue types you should know").

How many times have I seen a basic move being wrongly interpreted as finesse? This is what I call over-assuming.

Example: B3 and R4 are in play. Player C has two clued 5s in hand (B5 and R5). Since player B has a safe discard, player A clues Blue to player C on only B5, thus telling him to play his other, playable 5. In that game, player B assumed a finesse and played his newest card, thinking it was B4. Strike.

In many other games I have watched on BGA, finesses were used with basic moves the players may not have known were basics.

When I learnt about finesse, I was told why it is logical: A clues C so that C thinks he has to play the card. He will play it on his turn. Player B sees this and, with much sweat and stress, sees C can't play the card and eventually smartly figures out he has to play a card to fill the gap if he doesn't want a disaster to occur. And the most likely, logical slot for this gap filler is newest.

In most games I watch, this gap-filling disaster-preventing pressure is gone. Finesse is now just a move like any other, used in situations where the clued player knows the card can't be played (e.g. a 3 when no 2s are in play). The problem is that playing this way, you have to go without so many helpful moves and strategies. The saddest case is when reverse finesse takes priority over the most basic clue, the direct play clue.

Here is what I mean when I say...

Convention: a non-logical trick that is used by Hanabi players to achieve better scores. Therefore, it is supposed that players have agreed upon such a trick, making it a convention, instead of just letting it happen.

Example 1: if you clue a 5 as colour to someone, it means someone else has to play their chop card.
Example 2: if you receive a clue that includes more than one card, play the newest one.

Example 2 may shock you, because this would be a trick you use a lot. This trick, which I call "leftism", does have a logical origin. However, it turns out to be logical only in some situations, while you may be using them in most such situations. The situations where playing the newest is logical is when a card has been awaited for some time and shows up in a player's hand and that player is clued about this card and other non-chop cards. Then he can reflect - "hmmm... they had opportunities to clue me earlier, but they didn't, they chose to do it now. Eureka! They didn't clue because I didn't have the right card, now I do! I'll play my newest then".
Does this thinking process really apply to all the cases where you play newest?

Logic: any trick that is not a convention and could be figured out by a (smart) beginner when you 'inflict' it to them is logical. Logic does take a lot more effort to think and analyse than conventions, but I find it a lot more rewarding.

Example: early game, only R1 is in play; you already know these two cards are red; now I tell you one of the two reds is a 5. You figure out it means the other red card is playable, otherwise I wouldn't be wasting a clue so stupidly (you weren't going to play any reds blindly).

Basics: a set of many, many tricks that are required to master before playing with finesse. Although many players are forced to learn finesse from their very first games on BGA, finesse is a very advanced move. The best way to discover the basics is by forbidding finesse during your games.

Hard as it may hurt their pride, few 'experts' and 'masters' know the basics.

Right / left: on Boardgamearena, cards you draw are placed far left and you should discard to your right. Therefore, left means "towards the newest slot" and right means "towards the chop".