Yoshi the gambler

The ferry from the Faroe Islands to Denmark was 30 hours. Yoshi and I spent our time playing 'hanafuda' or 'flower cards', which are traditional Japanese playing cards. It has such a nice name but they've been used for gambling since the Edo period. There are 12 suits representing the 12 months. January is pine, February is plum blossom, March is cherry blossom, and so on. Yoshi always told me he doesn't like to gamble and I finally know why -- he's a real gambler!

We played the game 'koi-koi', which literally means 'come come'. The object of the game is to create hands to gain points. Each time you make a hand, you can either end the game and calculate your points, or call 'koi-koi' and try to make a better hand. If, however, your opponent makes a hand before you make your second hand, he will get double the points for his hand. So it's a risk to take. And Yoshi proved to be a gambler! He was losing during the first half of the game, but then he called 'koi-koi' four times in one round and made an incredible come back!

Anyone interested in this game, check out this website.
http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/hanafuda/hanafuda_e.html