Kotobani Naranai Mojiha Iranai Game 2023

Kotobani Naranai Mojiha Iranai Game roughly translates to "I can't put it into words; I don't need letters", and that conveys the essence of the game: Try to avoid taking letters, especially when you can't put them into words.

In the game, each player has a hand of cards and four cards are placed into a column on the table. Each card features a number and one of the 48 characters in the Hiragana syllabary.

On a turn, each player chooses and reveals a card from their hand. In numerical order, each player places their card at the end of any row in which the character on their card comes later in the Hiragana syllabary than the character at the end of the row.

If you can't place your card in any row, then you must take all of the cards in a row, making your played card the first card in a new row. The cards you take are worth negative points equal to the number of red Xs on them — but if you can create a word from some or all of these cards, you discard the used cards instead of placing them in your score pile.

The player with the lowest score at the end of the game wins.