Korean Poker, "Hwatu(Go-Stop)" Game

Go-Stop (Korean: 고스톱; RR: Goseutop), also called Godori (Korean: 고도리, after the winning move in the game) is a Korean fishing card game played with a hanafuda deck (in Korean, hwatu (Korean: 화투)). The game can be called Matgo (Korean: 맞고) when only two players are playing.

The game is derived from similar Japanese fishing games such as Hana-awase and Hachihachi, though the Japanese hanafuda game Koi-koi is in turn partially derived from Go-Stop.

Modern Korean-produced hwatu decks usually includes bonus cards specifically intended for play with Go-Stop, unlike Japanese hanafuda decks. Typically there are two or three players, although there is a variation where four players can play. The objective of this game is to score a minimum predetermined number of points, usually three or seven, and then call a "Go" or a "Stop", where the name of the game derives. When a "Go" is called, the game continues, and the number of points or amount of money is first increased, and then doubled, tripled, quadrupled and so on. A player calling "Go" risks another player scoring the minimum and winning all the points themselves. If a "Stop" is called, the game ends and the caller collects their winnings.

In order to select a dealer (선; seon; lit. 'first'), each player picks random cards from the deck and the person who chooses the earliest or latest month card becomes the dealer, depending on whether it is nighttime or daytime, with nighttime favoring the earliest month card, i.e. January, and the latest month card favored during daytime, i.e. December. (밤일낮장) Before the cards are dealt, the dealer shuffles the cards by holding the deck in the left hand with the cards face-down and pulling out random stacks of cards with the right hand to stack them on top. The dealer must repeat this process several times in order to shuffle the cards sufficiently. After shuffling, the dealer holds the deck out to the player to their left in order for them to cut the deck. If there are only two players, the opponent cuts the deck.

1. Play begins with the dealer and continues counterclockwise.
2. A turn begins with a player attempting to match one of the cards lying face-up on the table with a card of the same month in their hand. If there are two cards of the same month already on the table, the player may select one of them. If the player has no cards matching the cards on the table, the player discards a card to the table.
3. The turn continues with the player flipping over the top card from the draw pile and looking for a card of the same month on the table. If the player locates a matching card on the table, the player collects both cards along with the cards matched in step 2. Otherwise, the drawn card is added to the table.
4. If the card drawn from the top of the draw pile in step 3 matches the two cards matched in step 2, the three cards remain on the table. This is known as ppeok (뻑; ppeog). The three cards remain until a player collects them using the fourth card of the same month.
5. If a player draws a card which matches the card discarded in step 2, the player collects both cards as well as one junk card (pi) from each opponent's stock pile. This is known as chok.
6. If a player plays a card in step 2 for which two matching cards are already on the table, and then draws the fourth matching card from the draw pile in step 3, the player collects all four cards as well as one junk card (pi) from each opponent's stock pile. This is known as ttadak.
7. The object of the game is to create scoring combinations to accumulate points up to a score of either three (for three players) or seven (for two players), at which point a "Go" or a "Stop" must be called.
8. A game that ends with neither a "Go" nor "Stop" call is called a Nagari game (나가리; nagali). The dealer and play order of the following game remain the same as with the Nagari game, and when the game ends, the loser owes double money to the winner.

Additional rules

• Any player who has a set of three cards of the same month in their hand can show them to the other players in what is referred to as "shaking" the cards (흔들기; heundeulgi). For each time a player shakes within a single hand, final points are doubled in the event that that player wins the hand.
• If a player has a set of three cards of the same month in their hand and the fourth card of that month is located on the table, the player may play all three cards in one turn and collect all four cards as well as one junk card (pi) from each player's stock pile. This is known as a poktan (폭탄; pogtan; lit. 'bomb'). Shaking the cards before playing a poktan is also an option. A player who has played a poktan may then choose to skip step 2 above in as many as two turns (i.e. the player's turn consists only of drawing one card from the draw pile).
• Any player who has a set of four cards of the same month can show them to the other players and win the hand immediately.
• If there is a set of three cards of the same month on the table, they are combined into one stack. The player who collects the pile using the fourth card of that month will also collect one junk card (pi) from each player's stock pile.
• If there is a set of four cards of the same month on the table, the cards are reshuffled and redealt by the same dealer.
• If there is a bonus card on the table during initial deal, the dealer collects the bonus card and turns the top card of the draw pile face-up and places it on the table.
• If a player is dealt a bonus card, they may add it to their stock pile at the beginning of any turn and draw a card from the draw pile to replace it in their hand.
• If a player draws a bonus card from the draw pile during their regular turn, they will automatically collect it along with any other cards matched during that turn, except in the event of a ppeok, in which all four cards (i.e. the three cards involved in the ppeok plus the bonus card) must remain on the table.
• Player can show down when player have the others' win-card. The card that when other player get, others win the game is called win-card. Next player ask "Will you receive show down?" in the direction of progress. If next player says "No", player lay down another player's win-card. If everyone says "Yes", the game will be Nagari game.

 

GoStop Hwatu Game