Golden Toad Korean Flower Cards: Hwatu / Go-Stop

Korean Go-Stop & Minari Playing Cards

Hwatu (화투), which literally means "a war of flowers," remains popular in South Korea, especially among friends and family who gather for holidays such as New Year's or Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving).

The deck consists of 48 cards plus a few bonus cards—jokers. The primary cards are further divided into 12 months, with flowers and animals representing each month of the year, such as the cherry blossom (March), the peony (June), and the maple tree (October).

The Korean card game is often called Min-Hwatu, Godori, or Go-stop and is similar to the traditional Japanese game known as Hanafuda or Koi-Koi.