Hanabi — named for the Japanese word for "fireworks" — is a co-operative game where players try to make the perfect fireworks show by putting the cards on the table in the right order. (In Japanese, hanabi is written as 花火; these are the ideograms flower and fire, respectively.)

The card deck is made up of five different colors of cards, numbered 1–5 in each color. For each color, the players try to place a row in the correct order from 1–5. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, not quite, as in this game you hold your cards so that they're only visible to other players. To help other players in playing a card, you must give them hints about the numbers or the colors of their cards. Players must work together to avoid errors and to finish the fireworks display before they run out of cards.

Hanabi Deluxe II is similar to the Hanabi Deluxe edition first released in 2013, which contains the same gameplay as the original game, but with the cards being replaced by Mah Jhong-style tiles. Hanabi Deluxe II comes with six unique tiles that comprise the "Master Artisan" expansion.