Here’s a quick breakdown. One set of cards has a picture of one or more things, and a kana in the corner that expresses the first syllable of name of the thing in the picture. These are spread out on a table. The second set of cards have a short sentence on them, each card directly corresponding to one of the picture cards. One person reads these set of cards, while the other players try to be the first to grab the corresponding card. The player with the most cards wins!

Because the sentences usually have a fun front rhyme, you only have to know how to read hiragana to play, but you can also learn new vocabulary from the cards. You can find かるた　games with beautiful illustrations or pictures from your favorite cartoons. What’s not to love about this cute kids’ game? eBay has a bunch, so check them out!

If you like the game or if you want to know, what the game looks like you might want to have a look at it.
Well, I have no idea if the game played looks looks something like what is shown in the anime ;-)