There are two basic versions of the game, the iroha-garuta and the uta-garuta. In the latter game, the players are given the first three lines of a tanka and must find the matching card which contains the last two lines. All songs are chosen from the Hyakunin-isshu (100 Famous Poems from 100 Famous Poets).
In the 1970s, at least one card maker decided to modernize the design (traditional example on the right):
