Mao Card Game

When I was at Penn State back in the mid-1990s for a math contest, Hideo and Ben taught me, Andy and Tad this new and interesting game called Mao. Originally, they were not allowed to tell us the rules, but they told us about special cards, rules of play and the penalties for breaking the rules. In the first hand, I got so many cards because I was inexperienced and somewhat forgetful. But in the third hand, I managed to win my first game of mao. The rules here are somewhat different (a couple of extra rules) from the original version of mao they had.

1. King Mao Card Game
2. King Mao Card Game Rules

Players: At least 3, but best for 5 to 7 players.

See full list on wikihow.com. Mao (or Mau) is a card game of the shedding family. The aim is to get rid of all of the cards in hand without breaking certain unspoken rules which tend to vary by venue. The game is from a subset of the Stops family and is similar in structure to the card game Uno or Crazy Eights. Nov 11, 2019 The object of the game is to get rid of all your cards. 2 Pick one person to deal the cards, this person will be known as the chairman. During this time, you are not allowed to touch your cards until the chairman calls 'Mau' if you touch the cards will get an extra card.

Cards: I recommend at least 2 decks of cards with the jokers taken out.

IMPORTANT! Please Read This Line! -- Since there are so many rules about special cards and things you have to do, in this version of mao, it is permitted to tell the players the rules here. This is a change from other versions of mao.

Deal: Before the deal, the dealer says: 'The deal will begin with (name) and will go (counterclockwise/clockwise).' Then he deals out six cards, one at a time starting with the person named and going in the direction indicated. The players must not look at(or even touch) the cards while the cards are being dealt, or they will receive a penalty card at the beginning of play. The rest of the cards are placed face down to form the stock.

Beginning of play: After the deal, the dealer says: 'The playing of Mao will begin with (name) and will go (clockwise/counterclockwise).' Then the players may look at their cards. The dealer then turns up the top card of the stock to begin play.

Rules of Play: When it's a player's turn, they must play a valid card or draw one card from the stock within 5 to 7 seconds or they get a penalty card for delay of game, unless he says 'Hold on' and has a large number of cards, then he has up to a minute to play a valid card or draw from the stock. Once you touch the stock, you have to take the top card of the stock, even if it's unintentional (unless if you're giving a penalty). If you draw more cards, then you have to keep these cards in your hand. Valid cards are those that match the suit or number of the top face-up card. Jacks are also valid cards since they are wild. Important: Jacks can't be played on Jacks. Doing so would result in a misplay penalty.

Special Cards: These cards have certain effects on the game:

Ace - Reverse
2 - Player plays again (unless it's his last card.)
4 - If a player plays a 4, the next player has to play a 4 or draw 4 cards. If he players a 4, then the player after him must play a 4 or draw 8 cards, etc. The way of saying it is: If a player plays a 4, the next player must play a 4 or draw (NumberOfConsecutiveFours * 4) cards.
7 - If a player plays a 7, the next player must play a 7 or draw (NumberOfConsecutiveSevens * 2) cards.
8 - Skip
10 - Player says 'Have a (Very * (NumberOfConsecutiveTens - 1)) Nice Day.'
Jack - Wild Card

Whenever a jack is played, the player has to hold the card with his finger and call the suit of the next card to be played and release his finger on the card. If he releases his finger before he calls the suit, then the first player to call the suit has control on calling the suit of the next card to be played will be. Jacks may not be played on jacks. (See rule above on that.)
Spades - Any player who plays any spade must name the spade. Example: If a player plays the five of spades, he must say 'five of spades.'

The Multiples Rule: Whenever a card is played on the same exact card (example, a five of clubs on another five of clubs), he must say 'two' if the card being played is the second consecutive one (ie if the previous card is the same one). If the previous two cards are the same one as the card he's playing, then he must say 'three,' etc. This is the only time where someone can play out of turn without triggering a penalty. Play continues with the next person after the person who plays the multiple in the current direction of play.

Multiple calls: If a card being played requires the player to say more than one thing, he must say all the things required. For example, if he plays the first ten of spades on top of a card that isn't a ten, then he must say 'Ten of Spades, have a nice day.'

Point Of Order: Whenever someone wants to ask a question, he must call a point of order (If he asks a question outside of a point of order, he gets a penalty card). During a point of order, no penalties are to be given and no one is allowed to look at their cards and any questions that need to be asked or things that need to be said can be done during a point of order.

Ending a Point of Order: The caller of the point of order or the oldest player in the group can end a point of order after talking has stopped. If talking has stopped for a period of time (say, 10 seconds) and neither the caller of the point of order nor the oldest player ends the point of order by saying 'End Point Of Order,' everyone else can agree to end the point of order by saying 'End Point of Order' together.

Ending the game: If after a player who plays a card, which results in his having one card left, he must say 'Last Card.' If he has no cards left, he says 'Mao,' unless he plays a jack, where he has to say 'Mao Mao,' and he wins the game. Note: If the card played requires you to say something, you must say every element you're required to say before saying 'Last Card,' 'Mao,' or 'Mao Mao.'

Penalties: There are lots of penalties in the game. When a player is giving a penalty card, he must say the reason for the penalty. If the penalty giver gives a bad call, the player's he's giving the penalty to gives the card back to him and says 'Bad Call.' After a penalty is given, the recipient of the penalty card must say 'Thank You,' and that includes penalty cards incurred for failure to say 'Thank You.'

Failure to name a Spade - One card penalty.
Misplay - Someone screws up and makes an invalid play, jack on jack or 9 of clubs on a 7 of diamonds or plays a card when he must be drawing cards - One card penalty and player takes back his card.
Looking At (or Touching) Cards Before Game Begins - One Card Penalty.
Delay Of Game (Taking more than 5 to 7 seconds to play or draw cards) - One Card Penalty.
Playing Out of Turn (Except to play a duplicate card that is on the top of the pile) - One Card Penalty and player takes back his card.
Failure to say 'Have a nice day.' - One Card Penalty.
Asking Questions Outside of a Point Of Order - One Card Penalty.
Swearing - One Card Penalty.
Malice (other than swearing) - One Card Penalty.
Rudeness - One Card Penalty.
Failure to Say 'Thank You' After a Penalty - One Card Penalty.
Giving a Penalty during a point of order - one card penalty.
Looking at cards during a point of order - one card penalty.
Failure to Say Very(s) - one card penalty per 'very' forgotten.
Failure to Say Correct Multiple - one card penalty.
Saying the Incorrect Multiple - one card penalty.
Failure to Say Last Card - one card penalty.
Failure to Say Mao - one card penalty.
Saying Mao instead of Mao Mao - one card penalty.
Failure to Say Mao Mao - two card penalty.

Multiple Penalty Calls: This is when a player breaks more than one rule in the game. He is given the same number of cards as the number of rules he has broken. (For example: If a player plays a 7 of clubs on a 6 of diamonds, and it's not his turn, he gets 2 penalty cards and takes his card back, one for playing out of turn and one for misplay.)

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Page last updated on: August 23, 2006

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Introduction

Mini Mao is a simple but rapidly-complicating card game for two or(ideally) more players, in which the winner of each round is allowed toadd a new rule to the game. All such rules are secret, and their effectsmust be deduced by the other players through observation andexperimentation.

Mini Mao is a cut-down version of Mao - it'sa lot friendlier to new players, without losing much of themystery, superstition, deduction or paranoia. The basic game idea isvery easy to remember, and you can teach a group to play in a couple ofminutes. (Concerned Mao veterans should be assured that this page doesnot give away any of the significant rules of Mao. I'll explain later.)

Setting up

To play Mini Mao, you'll need a regular deck of poker cards. Keep the jokers in if you've got them, but it's playable without.Decks with a couple of cards missing or bent arefine.

You can also play the game with a Tarot deck, a pile of Magic theGathering cards, some (varied) business cards, or any collection of distinctcards. If you're using something particularly unusual, agree amongyourselves on a few elements of the cards which will count during the game (eg. 'person'sname and the first city listed, on business cards'), and which should be ignored.

Basic Rules

To begin; shuffle the deck, and deal five cards to each player. Place the leftover cards face-down in the middle of the table - this is the draw pile.

Select a player to make up the secret rule for the first round. You can choose the person randomly, or go with the first player to think of one. (In a two player game, both players make up a secret rule.) Secret rules take the form of simple restrictions, side-effects or alterations to play.

Example rules

• 'You can't play a face card onto a face card.'
• 'Each card has to follow either the value or suit of the previous one.'
• 'Anyone playing a five must draw a card.'
• 'If someone plays an eight, everyone must pass their hand to the right.'
• 'Players can play ascending runs of consecutive number cards all in one go.'
• 'When playing a ten, start an additional discard pile with it at the top.'
• 'If you have four aces in your hand, reveal them to win instantly.'

When a secret rule has been invented, everyone picks their hands of cards up. The top card of the draw pile is flipped face-up onto the table, to form the discard pile.

Starting with the player on the rule inventor's left (or with a random player in a two-player game), players take turns one after another, proceeding clockwise, and each turn they must either:-

• Play a card - They choose a card from their hand and put it on top of the discard pile, face up.
• Pass - They draw one card from the top of the draw pile. (Usually you only pass if you can't play a card.)

If a player plays a card which breaks somebody's secret rule, thatrule's creator informs them that they have done so, but does notexplain the rule. The offender takes back their illegal play, and drawsa penalty card from the draw pile. (If they broke more than one ruleat once, they should be told this, but only get one penalty card in total.) This ends their turn.

If a rule has a trigger effect (eg. 'after playing a two, the nextplayer draws 2 cards' or 'after playing a four, move it to the bottom ofthe discard pile'), the rule creator should wait until the move is confirmed aslegal under everyone else's rules, and then step in and apply orannounce the effect without further explanation.(If two triggers clash, process them according to the clockwiseorder of their creators, from the active player.)

The first player to empty their hand wins the round. The deck isshuffled back together for a new round, and the winner gets to make up anew secret rule. This new rule operates in addition tothe secret rules from all previous rounds - the game gets more and morecomplicated as it progresses.

The game continues until it locks up - eventually the secret rules willmesh in an unexpected way meaning that no card can be legally played ontop of the discard pile, or that it is clearly impossible for any player toever empty their hand. At this point, declare the game over.

Good Secret Rules

When inventing a secret rule, keep in mind that rules are always harderto guess than you'd expect them to be. As a benchmark, something as simple as 'can't playa heart onto a club' is about right to open a game with. An excessively complicated rule ('You can't play an even red card on anodd black one, unless the second-previous card was of the same suit, orthe turn number is prime') won't ever be guessed, and you'll slowthe game down having to carefully check everyplay. And a blatantly abusive rule ('The creator of this ruleautomatically wins every round! And everyone has to give themmoney!') just means that your friends won't want to play Mini Maowith you again.

It helps a lot if players come up with a piece of jargon to describe eachof their rules - a verb or a noun to use when the rule isbroken or invoked. ('You can't play a three, that's offside!') This is useful for clarifying which particular rulehas been broken, when a player has won several rounds and has more thanone rule in effect. This removes one advantage that allows leading playersto get even further ahead - if I've won my second round and youhaven't worked out my first rule, it's now much harder for you to deduceeither of them, because you don't know which rule a given play is breaking.

Jargon is also useful for keeping the game intact - you might call agronk by mistake, and a third player (who's also worked out what a gronkis, and doesn't think that was one) will be able to question that, rather than assuming that adifferent rule has been broken. Jargon can be chosen to give a hint ofthe clue's nature - perhaps playing face cards onto one another is 'intrigue' -or can be deliberately misleading.

Jargon also impresses or confuses an external audience. An evolving Mao game islargely indistinguishable from a mysterious, elaborate card game.

Example Game

Bull, Gogol and de Worms are playing a new game of Mini Mao. It has been decided that Gogol will invent the first rule. (And that whenever they speak in bold, it means they're playing a card.)

Gogol : [thinks] 'Okay, I've got one.'

[ Gogol flips the top card of the draw pile - it's the three of diamonds - and everyone picks up their hands. ]

De Worms : 'Right. The eight of hearts.'

Bull : 'King of spades.'

Gogol : 'Five of clubs.'

De Worms : 'Two of diamonds.'

Gogol : 'Sorry, that's a Pip, you can't do that.'

King Mao Card Game

[ De Worms grumbles, takes back the two of diamonds, and draws a penalty card. The top card is 'five of clubs' again, and it's Bull's go. ]

King Mao Card Game Rules

Bull : [tentatively playing a card] 'Is the two of clubs alright?'

Gogol : 'Sorry, no.'

[ Bull takes back his card and draws a penalty. ]

Gogol : [pleased] 'Nine of spades.'

De Worms : 'Three of hearts?'

Gogol : [deciding to be generous and give de Worms a clue] 'No, too low, you're Pipping again.'

[ De Worms takes back the card and draws a penalty. ]

Bull : 'I think I've got it. Ten of hearts?'

Gogol : 'That's fine. King of hearts.'

De Worms : 'Eight of hearts...?'

Gogol : [silent nod]

Bull : [triumphant] 'Nine of clubs!'

Gogol : [despairing at his cards] 'I pass.'

Jokers and Aces

If your deck includes any cards which don't comfortably fit the usual criteria of other cards, you can refer to them as jokers (perhaps they are jokers) - they can be played as if they were a copy of any other card from the deck; the player calls a card when they play it. Jokers are very useful to have in the game,as they can save situations where only a handful of cards are legal plays, and may alreadybe buried in the discard pile.

If you're playing with a poker deck, be sure to agree whether aces are high or low; ideally before the game. You can make their highness or lowness part of the secret rules ('Number cards cannot be played onto higher number cards, and aces are low for the purposes of this rule.'), but it can get confusing if two rules treat them differently.

Background

Mini Mao began when I was killing time with some friends and a deckof poker cards in 2002, and, on the subject of games with hidden rules,I vaguely recalled Mao - but only that it was a Bartokvariant, with secret rules and no initial ones (not even suitprogression). We played a dozen or so games of it like that, starting anew batch of rules whenever we got bored, and it worked.

Checking for 'official' Mao rules online when I got back near acomputer, though, I found that they were actually quite elaborate -standard Mao can be regarded as an already-begun game of MiniMao, where the game so far has already been played for a dozen or sorounds by some Californians you don't know. It forces you to play acertain type of game, with suit progression and number-effects, anddoesn't encourage restarting when the game locks.

Mini Mao is just a crystallisation of the rule-making, rule-breakingand rule-meshing aspects, putting the initial rule-maker only one rungabove everyone else, and making the game a lot more personal for thoseplaying it. It's a much kinder game to introduce to new people,particularly if you're the only one who's played it before. The worldneeds more games that you can explain in three minutes and play forhours, with a single deck of any old cards.