From: ian@cse.ucsc.edu We also have some house rules which we instituted to make it harder to win: 1. You can't go out 'wimpily', that is with cards that you'd otherwise tend to hoard: jacks, jokers, and sevens. 2. Of course, then you may want to define new conditions for calling "mau mau" and "oom pa pa mau mau". (We happen to use going out w/ a queen, and going out w/ a queen of the first suit which was played (as if you'll remember...).) 3. When going out, you must call everything correctly--no spurious "spam"s or unnecessary "oom pa pa mau"s. Also, "mau" has to be the last word said ("spam eight spade mau", not "spam mau eight spade"). 4. Other fun cards to add are "back up one (but preserve the same direction)" and "MUST swear or take the name of a major diety". See ~ian/public/mau/mau.super for some other rather twisted rules. --ian ============================================================================= "Super Mau" [not necessarily any more fun than the original] [Author: steve] 11 November, 1989 Actually, we've been playing a new, souped-up version of the game in which there is a rule for every card. These rules are as follows: Special significance of cards: 2: Player plays again. (If they cannot, they must draw, even after Mauing.) 3: Player says "Mine!" and takes the card upon which the 3 was played. 4: Everyone (including player) draws one card. 5: Player must curse. 6: Player must take an indulgence. (See below.) 7: Next person must draw two or play a 7. 7's are cumulative. 8: Next person is skipped. 9: Play proceeds to the left (i.e. CW; torque down). 10: Play proceeds to the right (i.e. CCW; torque up). J: Wild. First suit called out (by anyone) after the Jack is played is the new suit. Q: Player turns over the next card from the draw pile onto the discard pile and says "Boom!" Play proceeds as if the player had played that card. K: Player draws one card. A: Play proceeds in whatever direction it wasn't proceeding in before. NOTES: Obviously, one is not penalized for cursing after playing a 5 -- only for not cursing. Equally obviously, one is penalized for all of the things that one can do not in accordance with the new rules. (E.g. "Didn't say boom." after a Q, "Didn't draw a card." after someone has played a 4, etc.) An "indulgence" can be defined by the player. It was originally bong hits, as we were trying to make a smoking game out of it, but you can't play that way for very long before you start incurring a lot of penalties. The player has as long to complete their indulgence as they like, within reason. While they are doing so, play is still in progress, and it is the player's turn (i.e., other players are free to look at their cards, but not to ask questions or curse.) This creates a small break in the flow of the game, which is very nice in a game as complicated as this one. TWO After playing a TWO, the player must play again. If they do not have a playable card, they must draw from the draw pile. This applies even if the two was their last card, in which case they must play, call "mau", and draw a card. After playing a TWO, the player is considered to have an extra turn built up. If someone SPAMs a TWO, they steal the player's extra turn and accumulate an additional one, so they now have two extra turns. Each valid play by the player with extra turns decrements his extra turn collection. These later turns can also be SPAMmed away. For instance: Player 1 plays [2 of clubs] This accumulates an extra turn: +1 turn Player 1 plays [2 of clubs] and says SPAM steals his own turn and accumulates another: +2 turns Player 1 plays [2 of hearts] takes a normal turn but accumulates another: +2 turns Player 1 plays [4 of hearts] takes a normal turn: +1 turn Player 2 plays [4 of hearts] and says SPAM: steals Player 1's extra turn: +1 turn Player 2 plays [6 of hearts] takes a normal turn: +0 turns Play now proceeds in the direction it started in. [My group doesn't use this rule, since we'd have to make a whole bunch of decisions about how EIGHTs, SEVENs, and JOKERs interact when SPAMmed TWOs are also trying to control the flow. The best Mau rules are orthogonal, and don't need lots of extra rules solely to interpret precedence of other rules. --ian] Two variants on the game (disapproved of by many): 1) Strip Mau - In which an acceptable and encouraged indulgence is to request that each other player remove one article of clothing. 2) Poker Mau - At the end of a hand, everyone makes the best possible poker hand that they can from the cards they have remaining. Whoever has the best hand gets all the points. It is advisable to play to higher numbers in this variation, or people can get very frustrated. That's all I can think of regarding Mau. As for 12/26-1/2, I'll be here for at least most of it. See you then! Take care... steve -------- Enjoy! --Jeff P.S. We've found that more decks and more people add a lot more to the game than more rules.