The game of Mau GENERAL PLAY ------------ Mau is a card game for two or more people played with one or more decks of regular playing cards. It is similar to Crazy Eights, and even more like Uno. [Apparently the original version has the rule that you cannot further explain the rules to people (except via giving them penalty cards, presumably). This version, which i've heard referred to as "Bartog", has a slightly different set of initial rules, and also lets you explain them, which probably makes it better to party play.] Each player is dealt a number of cards, face down. The number of cards dealt is up to the dealer, the only restriction being that each player gets the same number of cards; however, a reasonable draw pile is recommended. The dealer can deal in any order may any desired method (though the players might prevent the dealer from, e.g. stacking the deck). Players may not look at their own cards until the dealer has done so. Play begins when the dealer draws and plays a card from the draw pile. This card is PLAYED by the dealer and has any normal effects that it would have, such as changing the direction of play or forcing the dealer to say something. Play flows in a clockwise direction from the dealer if the first card does not change it. It is important at all times to be aware of the direction of flow and the current player. Normal play proceeds in the current direction of flow until a card which changes directions is played. In normal play, the current player either plays a card from his hand, face up, on the discard pile, OR draws from the draw pile. Drawing from the draw pile constitutes the whole turn; the player may not draw and then play in a single turn. In a normal play, the player plays a card matching the top of the discard pile in number or suit. It is valid to draw even if the player has a card which could be played on the current top card. SPECIAL CARDS ------------- Many cards have special effects in Mau: ACE Reverses the direction of flow. SEVEN Forces the next player to draw two cards INSTEAD of his turn. The next player draws two cards, after which it is the NEXT player's turn, in the current direction of flow. The only way to escape a SEVEN is to play another SEVEN on top of it. In this case, the next player must draw four cards, or play a SEVEN. Eventually, there will be two cards drawn for each SEVEN played (unless somebody wins first). (The next player after the player who drew the cards will see a SEVEN on top of the discard pile but does not have to draw; they player must play either a SEVEN or the same suit.) EIGHT Skips the next player in the direction of flow. JACK The JACK is wild in the following sense: a JACK may be played on any card of any suit, except another JACK or a live SEVEN. After a JACK is played, the first player to state a suit establishes the new suit. This is normally done by the player who plays the JACK, but if that player forgets or does not care, any player may call the suit. The next player must follow the stated suit, not the suit appearing on the JACK at the top of the discard pile. JOKER The JOKER is wild in the following sense: a JOKER may be played on any card of any suit, except a live SEVEN. After a JOKER is played, either neighbor of the player who played the JOKER may play any card at all. Whoever acts first plays; the other must retract his card (if they reacted at all). Play then continues in the direction from the person with the JOKER to the faster neighbor. SPAM The SPAM rule is in effect when playing with two or more decks. At any time, if ANY player can exactly match (number AND suit) the card at the top of the discard pile, they may play it out of turn by calling "SPAM!" Play then continues from that player in the current direction of flow, skipping any intervening players. A player may SPAM themselves, but must play the identical cards with separate movements of the hand to allow some reaction time for other players. If four of the same card are played in succession, the third SPAM must be called as "WONDERFUL SPAM", as in "spam spam wonderful spam". Note the following effects: ACE Successive ACEs effectively cancel each other, as always. SEVEN SPAMming a SEVEN is nasty. The person next to the SPAMmer, in the current direction of flow, must draw for all the live SEVENs on the pile -- or play a SEVEN. You may draw your penalty cards one at a time, and of course can still SPAM whenever you have a card identical to the top of the discard pile. For every SEVEN played, two cards are drawn. EIGHT A SPAMmed EIGHT skips two players, or three, or however many consecutive SPAMmed EIGHTS are played. If an EIGHT causes play to skip to a person who then plays an identical EIGHT but does NOT call SPAM, it skips only one. It's up to the player in this case. (For every eight played, one person will be skipped (modulo somebody winning), where spamming is seperate from skipping.) JACK You can't play a JACK on a JACK so you can't SPAM JACKs. JOKER Nothing special -- play proceeds in either direction from the player who SPAMmed. [This rule is one to tinker with. I've heard it claimed that you can't really SPAM JOKERs, since JOKERs have no suit so therefore you can't match the suit.] Note that SPAMming is really the key feature of the game, and so it's advisable to play with at least three decks, if possible. (Our standard group invested in eight decks, used for nothing but Mau.) PENALTIES AND ADDITIONAL RULES ------------------------------ The penalty for violation of any rule is to draw a card from the draw pile. Penalties do NOT count unless called, as in "PENALTY! Playing out of turn." There is a statute of limitations on penalties that is at most until the player's next normal turn, but may be less depending on game conditions. Many of the penalties have to do with things the player must say when making certain plays; these are additional rules that are presented only here in the penalties section. It is NEVER a penalty to call one of these things when it is not true; for instance, one could call "last card" while still holding three cards (but must still call it when playing the second-to-last card). Note that it is really dirty (and occasionally fun) to play a JACK of CLUBs and say JACK SPADE HEARTS, in which case the new suit is SPADEs, heh heh heh. Things that must be called: 1) Failure to call a spade a spade ("Two spade", "Two of spades" or something equivalent) when playing it. (The reason it's recommended to include the rank when calling "spade" is so that, when playing a JACK, you can distinguish between calling the SPADE "jack spade", and calling the suit, which may or may not be SPADE.) 2) Failure to call "last card" upon having exactly one card left. 3) Failure to call "mau" upon playing last card if it isn't a JACK or JOKER. 4) Failure to call "mau mau" upon playing last card if it is a JACK. 5) Failure to call "oom papa mau mau" upon playing last card if it is a JOKER. 6) Failure to call "spam" when spamming. 7) Failure to call "wonderful spam" on third spam. These rules build up, as in "ten spade last card spam ten spade mau". The order in which you call them isn't important, as long as you include all required calls. A 'Failure to call X' penalty can be called only when the player spends a few moments not making a necessary call. Misplay: 8) Misdealing. If the players don't all have the same number of cards, each hand is adjusted to match, and the dealer is penalized one card for each extra or missing card. (e.g.: four players receive 8 cards each; one gets 7, and one gets 10. The two incorrect deals are adjusted, and the dealer is penalized 3 cards). The dealer gets to decide what the "proper" deal should have been (presumably to minimize their own penalty cards). 9) Looking at your cards before the dealer. 10) Playing out of order. (Subtle note: Some claim that it's legal to draw a card when it's not your turn. This isn't true -- it's just that the card is it's own penalty, so it might as well be legal.) 11) Playing incorrectly. 12) Taking too long (usually defined as a slow count of five). 13) Flinching (e.g. starting to draw a card, and then playing one instead). 14) Asking a question, except during a Point of Order. 15) Cursing, swearing, or invoking the name of a major deity, except during a Point of Order. Cthulhu is considered a major deity. 16) Calling a Point of Order solely to curse or swear. 17) Looking at cards during a Point of Order. This is defined as having the cards in your line of sight, even if you aren't actually looking at them. 18) Being too loud (usually defined by glares from people around you). 19) Calling an incorrect penalty. Penalties can be called starting from the moment the dealer deals the first card (since this is the first point at which somebody could look at their cards before the dealer). Statute of limitations: generally speaking, a player may be penalized for a violation at any time until play has gone around and the player has played again. One final note: while "playing out of turn" is a valid penalty, it is not enforcable when the play is "out of turn" due to a non-sequential event. If one person plays [6 of hearts] and the next starts to play [queen of hearts], but someone else sneaks in with a SPAM [6 of hearts], the players with the [queen of hearts] is not penalized for completing their arm motion and playing the Q; nor for "flinching" by retracting it before laying it down. They must, however, remove the offending card. One even-more-final note: Clearly, this is a game which lends itself to house rules, so the above are meant as guidelines or an initial starting place, and people should consider modifying them if they feel it'd make the game more fun. The fine points of rule interactions are best left to debate. Enjoy! ============================================================================= From: Bela Lubkin Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1993 22:46:21 -0800 To: ian barland (batteries not included) Subject: Re: hello, anybody there? Cc: nmcvaugh@ecclab.med.utah.edu, pocock@math.utah.edu As promised, here is my "current" edition of the rules. >Bela< PS: let me add a few of the most important recent rules, off the top of my head. [...] - when a person has been hit with SEVENs, once they have started to draw, it becomes illegal for anyone other than the drawer to call a point of order. If one is called, it does not take effect and the caller can be penalized (possibly more than once if they ask questions or other protected behaviors). [This is to keep people from losing count while drawing.] - after drawing on SEVENs, the drawer must say "done" or (preferably) "N done", where N is the number of cards drawn. N is not optional if N!=2. That's all I can think of at the moment.