The Game of Mao
Update: Surprisingly, this is one of the most popular and controversial posts I have at my website. Apparently many Mao enthusiasts believe that the first rule of Mao is that you do not tell anyone the rules. Whoops! I was never told that rule. I have been warned and threatened. I have been told that tribes of Mao zealot geeks will not sleep until they have brought my website down. Well, as far as I can tell, my website has not experienced any down time due to my flagrant disregard of these warnings and threats. Ultimately, there are countless versions of Mao. If you prefer a version where the rules are never spoken of, read no further. This is just the version I have come to know.
I first posted my Mao page several years ago. I may have been the first to put the rules out there for the public. However, now a search for “Mao card game” on Google results in over a million hits–the Mao assassins have their work cut out for them. I was number four when I checked so I guess I shouldn’t get too lax with my personal security–I won’t lay my body guards off just yet. I can recommend the Wikipedia article for anyone interested in more information about the history and origins of the game. Mao may not have originated at CBS on Catalina Island, but that is where it came to me and so I still owe a debt of gratitude to the staff at CBS who introduced it to me. It is a distinct possibility that the Catalina Island variant of Mao may be the most popular version because I was certainly among the first to risk their lives and post these rule online.
Overview: Mao is played essentially like Uno or crazy eights, the object is to get rid of all your cards. But the truly excellent Mao player is the one who can keep his or her cool and play by the rules.
Starting the game:
- Each player is dealt 7 cards
- No player may touch his cards until the dealer touches his cards
- The remaining cards are placed in the center of the table as the “draw pile”
- The dealer flips the top card and places it next to the draw pile. This is the “discard pile”
- The dealer chooses any player to go first and the direction
Playing the game:
- The first player discards any card that matches the SUIT or VALUE of the top card on or about the discard pile
- Play continues this way until a player has no cards remaining in his hand
- When a player plays his second to last card, he says “Last Card”
- If a player cannot play any card in his hand, he simply draws one card from the draw pile. If this card can be played he may play it and play continues. If he cannot play it he says “pass”, some similar idiom, or in some way gives the nod to the next player
Special cards:
| A | SKIP | Aces skip the next player | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | REVERSE | Eights reverse the direction of play | ||||||||||||||
| J | WILD | Jacks are wild; they can be played regardless of suit and permit the player to change the suit | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | DRAW FOUR | Playing a four forces the next player to draw four cards from the draw pile, but only if before the victim plays, the player calls the card by its Beetle: | ||||||||||||||
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Winning the game:
- When a player discards his very last card, he MUST say “MAO!”
Additional rules (this is the FUN part):
- Violations of any rule of the game require the rule breaker to draw one card from the draw pile
- When you get a card for breaking a rule you must say “Thank You”
- “Call a spade a spade.” You must call your spades. Example: a player plays a six of spades, he says “six of spades”
- The Ace of Spades is a special case, the player must say, “Snoopy flying the Ace of Spades”
- No delays or hesitating
- No flinching or playing out of turn
- No quibbling. Just take the card and say thank you. On the other hand only call clear violations of rules. Remember this is fun; its a game
- Once play has begun, no player may ask any question except during a “Point of Order”
- No player may straighten the deck except during a point of order
- No cussing or name calling (even during a point of order)
- You may never say the name of the game, except when you play your last card.
The Point of Order:
- Any player may call a point of order at any time (except during a point of order) simply by saying “Point of Order”
- Points of order are often called to straighten the deck, clarify who’s turn it is, or what direction play is proceeding, or just to “chill out”
- During a point of order no one is permitted to look at or straighten his cards, all hands should be turned over and placed down on the table
- Only the player who calls the point of order may end it by saying “End Point”
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due:
I don’t know for certain who created the game of Mao. I can’t take credit for it, though I believe this is the first time it has been made available to the public. This is what I know, or think I know about the game’s origin…I learned the game on the island of Catalina, at Campus by the Sea–a camp owned and operated by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the most beautiful place on Earth that I have seen with my own eyes. I understand the game was invented by a group of camp staff–there isn’t much to do once the sun goes down. So, if credit is to be given or complaints filed, you’ll need to head to Catalina Island first to track down the responsible party.
This is an AWESOME set of rules! presented cool-ly! beware of the Mao Geeks!
Remember… its only fun until someone gets hurt!
Comment by Thayet1231 — March 2, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
I somewhat doubt this is the first time the rules of Mao have been made publically available — Ka Wai Tam’s page (linked) has been on the Internet since before I first stumbled across it, in 1996.
Comment by mpaul — May 12, 2007 @ 9:07 am
mpaul,
You may be correct. I first posted the rules on my Compuserve web site in the mid to late 90′s. (I have published these rules continuously since that time in spite of the threats.) At that time, I was unable to find anyone else who had the rules posted. For a long time, my version was among the easiest to find online. Today I did a search for “mao card game” on Google and my site still comes up fourth. With no disrespect to Ka Wai Tam, he’s not even on the first page. But, it really isn’t a competition. I’m happy to be making my contribution to popularize the game and the particular variant I learned and have learned to enjoy.
Kendall
Comment by kendall — May 14, 2007 @ 12:32 pm
I was taught by a different set of rules, which included nobody told anybody anything!
…making the learning a little frustrating…I was honestly dead-determined it had NO rules the first few games!
They didn’t tell us the name, either(they called it the No-Name-Game), but I figured it out.
Definitely was taught a different variation. For example, there’s a Mao who makes sure everyone keeps the rules(and penalizes the offenders liberally), when a seven is played, you must say “Have a Nice Day,” and the seven works like a Draw 2—
…with a king you must show your cards…
…with a joker you must pass your cards to the player on the left…
…with a three you must play again…
…and etc., etc., etc.,…
Seven games later, I figured out all the rules. It was more complex then this, especially because of the choas that ensued with the rules added from the using of the scrap deck.
But it is a really fun game.
Great post!
John
Comment by saintjohn — November 11, 2007 @ 4:22 am
Interesting. I’ve been play Mao Mao for close to 25 years now as my Grandmother taught me. Rules are slightly off for how we play but basic concept is the same.
7′s pick up cards (you can place 7′s on top of 7′s for next person to pick up cards x2 so if four 7′s then 16 cards drawn)
8′s skip next player
J’s are wild to change suit
K’s reverse
Comment by Manielse — January 5, 2008 @ 2:07 am
When I was taught Mao the rules were…
1. Could not explain rules
2. 7′s – Have a nice day (spoken)
3. 10′s – Wild ducks run free (spoken)
4. Jack’s – Jack of *suit* (spoken)
5. When playing a value on a value knock once, when a third value is placed directly on top of the other 2 knock twice, when the 4th value is played knock 3 times.
6. When one card remains in hand say “Mao”
Failure to do any of the above rules resulted in receiving a card with the words “failure to say(or do) … ”
The only thing we were ever told in the beginning was that it was played suit on suit or value on value. If you couldn’t play draw a card, if playable play it, if not then play moves on to next person. We also had the no talking rule but the first dealer of the game always got to choose whether or not we spoke.
The winner of the round got to choose a card that did not have a rule already applied to it and create a rule for it. I know one time we had started making 2 rules per card but it got way too tricky.
Comment by Jai — April 15, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
Thanks for the comments, Jai. Certainly there are tons of variations. Chances are this “Catalina variant” as I call it is just the way it evolved there over time and at some point got fixed. Glad to hear from another Mao enthusiast.
Comment by kendall — April 15, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
your catalina people probably learned it somewhere
[From the Wikipedia article]
Comment by addison — May 30, 2008 @ 2:40 am
Sorry, Addison, didn’t realize I was unclear. In fact, don’t know how I could have been more clear…
Comment by kendall — June 27, 2008 @ 10:45 pm
thank you for telling me the rules its been itching me ever sence i played for the first time=]
Comment by william — July 5, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
This is the first site where I’ve found the version we used to play. We used to call it the Beatle version. It opened with “This game is based on a quote by Sherman Mao (who I have never found) who said that ‘the best way to learn something is by doing it.’ The first rule is that it’s played like uno and the second rule is that I can’t tell you any more of the rules.” It was more beatley, you had to name a beatles song very time you put down a heart. We also had different beatles. They were fours too, and John was the spade because he died first, but Ringo was the diamond (diamond ring) Paul was the heart (heartthrob) and George was the club because he was left over (poor George). Also when you won you could choose to make up a new rule or learn a rule.
I think all these threats are silly. First all the rules vary so much between groups that you can go look them only to sit down to play and find out that everything you learned is wrong. Besides most people who play Mao for the first time have never herd if it until that moment so I don’t see the loss nor the heresy.
Sorry, I suppose that’s a bit of an essay.
Comment by witchrock — September 6, 2008 @ 1:04 am
there are no different versions of Mao there is but 1 and it involves not telling the rules!!!! +when you lay a 7 you say have a nice and give a card to the person who’s turn it is next, if they lay a 7 on top of that they still get a card but they then say have a very nice day and give to cards to the next person, you simply add a “very” for every 7 past one you lay. failure to do so results in misinterpretation of the rules and the player who broke the rule receives a card.
Comment by david — December 24, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
I’ve been poking around looking at different sets of rules, and NOWHERE have I seen one of my crowd’s favorite rules: It’s a penalty to “Jack Off” (play a jack on top of another jack). Also our Beatles were different. Everybody HEARTS Paul, Ringo uses CLUBS (sticks) on the drums, John is dead and a SPADE was used to dig his grave and George is the other one.
Comment by Scooter — May 10, 2009 @ 11:12 pm
how do you end the game? What do you say?
Comment by amber — May 29, 2009 @ 8:49 am
Amber, you made me think I left that part out. It’s there… under “Winning the Game.” The game ends when a player discards his last card and says, “Mao!” Failing to say “Mao” would be a violation, the player would take a card, and play would continue.
Comment by kendall — May 29, 2009 @ 3:46 pm
you #&*@! you dont post the rules to mao online you just broke rule number 1 DONT DISCUSS THE RULES
Comment by sedgwick — September 9, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
Sedgwick,
If you read the post, you’d realize that I never learned that rule and I just don’t care. Get over it.
Kendall
Comment by kendall — September 10, 2009 @ 7:24 am
2 – say “fuzzy worms”
K – say “all praise the master mao”
Q – say “all praise the master bitch” (we were playing with someone with a low patience level, who eventually threw his hand at the dealer and stormed out, muttering the above as he left)
Comment by dan — October 22, 2009 @ 7:06 pm
See, everyone has a different version of Mao. At a band camp I go to the rules are as follows:
1. Do not say the rules of the game. xD
2. 7′s “Have a nice Day” As they pile up, add ‘very’ before ‘nice’. Ex: 3 Sevens = “Have a very, very nice day.” Player after must say “thank you”, unless playing a lettered card, then he or she must say “Thank you very much.”
3. No talking during the game except during ‘Coffee Break’ Coffee breaks can only be called by the Mao master, and thus must be ended by the Mao master.
4.8′s reverse the gameplay and Jack’s are wild cards.
5. One card left: “Mao” After placing the last card down: “I am the king/queen of Mao and thus the game has ended.”
Comment by LalaWe. ;D — March 18, 2010 @ 2:09 pm
you are not allowed to tell the rules i shall have your mao mastery removed for this
Comment by jimmy — March 27, 2010 @ 3:31 pm
I’ve seen your rule #2 about sevens at other Mao sites too. And with regard to not talking during the game… I’ve never heard of such a rule, but when I’ve played, some of the people were too tense and concentrating too hard to talk or they were afraid of talking because it would be too easy to break a rule like not asking questions. So, often it would get really quiet. You’d have to be a quite the Mao Jedi to make small talk during the game.
Comment by kendall — May 23, 2010 @ 2:10 pm
I was taught these rules:
Do not explain any rules
with an ace: say “Have a nice day”
with a king: say “Old King Cole was a merry old soul”
with a queen: say “The Queen of Hearts, she baked some tarts”
with a jack: say “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick”
Last card: say “Last card”
No cards left: say “Mao”
Penalties called by “Improper card play” or “failure to say…”
Comment by Ggrifi — May 26, 2010 @ 6:03 am
My friends and I play completely differently…
Mao is different everywhere…
Comment by chris v — May 27, 2010 @ 1:41 pm
the rules I learned
1. the first rule of mao is that you are not allowed to talk about the rules of mao
and here I shall proceed to break said rules
2. after dealing 5 cards to each player, the dealer turns over the first card of the draw deck and says “the game of mao starts now”
3. at this point no talking is allowed, unless giving a player a penalty, it’s specified by a rule, or if someone calls a “point of order”
4. during points of order, people may talk, but may not touch their cards (doing so means they receive a penalty)
5. cards can be played that are the same number, suit, or one number higher or lower than the card on top of the pile.
6. failure to play one of these requires a draw card; playing a card that breaks one of these rules results in drawing a new card AND taking a penalty card
7. when playing cards, the following rules apply. failure to follow any of these results in a penalty
- Ace means reverse direction
- when playing a spade, you must say the name of the card (ie eight of spades)
- when playing over a clubs, you must say the number of the card followed by “polar bears” ie playing on top of a seven of clubs, “seven polar bears”
- when playing a seven, you must say “have a nice day”. playing another seven adds “very” and each successive seven adds another “very”
- when playing a card that has the same number as the card on top of the pile, you must knock on the table
- if only one card is left in the player’s hand, he must say “last card”
- upon playing the last card, the player must call “mao”
8. the winner can create his own rule for the next round of mao
Comment by simon — June 4, 2010 @ 9:52 pm
Not at all the way I play it. And NO. WHY DID YOU TELL PEOPLE. I don’t care if it’s not even my way. -_-
Comment by alicat — June 23, 2010 @ 4:52 pm
Thanks a bunch!
I knew most of the rules but not all.
Just wondering though… Aren’t we suppose to say, “have a nice day,” after putting a 7 down?
Anyway thanks a again!
Comment by Lauren — August 12, 2010 @ 1:48 pm
I’ve seen the “have a nice day” rule mentioned other places. It’s not one of the rules I learned.
Comment by kendall — August 19, 2010 @ 9:15 pm