But then again, I’ve yet to play myself, but I will say this: The game has to spread SOMEHOW, and if posting the basic gameplay for people who’ve never met a Mao player but would like to start their own Mao groups is an issue, then this game can develop some serious survivability issues.

7′s “i’m feeling lucky”
8′s reverse playing order
Ace’s “down the rabbit hole” which the next player must play another card immediately (even if it isn’t the right suit)
switch to diamonds “forever is a very long time”
switch to clubs “this is an exclusive club”
switch to hearts “off with her head!”
switch to spades “dig it!”

game should be played with at least two full decks. all other additional cards are not only allowed, but encouraged!

how to start the game: Grand Master deals out 7 (number may be determined by group) cards to each player. a card is dealt to any player who touches his or her cards without saying “adjust” beforehand (saying “permanent state of adjustment” allows a player to touch his or her cards for the rest of the pregame ritual without being carded). Once all the cards are dealt out, the Grand Master says “the game plays like Uno. (explains how Uno works if anyone does not already know). The object of the game is to get rid of all your cards and learn the rules. game will start with *insert player’s name* and go toward *player on either side of first player*. game starts now” and proceeds to flip over the first card. (skips and reverses do not apply on this first card).

Basic/permanent rules: players will be carded for breaking any of the following rules
1. players may not discuss the rules under any circumstances!
2. players may not say the name of the game at any time unless they have played their last card and have said all other required sayings
3. 8s skips (if 2 8s are played by one player, the next two players are skipped. 3, next three, etc.)
4. Aces reverse
5. when a King is played player must say “(all) hail (to) the chairman”
6. when a Queen is played player must say “(all) hail (to) the chairwoman/chairlady”
7. when a Jack is played player must say ” joke of the jester” and proceed to pick a new suit
8. when a 10 is played player must say “(all) hail Mao Zedong”
9. if a player plays a card that adds to 10 with the previous card (i.e. 5 on 5, 6 on 4, etc.) player must say “(all) hail Mao Zedong. (only top 2 cards, no 2 2 6 etc.)
10. when a 7 is played player must say “have a nice day”. Then either the Grandmaster, whoever played the card or anyone who knows the rule and reach the deck places two cards in front of the next player and says “you may take these two cards or play the correct card”. The next player may either play another 7 and say “have a very nice day” (ever 7 after the first adds another very and two more cards). The next player may also play a jack to stop the sequence (see rule #5).
11. if a player plays a 3rd 6 in a row player must say “hail Satan”. if player plays 2 6s on 2 6s, player must say it twice
12. when a 2 is played player must proceed to play another card of the same suit or number
13. when a spade is played, player must say “card of spades” and proceed to say anything else required, not in any particular order(i.e. 10 of spades, hail Mao Zedong).
14. upon playing a replicate of another card (6 of clubs on 6 of clubs), player must say doubles. Doubles may be played out of turn, player after the player who played doubles out of turn goes next (mid 8s and Aces)
15. if a player cannot play a card, they must draw a penalty card. they may but are not required to say “penalty card” or “pass”
16. a player will receive a penalty card upon not playing in a timely manor (up to grandmaster how long, usually 2 or 3 pauses, must be fairly consistent in time allotted). carder will say “failure to play in a timely manor”. “taking too long” is also acceptable. players may receive this penalty multiple times if one turn for “continual failure to play in a timely manor”.
17. players must stroke their beard/chin upon saying “uhhh” and/or “ummm”
18. players may not talk to anyone not playing the game
19. upon playing a 3rd 3 in a row, player must say “half Satan” like with the 6s
20. players must say “last card” upon playing their second to last card. If opposing players say “catch” before player says “last card” player will receive TWO penalty cards. Catch/last card may not be called until second to last card touches the deck. All ties go to the runner (person saying “last card”).
21. players may not use profane language at any time. What words are considered profane may be determined by group.

how to win: To win a round, a player must discard all of his or her cards and then say Mao. If they say Mao before saying everything else that is required (i.e hail to the chairman, have a nice day, etc.) they may be carder for saying the name of the game (as soon as they pick up the card, if it is there only card, other players may say “catch”, giving that player two additional penalty cards). This part of the game is very particular and strict. For example: if a player plays a jack of spades and says “joke of the jester, jack of spades, Mao” they may receive a penalty card for failing to pick a suit. However, a penalty card may not be given for failing to play another card if their last card was a 2. any other disputes may be settled amongst players.

Once a player has discarded all of his or her cards and said Mao, they become the new Grandmaster and may either instate a rule or remove a previously instated rule. The name of the rule must be instated during the pre game ritual, however may and must not be explained. Here are some of our favorite rules to instate: Enjoy

1. Stephen’s Rule- players may play consecutive cards (i.e play all their 7s, all their 9s, etc.) even if not doubles. All basic rules such as doubles still apply. Whether or not players must play cards one at a time to allow for next player to play or other players to play doubles must be determined by group.
2. Parker’s Rule- if a player reaches 15 cards in his or her hand they are out of the game until the next round. number may be determined by group.
3. Rule of 8s/Talking Rule- if a player is skipped via 8 they may not talk (besides saying what is necessary to not be carded or if they are carding someone else) until they skip someone else via 8.
4. Micah’s Rule/Rule of Redundancy- If a player plays the 4th of a card (4th 6, King, etc.) he or she receives one card. If they play the 5th of a card they receive two penalty cards. 6th, 3. and so on. I.E. If there are 3 9s on the top of the deck, and you play 3 more 9s (whether with doubles or Stephen’s Rule) you would receive 6 penalty card all together. player is carded as followed: upon first infraction carder says “card for redundancy”. upon 2nd infraction carder says “2 cards for redundancy”. and so on. player must be carded separately each time. they may not be given “6 cards for redundancy” unless it is the 9th card played.
5. Hail to the chair Jew/Jewish Rule- Upon playing a Jack, players must say “Hail to the Chair Jew” instead of “Joke of the Jester”. they still pick a suit.
6. “That’s the Badger”/Badger- This is what is used if jokers are in play. This may also be a basic rule. Upon playing a Joker, players must say “That’s the Badger” (exactly). Players must then proceed to pick a suit. Players must then proceed to play another card of stated suit. Jokers may be played on anything. Joker is also considered the “correct card” following being told to “have a nice day”.
7. Rule of Impatience- the time allotted before being carded for “failure to play in a timely manor/taking to long” is drastically decreased.

as you can see you can make up just about any rule. here are some that are only to be used for the most skilled players who are rarely if at all carded for breaking a basic rule:
The Color Back rule- if playing with cards with different colored backs (i.e. red and blue). each color will either add or subtract a value of a card (i.e. blue subtracts one red adds one). For Example: if you had a queen and it had a red back it would become a jack. suit remains the same. player must now say “joke of the jester” and pick a suit. this would be considered the correct card. if said queen had a blue back, it would become a king and upon being played player must say “hail to the chairman”. and so on.

another not so crazy but arguably more annoying rule is this: (idk what the name is)
upon playing a heart player must stand on one foot. players may only switch which foot they are balancing on when it is their turn. if play loses balance and places other foot on the ground or any surrounding objects, player shall be penalized. upon playing a diamond players must stand on both feet. upon playing a club players must sit down.

obviously everyone plays differently. i really like the introduction about the beatles. its fun to change up the intro and make it sound more official or silly. if anyone else has a cool rule they have played or heard tell what it is!

and about the 7 rule, everytime someone plays a 7 the next person must either play a 7 or draw a card
if some plays a 7 they must say ‘have a nice day’ while the next person must say have a VERY nice day and so on and so forth. But say that there are 5 svens down and you dont have a seven, so u must draw 5 cards.

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