Mao is a "shedding-type" card game similar to UNO or Crazy Eights
, in which the goal is to get rid of all your cards. However, there is a twist: you are not told, and are not allowed to be told, any of the rules of the game. You must instead work them out by deduction - watching people play, trying different moves, and being penalized with extra cards when you do something wrong.
Whenever a player succeeds in getting rid of all their cards, they win the round, and are permitted to invent and add a new rule to the game - without telling anyone what the new rule is. The game therefore continually evolves as it is played and more rules are added, and the players must try to figure out and adapt to these changes as they play.
Some common rule changes are:
- Making things happen when certain combinations of cards are played
- Changing what constitutes a valid play
- Requiring players to say something when a condition is met
- Changing the identity of a card or suit
- Giving cards special abilities
- Amending or extending an existing rule
There is no real limit on what rules people can create, other than that they should be fair to all players and, if possible, simple enough to enforce. Otherwise, the sky is the limit and no aspect of the game can be taken for granted, as it can always be changed. Late-game Mao can look quite bizarre once a lot of new rules are in play.
One major advantage of Mao is that it is an extremely easy game to begin; all you need is some playing cards, a few willing players, and at least one person who knows the starting rules. Since the aim of the game is to figure out the rules, this means newbies can get straight into the game without needing anything explained to them.
The flipside, however, is that the start of the game is very asymmetric for new players, since they start off at a clear disadvantage against people who do know the rules.
As might be expected of such a mutable game, it's pretty much a guarantee that any two groups of Mao players will play a slightly different version of the game.
Conventionally, Mao has no Game Master: the game is run democratically, with all players granted equal power to call penalties when they see them (although they do have to be correct - calling a false penalty is itself penalizable!). There is also a "dictatorial" variant of the game in which the power to make rules and impose penalties sits with a single player.
If you are interested in learning the rules of Mao, there is a Useful Notes page for it which explains how to run a game. There is also an example Mao game if you would like to see what a Mao game looks like in practice.
This game has examples of:
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: If you've worked out a player's rule, you can enforce it on them if they break it.
- Drop-In-Drop-Out Multiplayer: Mao is perfect for this, since nobody needs to know the rules to be brought into the game. In Cambridge-based versions, this is even a design feature since play never stops; a person who gets rid of all their cards actually has to opt themselves back into the game.
- Endless Game: Mao isn't really designed to have an ending; it usually finishes when everyone has had enough. The "winner" can be considered the person who introduced the most rules, but really the game is about having fun.
- Loads and Loads of Rules: Any game that lasts long enough will inevitably build up a long list of rules. Some groups state that the last person to stay sane keeping track of them wins the session.
- Logic Bomb: Because anyone can introduce a rule and all rules are unexplained, it is possible for two or more people's rules to contradict each other. When this happens, a point of order is called so that people can discuss what to do.
- Loophole Abuse: You can do it if you spot that a rule hasn't been thought through carefully enough. This is another good reason to keep rules simple - a complex rule likely has more ways it can be exploited.
- Macro Game: Rules created by the winners of each round can continue to be used for multiple sessions if the players wish.
- Meta Game: This is basically unavoidable; at least one of the players must have played the game before in order to enforce the rules.
- No Unified Ruleset: Even before anyone has added their own rules, most groups have a varying set of base rules.
- Rules Lawyer: Kind of the whole point of the game, really. The only way to succeed is to understand the rules so well that you can't be penalized, whilst inflicting penalties on other players to disadvantage them. In some versions of Mao, you can even be penalized if you fail to enforce your own rule.
- Rule Zero: It is possible to break the game with a poorly-considered rule. As a last resort, Mao players can settle such problems democratically by having everyone agree on whether to amend or drop the rule.
- The Scottish Trope: If you say "Mao" during the game when you are not supposed to, this results in a three-card penalty, the harshest in the game.
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: The only way to learn the rules for this game is to be penalized for breaking them. (Or watching other people break them).
- Unstable Equilibrium: Experienced players do get an advantage against newbies to start with, since they are less likely to be penalized and thus have a better chance of getting rid of their cards. This is partly intentional - it generally makes more sense to allow experienced players to control the game until newbies have had a chance to learn the rules. However, good card luck can compensate for incomplete knowledge, which helps to prevent people from gaining an runaway advantage. And the game isn't really about winning anyway.
- Urban Legends: Some claim that the game was invented in China, as an illustration of what life is like living under Communist rule (ie. you don't know what the rules are until you've already broken them). In reality it's simply a Take That! to such concepts.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Since newbies don't know the rules, there is potential to engage in trickery, such as pretending it's your turn when you know it's someone else's (this tricks people into running afoul of the "failure to play within X seconds" rule).
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Some variants try to be easier on newbies in order to encourage them to play, since it's better to have willing players than frustrated ones. One such rule is the penalty for "ungentlemanly conduct", which penalizes people for engaging in deceptive or exploitative play. This usually stops once all the players have deduced the basic rules, at which point the gloves are off.
