Mau-Mau (card game)

In Austria and Bavaria, a variation is the 32-card game known as Neuner ("Nines"); in this variation, a Joker is added and the Nines are used as wild cards.[3]

The most popular variant of this game in the Czech Republic is called Prší (raining in Czech).[4] It is played with a deck of 32 German cards (four card suits, values from 7 to Ace) and has almost identical rules with several differences:

• Players are dealt four cards each.
• Ace forces the next player to skip their turn.
• 7 forces the next player to draw two cards, unless they too play a 7, thus requiring the next player to draw four cards and so on. A player who draws cards cannot play a card in the same turn.
• In some rules, ♠K forces the next player to draw 4 cards. They may play ♠7 to pass the penalty on to the next player who must draw 6 cards or play another 7 and so on. subsequent player, etc. Similarly, ♠K may be played on ♠7 instead of another 7.
• A Queen can be played on any card except a 7 or Ace and its player may then choose a suit. The next player then plays as if the Queen was of the chosen suit.
• In some variations, a Jack cannot be played on any card (it has no special meaning).
• There is no requirement for a player to announce that they only have one card left. (Though it is accepted to say Prší as a celebration)
• In some variation, when ♥10 is played all other players take a card and the player who played it plays again.
• In some variations, when a player gets rid of their cards, they may be returned to the game if they would have taken cards because of ♥7 specifically (or ♥10 from the variation above). Thus the player truly wins only when they haven't had a card in their hand for one whole additional round. (Saying Prší is acceptable every time a person loses all his cards)

Some may play with less common modifications:

A player can play multiple cards at once if these requirements apply:

• The Posted power cards have the same rank
• The bottom card can be played according to already known rules

Playing multiple power cards at once is typically treated as playing a single one. The exception is sevens, where the number of cards for the next player to draw accumulates, so the next player has to draw 2 times the number of played sevens, or play another seven. (When playing the variation with ♥10 being a power card, rules differ from group to group.)

With certain combinations of homebrew rules and 5 or more players it is possible that somebody has to draw more cards than are available on the table. Solutions include adding more decks to the game or decreasing the penalties of power cards.

Players play cards face-down. The card's rank and suit is spoken by the player. If the next player believes the first one, the card is accepted as "canon" and game continues. If the next player doesn't believe the card is as specified by the first player, the card is revealed. If the first player told the truth, the next player is penalized: they must draw one or more cards, miss their turn, and so on (the details vary in different versions of the game). If the first player lied, the first player is penalized (they usually return the card to their hand and miss their turn, draw one or more additional cards etc.)

In the Netherlands Mau-Mau is mainly known as Pesten (meaning bullying). It is played with a deck of 54 or 55 cards (52 standard plus two or three jokers); multiple decks may be shuffled together if there are too many players to comfortably play with only one deck. The main differences with Mau-Mau are as follows, though there is typically some variation in the rules depending on the group of players.

• All players receive between five and seven cards.
• 2 forces the next player to draw two cards.
• Joker may be played on any other card and forces the next player to draw 5 cards. It may permit the next player to change suit, even if the following rule is applied.
• Playing a 2s or Jokers in succession shifts the draw to the next player cumulatively. So if the first player plays a Joker and the second player a 2, the third player must draw 5 + 2 = 7 cards (or play a 2 or a Joker).
• A 7 allows the player to play another legal card if able; if this is another 7, the player goes again (announced as Zeven: nog even or Zeven: (blijft) kleven, meaning approximately “Seven: another go” resp. “Seven: sticky”).
• 8 forces the next player to skip the turn (Acht: wacht, “Eight: wait”).
• Ace reverses the order of play (Aas: draai, “Ace: turn”).
• A King has the same effect as the 7 ( heer nog 'n keer, "King, go again")
• Jack changes suit.
• One card left: say Laatste kaart (“Last card”) or knock on the table. (It's a common rule that if people forget to knock or announce their last card before the next player plays or draws that they must draw an entirely new hand, 5 or 7 cards). The final card may not be an effect card, the player must draw if it is.

In Portugal, a variation on this game is called Puque. The rules are almost the same, with the 2 replacing the 8 as the "skip turn" card. A player must say Puque when playing their next-to-last card, and doesn't have to say anything different from end with a Jack, still getting the double score.

Variants are called Чешский Дурак (Czech Fool), Фараон (Pharaoh), Крокодил (Crocodile) or 101. Usually played with 36-card, French pack. The rules are similar to Czech and Slovak rules.

• The players are dealt five cards.
• Ace forces the next player to skip the turn.
• 7 forces the next player to take 1 card (or more).
• 6 forces to take one card (or more) and skip.
• Queen changes suit.
• (optional) 10 changes turn direction.
• (optional) King of spades forces to take multiple cards and skip.

In Slovakia, the game is called Faraón (Pharaoh). It is the same as in the Czech Republic with the following exceptions:

• Players are dealt 5 cards initially. The loser of a hand starts all subsequent hands with one card fewer. Once a player has lost four hands they start the next with only one card. If they lose a further hand they are out of the game. The winner of each hand plays first on the following hand.
• A player can play several cards of the same rank in succession, for example if a heart is on top of the discard pile they could play the ace of hearts and the ace of leaves on top of it. The two aces would mean the next two players miss their turns. In some versions it is not possible for players to defend against an ace as they don't have a turn.
• If a 7 (or more together) is played, the next player has to draw three cards (or six or nine or twelve). He can pass this penalty on to the subsequent player by playing a 7 (or more) too. This subsequent player must then draw three cards for each seven played in total (unless he plays sevens himself, passing the obligation to the next player and increasing it).
• The Unter of Leaves cancels out the obligation to draw cards due to sevens and can have other jacks played on top of it by the same player.
• An Ober can be played on any card. The player who plays it then chooses a suit. The next player then plays as if the Ober was of the chosen suit.
• In some variations, when a player is forced to draw three cards (or six or nine or twelve), if they draw a 7 or an Unter of Leaves in the first 3 cards they may play it and make the subsequent player draw three cards (or cancel drawing cards in the case of the Unter of Leaves), though they have to keep the cards they have already drawn and their turn is skipped.

A Swiss version of the game called Tschau Sepp, played with 36 cards, has existed at least since the early 1960s.

All player's card-backs must be in view of others. A player who makes a mistake and is called on it must draw two cards and miss their next turn. Mistakes include, but are not limited to, playing the wrong cards, playing out of turn or before a player has completed their turn, touching or drawing from the deck and playing from your hand in the same discard, hiding cards or communicating about the cards.

Use a full deck of 52 playing cards, no jokers, and a game is typically to 500 points. Deal any odd number of cards - 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, etc. Cards of like value can be stacked by a player, but must be done in a single discard. On one card players say "one card" or risk a two card penalty.

• K (40 points) - go again, even if it's players last card; on flip it's dealer's turn
• J (20 points) - wild; on flip play suit shown
• 8 (8 points) - skip; stacking in a single discard skips that many next players
• 7 (7 points) - draw two; stacking multiplies cards drawn
• Q (30 points), A (1 point), and all other cards have their value in points

When a round ends, points for remaining cards are added to players scores and players exceeding 500 points are eliminated.

• A round can end by stacking four like cards to "close" the round, and whoever played the fourth card does not receive points for their remaining cards.
• A new player can join during a game by assuming the highest active score plus one.
• The active player with the highest score in the previous round must deal.

• Parlett, David (2008). The Penguin book of card games. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-141-03787-5.