Do not refer to the point of order directly by name you can get around this by calling it "P of O", for example, or simply "point order", eliminating the "of" Players must not look at their cards during a Point of order.
If they are still holding their cards after someone calls a Point of order, they can be penalized. The point of order ends when someone calls "point of disorder", "point taken", or even just "pick up your cards" In some variations, only the dealer can start and end points of order; however, you can allow anyone to do so in your game In another variation, point of order must be said before and after you speak during play.
Players who do not do so will be penalized for "speaking out of turn. Playing a certain card, suit, or rank Certain combinations of cards on the discard pile The number of cards remaining in a players hand.
Requiring a player to say or do something Changing the order of play by skipping players, reversing direction, or other methods.
Requiring a player to draw penalty cards Changing which cards can be legally played to the discard pile Requiring a player to make a choice such as specifying the value of a wild card.
Choose some or many of the following possibilities to form a part of your game. It's up to you! A Four of Clubs forces everyone to get up from the table, run around once and sit back down in their original spot.
The last player to make it back to their spot draws a penalty card. A Two requires everyone to touch their middle and index fingers to the table.
The last player to do so draws a penalty card. Have a Nice Day. A seven requires the next player to draw a penalty card.
Sevens can add up, requiring players to draw 2, 3, 4, etc. Whoever plays it must say "Have a Very Very, Very etc.
A King requires a player to say "All Hail the King of spades ". A Queen requires the player to say "Neeumph" Queen of Spades. A person must say "Thank You" when dealt a penalty card.
Any cursing results in a penalty card. A six requires a player to say "Merry Christmas". A Jack allows a player to change suits wild card. Spade cards must be named when played.
Aces cause the next player to skip their turn. An eight causes the turn order to reverse. A nine causes the person who played it to say a word and all other players must say a rhyming word in turn without stating a previously said word.
If a player says a non-rhyming word, takes too long to say a rhyming word, or says a previously stated word, he draws a penalty card.
If two identical cards are played in succession, everyone must say "Chauncey". If any card with a suit of a diamond is played, the person who played it must say "Shine bright like a diamond".
If a person plays a card with a different suit, but the same letter or number as the previous card played Thus changing the suit , then the person who played the card that would be changing the suit must knock once on the surface of which the game is being played on Such as a table.
Usually , although it's completely up to you. The game tends to be shorter when less cards are given; however, a game of Mao is still very long, especially when teaching new players.
Not Helpful 6 Helpful 9. Not Helpful 9 Helpful 9. Usually, if you win a round by getting rid of all your cards first, you can either add a rule or change a rule.
For instance, you could add that you have to clap once after you play a club adding a rule or you could change a rule, like, instead of saying "have a nice day" after playing a 7, you could say "have a nice night.
Not Helpful 3 Helpful 4. As stated in the article, some groups prefer to have multiple players who know the rules, so it is fair. However, if there isn't, there really isn't any way the dealer would want to penalize themselves.
All players must draw cards when they cannot play something and play continues. Not Helpful 11 Helpful 8. Typically, point of order is used to clarify any questions, but be careful not to directly say any of the rules.
If someone doesn't understand why they or another player was penalized, they can call a point of order and ask. Players are supposed to be silent during the game, and can only speak during point of order.
Not Helpful 3 Helpful 3. Take cards from the middle pile that everybody is contributing to, shuffle them, and place them upside down as the new middle pile.
Leave the card that was on top though so the game can continue being played. Not Helpful 3 Helpful 1. The Mao is able to make up whatever rules they want, as long as they are consistent throughout an entire game.
Not Helpful 4 Helpful 1. In order to start a game, you can just say "Mao". That lets everyone know they can pick up their cards and the game can begin.
Not Helpful 3 Helpful 0. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Already answered Not a question Bad question Other. Tips When playing with new players, sometimes it is best to be specific with your penalties so they have more hope of figuring out what they did wrong.
You would say "Penalty for knocking at an incorrect time. Don't make rules that conflict with each other unless you can easily resolve the conflict.
There are many variants of Mao in existence. Mao is most likely descended from the German game Mau Mau. It may have influenced the game Eleusis , which was published in Martin Gardner 's column in the Scientific American in June Other inductive games in which not all players know the rules include Penultima and Zendo ; however, the secret rules in those games are made up at the start of play and disclosed at the end of each round, and the scope and subject matter of Eleusis, Penultima or Zendo rules may be more explicit and closely circumscribed.
The White People , a supernatural short story written in by Arthur Machen , mentions "the Mao Games" in a list of imagined mysteries connected to a young girl's perception of witchcraft.
Part of the traditional experience of Mao is a new player being forced to learn some or all of the rules of the game through observation and trial and error.
Thus new players are not presented with a list of rules, as part of the game is to discover the rules through gameplay.
The exact set of rules divulged to new players varies between groups of players: However much information is revealed, the players will explain that they are not allowed to reveal any more, and that the new player must deduce the full rules during play.
Mao rules can vary widely between different groups with no individual set of rules being canonical. Each player is dealt an initial hand of the same number of cards; the exact number of cards dealt varies, but is generally either three [4] [12] [13] [14] [ excessive citations ] or seven.
Two or more combined decks is common; matching card backs is not important. Once the cards are dealt, the remaining cards are placed face down in a stack in the middle of the table, and the top card from the stack is turned over and placed next to it.
Play commences with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds clockwise. A player may play any card from his or her hand matching the value or the suit of the top card currently face-up on the table.
If the player has no cards they can play, they must instead draw a new card from the top of the stack and, in some variants, say something such as "pass", "penalty card" or knock on the table to indicate inability to play a card.
As might be expected in a game where the rules are unknown to many of the players, a wide variety of rulesets have developed.
The rules are typically changed between games, either at the beginning or with each successive game. Many times, this is simply that the winner of the last game is allowed to construct his or her own rule.
This new rule is made known to the dealer or not, depending on the game, though in many varieties it is required for the dealer to know the rule in order to confirm its use and to enforce it.
Often the winner of the last game is also made the new dealer. In another variant, players abandon all normal rules and have each player make up a rule of their own at the very beginning of the game.
It has no restrictions on what cards to play other than those made by the players and can get very confusing when rules conflict.
Many of the rules of Mao involve speech. Mostly this means that the right thing must be said at the right time. Saying the wrong thing, or speaking at the wrong time, will usually incur a penalty.
Any player or, in some variations, only the dealer may at any time announce "point of order" could also be "court of law", "point of information", "point of interest", "pevis", or "coffee break" , [3] [4] [12] [14] [ excessive citations ] which is a signal for all players to put down their cards, while discussion takes place.
A common abbreviation is "P of O". This time period basically is an intermission to game play and often comes with its own set of rules. Some versions penalize for abbreviating "point of order" to "P of O", which often confuses new players into thinking only the dealer or chairman is permitted to call a point of order.
Most versions penalize players for touching their cards including failing to put them down in a timely manner during a point of order.
The objective of a point of order is to clarify uncertain aspects of gameplay: A point of order may also be used to accommodate out-of-game necessities such as eating, shuffling the discard pile to form a new draw pile, etc.
Some variants may impose restrictions or penalties on a player's activities during a point of order:. The point of order ends when any player or, depending on local rules, only the dealer, or only the player that called point of order announces "end point of order", "point taken", "point of disorder", or "pick your cards up", at which point the cards are picked back up and play resumes.
The normal penalty for any offence in Mao is one card per offence, though as previously stated, offences are consecutively applied, making some offences harsher than others.