Mau Mau

Mau Mau is what Germany plays instead of Uno, and it has been around longer than Uno has. If you can play Crazy Eights or Drunk Uno, you can play this; the difference is a smaller deck, a handful of action cards with a very German set of rules, and the habit of shouting “Mau” at the right moment. It is one of the few drinking card games that works at 2 players as well as it does at 6, because the drinking rides on the cards rather than on a crowd.

What you need

• A 32-card deck: take a standard deck and remove the 2s through 6s. For 6 or more players, use the full 52 cards or two stripped decks
• A drink per player. Germans play it with schnapps; we suggest beer or a mixed drink, because a 7 chain adds up
• A table with room for a draw pile and a discard pile
• 2 to 8 players

Setup

1. Shuffle and deal 5 cards to each player. Some tables deal 6 for two players. Either is fine, just be consistent.
2. Put the rest face down as the draw pile. Flip the top card next to it to start the discard pile. If it is an action card, its effect applies to the first player.
3. Go through the card rules once. The table below is the common set. The arguments all come from people assuming their childhood version is the only one.
4. The player to the dealer’s left starts. Play goes clockwise until a 9 says otherwise.

How to play Mau Mau

1. Play a card that matches the top of the discard pile by suit or by rank. A heart on a heart, a 10 on a 10. A Jack goes on anything.
2. If you cannot play, draw one card and drink 1 sip. If the card you drew fits, you may play it straight away. If not, your turn is over.
3. Action cards do what the table says. The 7 and the 8 hit the next player; the Jack, Queen, King, and Ace hit the whole table or someone you choose.
4. Say “Mau” the moment you are down to one card. Forget, and anyone who catches you makes you draw 2 cards and drink 2 sips before the next turn.
5. Say “Mau Mau” when you play your last card. That ends the round and you win. If your last card is a Jack, many tables count the win double, which in this version means everyone else drinks twice.
6. Everyone left drinks 1 sip per card in their hand. Then shuffle, rotate the dealer, and go again. Play as many rounds as you like.

Card meanings

Standard rule first, drinking rule after. The standard rules are the common German ones; the drinking layer matches the versions German party sites play, with a couple of our own additions.

Card	Standard rule	Drinking rule
7	The next player draws 2 cards. If they have a 7 they can play it instead and pass 4 cards to the next person, and so on down the chain.	1 sip per card drawn. A chain of three 7s lands 6 cards and 6 sips on whoever breaks it.
8	The next player skips a turn.	The skipped player drinks 1 sip.
9	Reverse the direction of play.	Nothing extra. With 2 players it works like an 8.
10	Normal card.	Normal card. See the slap rule under variations.
Jack	Wild. Play it on anything and name the suit that must follow.	Also name a player to drink 2 sips.
Queen	Normal card.	All the women at the table drink 1 sip.
King	Normal card.	All the men at the table drink 1 sip.
Ace	Normal card. In some regions the next player skips, or you must play a second card.	Everyone except you drinks 1 sip.

Variations and house rules

• Jack on Jack. The German saying is “Bube auf Bube stinkt”, a Jack on a Jack stinks. In most homes you simply cannot play a Jack straight on top of another Jack. The drinking version allows it and charges 2 sips for the privilege.
• Ace means again. In Austria and parts of southern Germany, the Ace lets you play another card immediately, and if your last card is an Ace you cannot win on it. Keep the “everyone else drinks” rule and add that the Ace cannot be your Mau Mau card.
• Slap the 10. Whoever plays a 10, everyone slaps the pile. Last hand on the pile drinks 2 sips. Borrowed from the German party version; it gets loud.
• Full-deck Mau Mau. With a 52-card deck, the 2 through 6 are plain cards, the rounds run longer, and 7 chains are rarer. Good for 6 or more players.
• Two-player Mau Mau. Works as written, but the 8 and the 9 both just give you another turn. Swap the Queen and King rules for “the other player drinks” so they are not dead cards.
• Finish on a Jack. Our house rule: a player who wins on a Jack hands out a full 5 sips to one person. The catch is that a Jack in hand cannot be called “Mau”, it has to be called “Mau Mau”, and forgetting that is the most common way to lose a won game.

Tips

• Hold your 7s. A 7 played onto a 7 is the best card in the game, and the draw-two chain is the only thing that turns a polite round into a memorable one.
• Keep the sips small if you are playing with spirits. Germans play with schnapps, and a 7 chain on schnapps is the reason this page recommends beer.
• Say “Mau” out loud, every time, even if you feel silly. Saying it quietly counts as not saying it at most tables.
• Agree on the Ace before dealing. It is the one card that changes by region, and every German player at the table will insist theirs is the real rule.