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Matching / shedding

Mau Mau: quick rules

Match suit or rank to shed your hand. You can prepare the traditional short deck from ordinary playing cards.

A 32-card, five-card-deal version. House rules differ; agree special cards and the final-card rule first.

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Players

2–5 in the selected 32-card version

Deck

32 ordinary cards: 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K and A in each suit. Remove 2–6 from a 52-card pack.

Goal

Be first to play every card in your hand.

Setup

Shuffle the short deck. Give each player five cards, put the rest face down as a draw pile, and turn one card face up. Play clockwise. Agree how to treat an opening action card.

How to Play

  1. On your turn, match the discard's suit or rank; a jack may be played at any time and chooses the next suit. If unable to play, draw one and end your turn.
  2. A 7 makes the next player draw two and miss a turn, unless they stack another 7; an 8 skips the next player. An ace lets you play another card if possible. The king of hearts makes the next player draw three and skip.
  3. Say 'Mau' with one card left or draw two penalty cards. Say 'Mau Mau' when going out.

How to Win

The first person to empty their hand wins the round. This guide does not combine optional point systems into a single official score.

Variants

This overview follows the linked club sheet's special cards. Other tables change draw-and-play, 7 stacking, jack-on-jack and final-card restrictions. Agree those differences first; they are not all part of the same ruleset. Restocking option from Kartenspiel.org: keep the top discard in place and shuffle the other discards into a new draw pile when the stock runs out. The selected club sheet does not specify this situation; agree this option before play.

Sources

Checked 17 October 2026. The turn and special-card rules follow the German Club sheet. Kartenspiel.org gives the 2–5-player range for this 32-card version; other versions may differ. Our guides summarize the sources in our own words.

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