Rules for the Mao mindvirus

glennmagusharvey

~takes penalty card~

Background info: There's a card game called "Mao" which is generally played like Uno but with a standard deck(s) of playing cards and with specific rules that, by custom, are never explicitly disclosed, only to be discovered through trial-and-error gameplay, and are added to by the person who won the previous round.  Errors almost always result in being given penalty cards.  One of these rules involves not saying the name of the game, for which one (or sometimes two, depending on house rule variants) penalty cards are given if the name is said, unless it is said when saying it is appropriate.  This game sometimes has a reputation for being used for psychological hazing and newbie abuse, though its freeform structure can actually be used to create very interesting and intricate gameplay scenarios.

~takes penalty card~

Now, somewhere along the way, I realized that the idea of taking penalty cards for saying the name of the game was basically a mindvirus, the way The Game is a mindvirus.

~xkcd invocation, everyone wins The Game~

So I had to come up with rulings on what mentions of the famous Chinese dictator's name actually result in penalty cards being distributed.  Obviously, saying the name of the game, when referring to the game, would result in a penalty card.  I've also decided that saying the surname of said famous Chinese dictator also results in a penalty card.  Typing it does too, as does pasting it from copied text, but simply reading it or loading it onto a screen does not, since those are involuntary.  Copying doesn't either even though it's voluntary, because that would double-count when it's pasted; clicking a link also doesn't because that's not your choosing the text in the link.  However, using this name as onomatopoeia in imitation of an animal's or other noise does result in a penalty card.

I have yet to decide on two certain cases, though:

1. Should using that name in Chinese (or any other language) result in a penalty card, if the sound of said pronunciation does not match the sound of the name of the game as pronounced in English?  As far as I know, the game originated in English.

2. Should using that name as a syllable in an unrelated title (such as Maoyuu) result in a penalty card?

 

FYI, giving people or taking penalty cards basically just involves saying/typing that you're doing it or that you're giving it.  It doesn't involve any other action.

Icalasari

I wonder if there is a rule against talking about the rules?



As for 1) Yes, otherwise one could circumvent it too easily



And for 2) I'd say it's the same as the link rule. Not your fault that the company chose that title

glennmagusharvey

Well when I play the card game itself, I play a nicer version I prefer to call "Deng", where you're allowed to talk, and the basic ground rules are clarified before the start of the game.

Thing with that first point is that Wikipedia suggests that the game probably takes its name not from the Chinese dictator but rather from the German card game "Mau Mau".

DYRE

"Mau Mau".

 

?

Ironweaver

It's not exclusively German, it's quite popular over here too.

glennmagusharvey

^^ I don't get it.

DYRE

(I didn't actually expect you too)

She's Misao Amano from Mahou Shoujo Pretty Sammy Battle Programmer Shirase.  She says "mau mau" sometimes.  Apparently.  I only remember it from the next episode previews, that always said stuff like "And more 'mau mau' in episode ____" at the end.

The truth is though, ever since you made this thread it reminded me of her because I thought her phrase was "mao mao" but then I looked it up and then I was wrong.  But then you said there was actually a thing called "mau mau" so yeah.

 

More on topic, this variant of Mao is actually the only one I'm familiar with.  It seemed interesting though.  Real Mao seems less fun.

glennmagusharvey

Real Mao seems less fun mostly because people tend to make rather dull rules.  For example, if your whole game is filled with "jump up and down on a 6", "announce every spade", "say 'quarters' when playing a 4", and so on, it's kinda boring.  So one day, one of my more enterprising friends realized that, when it comes to making a new rule, you really can make ANY new rule.

For example, "when you play a Queen, randomly split your hand into two hands, and then play each hand as if you are each of two consecutive players, and if one of these hands runs out of cards legally, you have won that round, but if you are playing a such a split hand when anyone including yourself plays a King, you must re-merge your two hands."

Or, "whenever someone plays a 4, that player must add a card to a side pile.  whenever a player plays a 10, that player must take the entire side pile and put it in their hand".

Or rules for taking cards from other players, or rules for giving cards to other players, or rules involving redrawing one's hand from the draw pile, or rules for switching the discard and draw piles, etc.

 

Also, you get five penalty cards, and I get one.