Basic Rules

Basic Rules
There are one basic rule to Mao that you will be told by the dealer.

1) The goal is to get rid of all your cards.

They may tell you that there are penalty cards and about secret rules, but those are always optional.

You cannot pick up your cards until the dealer says something along the lines of "The game has commenced.".

The dealer will also tell you info about the game.

There will be a card face up next to the deck. You can put a card down if it is of the same suit, the same card, a card 1 above it, or a card one below it. Some rules may allow people to add additional cards, but those are rare variations of the game, and are not universal. If you cannot place down a card, you will have to keep drawing until you can.

When playing with many people, a combined deck is not uncommon.

Declaring Victory can vary from version to version. How it works is, either when you have 1 card left, or no cards at all, you will shout "Mao!".