On Mao

One of my new favorite card games is Mao. It's a game wherein you are initially under the control of an authoritarian dictator. No one ever tells you what the game's rules are; rather, you have to figure them out as you play. Whenever you make a move that is contrary to the game's rules, you get punished.

As you begin to figure out the rules of the game, you can start punishing other people whenever they break a rule -- and even make rules of your own. Each round, a new rule appears. Because of this, the game's complexity and ridiculousness increase rapidly, until everyone is under an oppressive bureaucracy of dozens of rules and playing a single card can result in many punishments.

I like Mao for a lot of reasons. For one, it's a brilliant political satire of Communist China and the police state system. Hidden rules are everywhere, and you, the citizen, are brutally and mercilessly punished for violating laws you never even knew existed. You must blindly struggle through this dark, mysterious world, desperately careful to avoid any missteps. As people begin to acclimate to the game, they are eager to punish their fellow compatriots -- who were just as blind as they were -- and learn to always praise Mao, to never question the ruleset, to under no circumstances disobey the dictates of the state. The threat of punishment silences everybody. Loyalty becomes of the utmost importance. The law is king, is god.

Mao is also a good metaphor for life. No one knows all the rules of life -- although some may know a few more rules than others -- nor is there any win condition. Rather, life just keeps on increasing in complexity as you and a few friends try to stumble through it together. The more you figure out, the more you become aware of your own ignorance. Laws are mutable and relative. People in positions of power have tremendous amounts of control over people not as lucky. The desire for success and the desire to satiate your own curiosity counterbalance the tendency of life to harshly punish anyone's mistakes. Life doesn't care who you are or what you've done in the past. A punishment is a punishment.

The game is hilariously fun. Laugh as people curse in frustration, and then punish them for cursing. Cackle as they constantly misplay cards, and then punish them for their errors. Guffaw as the people who were once your friends begin to experience a deep, burning hatred towards you, and then punish them for their animosity. Become nervous as you see them slowly figure out the rules, see their eyes light up as they punish someone for the first time. Panic as the ever-expanding ruleset spirals out of your control, out of everyone's control, so that the game becomes an unintelligible chaos, a whirlwind of cards flying to and fro, hither and yon. Play Mao.

-Me