Mad Magazine Card Game
Mad Magazine Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
To be the first player to get rid of all your cards.
Equipment
Spread out all the cards and take a good close look at them. You'll find:
76 cards • 76 cards • 76 cards • 76 cards • 76 cards • 76 cards • and 1 tray.
(The sheet prints "76 cards" six times on this line. The card breakdown below accounts for 76 non-blank cards, so the repetition is a printing artifact on the sheet and is transcribed as printed.)
- 48 Suit cards. There are four suits, each a different colour. There's a leisure suit — green; a space suit — yellow; a union suit — red; and a suit of armor — blue. Each suit has two sets of cards numbered 1-6.
- 8 Which way? cards — two of each colour. Each of these cards shows Alfred pointing in opposite directions.
- 4 Draw 1 you varmints cards — one of each colour.
- 4 Give someone two cards (from your hand) cards — one of each colour.
- 4 wild! cards. (Just plain wild!)
- 3 wild! & wooly! cards.
- 5 and/or wild! cards, divided as follows: 2 What me worry? You worry! cards; 2 Exchange your hand with anyone cards; and 1 JOKER.
- 4 blank cards. These cards are not — repeat not — part of the game. Remove them immediately. Use them instead as floor tiles or coasters.
*Here's the missing card. (The sheet's illustration shows an "Old MAD" card, referenced by this footnote.)
Set Up
- From among the assembled crazies, choose a dealer.
- The lucky dealer shuffles all the cards and deals 8, face down, to each player. (That is, if there are two, three or four players. If there are more, everyone gets only 7 cards.)
- The dealer places the rest of the cards, face down, into the "notched" side of the tray. These cards form the draw pile. The dealer turns over the draw pile's top card and places it, face up, into the other side of the tray. This card starts the discard pile.
- Each player picks up his or her cards and organizes them by colour.
- The first to play is the player to the dealer's right. Until further notice, play then proceeds, in turn, to that player's right.
Playing
Before trying to play, please read all the way through the following rules.
On your turn try to get rid of a card.
a. If you can get rid of a card, place it face up onto the discard pile.
b. If you can't get rid of a card, take the draw pile's top card and look at it. Can you get rid of that card? If so, place it face up onto the discard pile. If not, add it to your hand.
Whether or not you're able to get rid of a card, your turn ends.
How to get rid of a card
a. If a card isn't wild!, you may place it onto another card of the same colour, number, picture or message.
Examples: • You may place a green #5 card onto any green #5 card or onto a #5 card of any colour. • You may place a yellow Which way? card onto any yellow card or onto a Which way? card of any colour.
b. You may place any wild! card onto any card in the deck. (By a wild! card we mean any card with the word wild! on it.)
Examples: Because this rule is so simple, we have determined that no examples are necessary.
More about the cards
Which way? By playing one of these cards, you get to choose the direction of play. If you want to change the direction of play, that's okay; if you want to continue in the same direction, that's okay, too. Just name the player who sits to your left or right — whichever direction you prefer.
Draw 1 you varmints. By playing one of these cards, you force each of your opponents, in turn, to draw one card from the draw pile.
Give someone two cards (from your hand). If playing this card leaves you with fewer than two cards in your hand, that's okay. In fact, it's great! The fewer the cards you have to get rid of, the better off you are.
wild! As mentioned already, a wild! card is any card with the word wild! on it. Whenever you place a wild! card of any kind, you must announce the colour that you want it to be. Just name the colour — red, yellow, blue or green — even if you want it to be the same colour as the card you're covering. (You'll usually do best to name the colour in which you have the most cards.) The next player must then play either a card of the same colour or another wild! card of any kind.
and/or wild! Each of these cards is always wild! and therefore requires you to choose the colour you want it to be. Yet whenever you play one of these cards, you must also make a choice about the card's instructions. Here's your total choice: to follow the card's instructions and announce its colour; or just to announce its colour while ignoring its instructions.
What me worry? You worry! As this card tells you itself, it's a "self-defense" card. Here's how it works:
a. Let's say an opponent plays an Exchange your hand with anyone card and chooses you to exchange with. By immediately playing this card, you prevent the exchange; you also get to choose this wild! card's colour.
b. Against any other card, this card allows you to do to an opponent exactly what he or she tried to do to you.
Examples: • Suppose an opponent plays a wild! & wooly! card and announces that you are the one who must draw 3 cards. By immediately playing this card, you turn the tables on your opponent: you don't have to draw anything; instead, your opponent has to draw 3 cards, and you get to choose this wild! card's colour. • Suppose someone plays a Draw 1 you varmints card. By immediately playing this card, you no longer have to draw a card; but everyone else at the table has to draw.
As soon as you play a What me worry? You worry! card, play resumes — in its previous direction — with the player who sits next to the one you just zapped.
JOKER You may play this card only on your regular turn. Yet you may play it in one of two ways:
a. It's a wild! card. Therefore, at any time during the game you may, if you wish, play this card just as you'd play any other wild! card. In other words, you may play it onto any card in the deck and then announce the colour you want it to be.
b. If, however, you have only one, two or three other cards in your hand, you may, if you wish, play this card and announce that the game is over. When this happens, everyone counts up the points in his or her hand. If you have fewer points than any of your opponents, you win; otherwise the winner is whoever else has the fewest points.
Points are easy to figure: each numbered card counts its number; every other card counts 5 points.
Winning
Unless you do yourself in with the JOKER, you win the game if you're the first player to get rid of all your cards.
Special Notes
Starting the discard pile. As you know, the dealer starts the discard pile by turning over the draw pile's top card. No matter what this card turns out to be, the dealer treats it as though he or she had played it by choice.
Examples: • If it's a plain old suit card, the dealer does nothing; play simply passes to his or her right. • If it's a Which way? card, the dealer must choose the direction of play. • If it's a wild! card of any kind, the dealer must choose its colour. • If it's an and/or wild! card, the dealer must also make the and/or choice. • If it's a Draw 1 you varmints card, the dealer is lucky; everyone else must draw a card.
Recycling the discard pile. If the draw pile runs out, the dealer takes the top card from the discard pile and places it aside. The dealer then shuffles the discard pile and returns it, face down, to the "notched" side of the tray — thus forming a new draw pile. To start a new discard pile, the dealer then places the single card, face up, into the other side of the tray.
Drawing and discarding
a. Let's say it's your regular turn and you can't get rid of a card. Therefore you have to draw one. (This you already know.) If you draw a card that you can get rid of, you may do so immediately and end your turn. (This too, you already know. Just a reminder.) However:
b. Let's say an opponent forces you to draw by playing a wild! & wooly! card against you or a Draw 1 you varmints card. If you draw a card that you can get rid of, you may do so immediately only if it's now your regular turn; otherwise you have to add that card to your hand.
"Have to" vs. "Want to". Let's say that your turn comes and you have a card that you can get rid of. If you don't want to get rid of that card, you don't have to. However, this strategy makes sense only when you know — or can guess — exactly which card(s) the next player holds.