One of my favorite card games is the game of Mao. This is a game with simple rules, however, the defining mechanic of the game is that you cannot explain the rules. This leads to very interesting dynamics and strategies amongst players. For players that come into the game knowing how to play, they have to balance trying to win with trying to keep other players interested in the game. What I mean by this is that, this game can be quite frustrating for newcomers as it may seem like the rules are being made up as the game goes on, thus they might want to quit playing which ends the fun for the old players. For newer players, unless they get extremely lucky, they will lose the first few games, falling victim to seemingly random card penalties that underline the game’s mechanics. Thus, the most important thing for them is to simply try to learn the game as fast as possible so that they can begin winning. One of my favorite mechanics that affects this though is the ability for the player who won the previous game to add their own house rule. Thus, the longer it takes a newbie to learn the game, the harder it may be, as the rules are constantly changing and evolving.
