How Matatu is played here
Matatu is a shedding game: match the card on the pile by suit or rank, and be the first to empty your hand. Rules vary from town to town, so ours are published as numbered versions. Every game we record stores the version it was played under.
The basics
- One standard 52-card deck, no jokers. Every player is dealt 7 cards and one card is turned face up to start the pile — a special card turned up at the start has no effect.
- On your turn, play a card matching the pile's suit or rank, or draw one from the deck.
- A 2 makes the next player owe exactly two cards. They may pass the same two-card penalty on with another 2 of any suit, cancel it with the Ace of Spades, or pick up two cards and end their turn. The penalty never grows beyond two, however many 2s are played in a row.
- An 8 or a Jack jumps the next player. With two players that means you play again.
- An Ace can be played on any ordinary card and lets you name the suit that follows. It cannot answer an unpaid pick-two — only another 2 can.
- You may draw one card on your turn even when you already hold a playable card — drawing is never the same as passing. After the draw your turn continues: play the card you just drew, play any other card you can legally play, or keep the drawn card and choose to pass. Nobody else plays until you do one of those. Only when nothing at all can be played does your turn end by itself, with the drawn card staying in your hand.
- Card values: every 2 counts 20 in all four suits, 3–10 face value, Jack 11, Queen 12, King 13, Ace 15. At the end of a round every player scores the cards still in their hand, and the lowest total wins.
- Even when you have a playable card, you may choose to pass. Passing requires you to pick one card from the main deck, keep it, and immediately end your turn — but if you already drew this turn, that card paid for the pass and no second card is taken. Cards taken as a pick-two penalty cannot be played on that same turn.
- Playing your last card ends the round at once — no suit choice after a final Ace and no extra turn after a final 8 or Jack. Your score for that round is 0.
The base card and the chopper
- At the start of every round the server picks one card at random as the base card. It is shown face up, sideways under the deck, and everyone in the round sees the same one.
- The card that cuts is the chopper: the seven of the base card's suit. The rank of the base card does not matter — if the base card is 6♦ the chopper is 7♦, and if it is K♣ the chopper is 7♣.
- It is only a marker: it is never dealt to a hand and it can never be played from the pile.
- The chopper is an ordinary card when it comes to matching: it must match the suit in play, or the rank of the card on the pile (another 7 of any suit). If the base card is 7♣, it can go on 6♣, K♣, 7♥ or 7♦, but not on 6♥ or Q♠. When an Ace has called a suit, that called suit is the one it must match. The chopper is never a wildcard.
- Cutting is allowed from the very first turn, but only when the cards that would remain after playing the chopper total 20 points or fewer. The chopper's own seven points are not counted, so a hand of 7♦ 7♥ 8♠ (22 points on show) can cut with 7♦ when 7♦ is the chopper, because 15 points remain. Exactly 20 qualifies; 21 does not.
- Both checks must pass: if the chopper does not match the pile, or the hand left behind is too heavy, the cut is refused and the round carries on. Any penalty cards you owe, and naming a suit after an Ace, must be settled first.
- An Ace can name the chopper's suit, but it is not the chopper and does not end the round.
- When someone cuts, the round ends at once, every remaining hand is revealed and points are counted. The lowest total wins the round — cutting ends the round, it does not automatically win it, and equal lowest totals are recorded as a tie. The result is saved to your history.
Playing with Jokers (optional)
Jokers are switched off by default. The host turns them on before the cards are dealt, and the setting is locked for the rest of the round.
- With Jokers on, the deck has 54 cards: one red Joker and one black Joker. They behave identically and each is worth 25 points, so holding one always puts you over the cutting limit.
- A Joker is a wild Pick Five: it can be played on any card, the next player owes five cards, and the person who played it names the suit that follows.
- A second Joker adds five more (Pick Ten) and passes the penalty on, with the newest suit request replacing the earlier one. A 2 cannot answer a Pick Five, and a Joker cannot answer a Pick Two — the two attacks are never mixed.
- The Ace of Spades is the master ace. Besides working as an ordinary Ace, it cancels a Pick Two, or a Pick Five of any size: nothing is drawn and the attack ends. Used this way it does not name a suit — the turn ends there and the next player may play any card at all, whatever its suit or rank. If that player chooses a 2 or a Joker, it starts a completely fresh penalty. Played on an ordinary turn the Ace of Spades still changes the suit as usual. The other Aces cannot block a penalty.
- A final Joker or a final Ace of Spades simply ends the round with an empty hand and zero points — no penalty is created and no suit is requested.
- A Joker can never be the base card or the opening discard, and neither a Joker nor the Ace of Spades can cut. You also cannot cut while a Pick Two or Pick Five is unresolved.
Published rule versions
These come straight from the database, so what you read is what the game engine uses.