Mau Mau Extreme takes the basics of Mau Mau – that is, playing cards from your hand to match the top card of the discard pile in order to empty your hand first – and turns up the challenge by introducing a buzzer and speed elements.

The gist of the game remains the same as the original: Players receive a hand of seven cards from a deck of sixty, and one card is place face-up to start a discard pile. On a turn, the active player discards a card that matches either in number or color the card on top of the discard pile. If a player can't legally play, she must draw a card; if she can play this card, she may do so. Playing a +2 card forces the next player to draw two cards before playing as normal, while playing "Aussetzen!" skips the next player's turn.

New gameplay elements in Mau Mau Extreme include an out-of-turn playing option. If you have a card in hand that matches the top card of the discard pile in both color and suit and you can buzz before the next player goes, you can play this duplicate card immediately. Four types of violet cards can be played on top of anything, and they either give you another turn immediately, force everyone to draw one card, force your left- and right-hand to race for the buzzer (with the slower player drawing a card as a penalty), or force everyone to race for the buzzer!

Empty your hand first, and you win a chip. The first player to collect three chips wins the game.

A variant for masochists or those who just like to buzz a lot has you paying attention to the back of the cards as well, as each back features 1-4 colored buttons that match the colors of the main suits. After a person draws a card, if one of the buttons on the newly revealed card matches the color of the top card on the discard pile, players must race to hit the buzzer, with the last player to do so drawing a penalty card.

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