How to play Matatu
Uganda Classic · two to six at the table
Sevens chop · twos punish · aces change the suit
At a glance
- Players
- 2The classic duel — rooms seat up to six
- The deck
- 52Jokers only if you switch them on
- The deal
- 7 eachOne card sits face-up under the pile
- The match
- 100First to 100 points takes it
Two ways to play
Classic
52 cards · no jokers
- Only the 2 picks: two cards, and it can be answered.
- The 3 is an ordinary card.
- The ace of spades is just a spade — a wild ace with no immunity.
- The seven of the cutter's suit chops.
Joker
54 cards · two jokers
- The 3 becomes a pick-three; the jokers are wild pick-fives.
- Pick cards answer each other and the two are compared: bigger hands its own amount on, equal cancels (a 3 on a 3, a joker on a joker), smaller picks the difference.
- The ace of spades is immunity — it wipes the whole penalty out.
- Everything else plays exactly as in classic.
| Joker | 50 |
|---|---|
| A♠ | 15 |
More than two at the table
Two is the classic duel, but Matatu is a table game — rooms here seat up to six. The cards behave the same; the table changes a few things.
- The 8 skips, the J reverses. With three or more, the 8 steps over the next player and the J turns the order around. With only two, both of them simply hand the turn back to you — there is nobody in between to skip and no order left to reverse. The strip above the cloth shows the order around the table, tags the seat an 8 would step over and the seat a J would hand the turn to, and flips around when the order does.
- One pick, one victim. A pick is a debt against the next player: answer it with a pick card of your own and the two cards are compared — bigger hands your own amount on, equal cancels it, smaller leaves you picking the difference. Only the player who ends up short picks anything up; nobody in between picks a card.
- The chop counts everybody. When someone cuts with the seven, every hand at the table is added up and the lightest takes the round — the chopper only wins if they are also the lightest.
- The ace of spades matters more. In joker mode it cancels the pick against you, whoever it came from, which is the card everyone at a big table is waiting for.
- Round and deal. The round ends the moment somebody sheds their last card, and they score the rest of the table. If the draw pile runs dry, the discards (all but the top) are shuffled back under the cutter. A table whose deal does not fit one deck is refused rather than dealt short.
House rules multiply with the number of chairs: some tables play on after the first player is out, some eliminate one player per round, some use two decks, and and this app plays the older two-stage call: “Warning!” at two cards, “Card!” at one. See Customize and the project's docs/RULES.md for the switches.
Your turn
Open the pile
The table starts bare: whoever leads plays any card they like, and that card becomes the suit to match. Nothing is turned over to start the pile, so no card is wasted on it.
Match the pile
Then play a card that matches the top of the discard by suit or by number: any heart on a heart, any 9 on a 9. Whatever you lay becomes the suit in play — a 5 of diamonds on a 5 of hearts leaves diamonds to match, not hearts. Only an ace bends that, because you name the suit.
Or draw instead
You may always draw a card on your turn — even when you are holding something that fits. Play the card you drew if it fits, otherwise the turn passes on its own. You may not pass while you are holding a card that fits.
Let the specials work
Twos, eights, jacks and aces bite the moment they land. In joker mode the threes and the jokers bite too, and the ace of spades answers them.
Do the calling
Down to two cards you owe “Warning!”; down to one you owe “Card!”. Each shout is made after you land and before your next play — the game refuses the move until you make it. Any draw cancels the call, so land again and call again.
Empty your hand
First player out wins the round and scores whatever everybody else is still holding.
Or chop with the seven
The seven of the cutter's suit ends the round at once when your hand is light enough — but only if you are strictly lighter than everybody else.
The chopper
One card is dealt face-up under the draw pile where everyone can see it — the cutter (also called the base card). Its suit decides the chopper: here it is diamonds, so the 7 of diamonds is the seven.
- You may chop on your turn, with no pick-penalty waiting for you.
- Your hand must total 30 or less, the seven you are holding included — the cards you would be left with must be light.
- Playing it ends the round at once. The lightest hand wins.
- While you are too heavy to cut, that seven stays in your hand — you cannot throw it away. Sevens of the other suits are ordinary cards.
Chop too heavy and you hand the round away: your total has to be strictly lower than everyone else's, otherwise the lightest hand at the table takes it. That risk is the whole game.
Special cards
- 22
Pick two
Every 2The next player draws two cards and loses their turn — unless they answer with firepower of the pick's own colour, compared with the card against them: a bigger card hands its own amount on, an equal one cancels the pick outright, and a smaller one leaves the difference with the player who could not cover it (a black 2 on a black 3 picks one). Nothing else may be played while a pick is against you.
- 33
Pick three
Joker mode · the 3With jokers switched on the threes join in, worth three cards to the next player and answering a pick two of their own colour as any firepower does. In classic play the 3 is an ordinary card.
Colour joker
Joker mode · the jokersA joker is wild and carries a five, and it names its own colour instead of a suit: the red joker red, the black joker black. The colour governs the whole exchange — the pick it opens, and any pick laid on that colour — and it still governs ordinary play while the joker is on top, even after its five is picked up. The other joker always answers (five against five cancels), and so does the ace of spades.
- AAA
Immunity
Joker mode · A♠The ace of spades cancels a pick outright — pick two, pick three or a joker's five. Play it while the penalty is against you and you pick up nothing, and it names spades as it lands (every ace names its suit; the spade names its own).
- 88
Skip
The 8The next player loses their turn and play carries on past them. With only two at the table there is nobody else to carry on to, so the 8 simply hands the turn straight back to you.
- JJJ
Reverse
The JThe order of play turns around: clockwise becomes anticlockwise. With three or more at the table that changes who follows you; with only two, a reverse is the same thing as a skip, so the J also just sends the turn back to you.
- AAA
Change suit
Every aceAn ace is wild: play it on anything, then name the suit that must be matched next. Say it out loud so the table hears.
- 77
The chopper
The sevenOnly the seven that matches the card under the draw pile (the cutter, diamonds in this picture) chops. Other sevens are ordinary cards — and the cutter seven cannot be thrown away while your hand is too heavy to cut, so you hold it until you can use it.
Everything marked joker mode switches on with the jokers: the 3 becomes a pick-three and the ace of spades becomes immunity. Queens stay plain cards in both modes — if your family plays them as a reverse, see the house variations below.
Calling “Warning!” and “Card!”
The call comes in two stages, and both are made after you land — never before. Holding two cards, you owe “Warning!”; holding one, you owe “Card!”. Tap the button the board offers when the shout is due.
Until you shout you may not play or draw — so a silent last card is impossible. Let a shout slide and you pick up a penalty of two cards, which puts you back above the line: land again, call again. A “Warning!” never covers the last card, so expect to shout twice.
Any draw cancels the call — the hand grew, so the announcement no longer applies. At a real table anyone can catch an uncalled hand, so keep one eye on everybody else's cards.
Card values
| Card | Value |
|---|---|
| Ace | 15 |
| King | 13 |
| Queen | 12 |
| Jack | 11 |
| 10 down to 3 | face value |
| 2 | 20 |
| Joker | 50 |
Worked example: K + 9 + 7 = 29 — light enough to chop. The same three cards cost you 29 points if somebody else takes the round.
Scoring
The round winner scores the total of everybody else's remaining hands. Your own leftover cards are simply not counted — so a heavy hand is a gift to the winner.
- Empty hand first: you win the round outright.
- Chopper: you win only if your total is the lowest at the table.
- Nobody can move: the lightest hand takes the round.
Matches run to 100 points. Keep dealing rounds until somebody crosses the target — highest score at the end wins.
House variations
Every family plays it slightly differently. These are all optional — agree them before the first deal.
- Cut limit 25 or 30Our tables cut at 30 points. Plenty of families use 25 — and one or two let you chop at any weight, which turns the seven into a loaded gun.
- Sevens played normallySome tables let every seven be laid like an ordinary card, with the cut only available when the weight allows. Others make the cutter seven unplayable until you can cut, as we do.
- Two worth 20Most tables count the 2 as 20 points — it carries the pick-two, so it is the heaviest card in the deck. You will also meet tables where it counts 2, and a few where the joker is only worth 20.
- Queens reverseA queen flips the direction of play. Useful with three or more at the table; with two it acts like a jump.
- Picks that add upOur tables compare the two cards and let the smaller one off with the difference. Plenty of families instead have the debt grow — 2 → 4 → 7 → 12 — which buries a player under half the deck. The switch is on the table setup screen.
- Kenyan dealFive cards each instead of seven — a faster, tighter round with far less room to chop.
- Draw until you can playKeep drawing until something fits instead of drawing just one card and passing.