Macau (card game)

Macau, also spelled Makaua or Macaua, is a shedding-type card game from Hungary, played with a standard 52 card deck under rules similar to Crazy Eights or Uno. The object is to be the first player to remove all cards from one's hand. Play is tactical, as players manage their cards to make their hands as efficient as possible and respond strategically to opponents' moves, and bluffing is a core element because a player may withhold playable cards to keep them for later. The game belongs to the broader Crazy Eights family, which first appeared in the 1930s and shares shedding mechanics with Mau-Mau in Germany, Pesten in the Netherlands and Switch in the United Kingdom. The name is distinct from the unrelated 18th-century banking card game Macao, a forerunner of baccarat.