LowerShelf Games
September 1, 2023
LowerShelf Games posts new games every week to our blog and add to our Gamebase. These games are free and available for everyone to learn how to play!
This week's game Matatu was submitted by Pacifique T. and the full and detailed instructions can be found here.
If you like the game UNO, you will love this game as well! Matatu is a card game that requires luck but uses real strategy as well. You will try and play cards from your hand before your opponent to win the game.
The similarities to UNO are based in the gameplay being to play a card that has the same suit or value. There are also draw cards, reverse cards, and wild cards which UNO shares as well.
There is not a lot of places to learn the game Matatu, so we are grateful that Pacifique shared it with our community! There are classic and joker versions of the game Matatu, but this blog will cover the classic version.
Check out our 1 minute tutorial below!
How to Play:
The Goal of the Game Matatu:
Players are trying to be the first player to get rid of all their cards and win the game.
The Materials for the Game Matatu:
Deck of Cards
The Setup for the game Matatu:
Gather 2-7 players together. Most ages can play Matatu, as it is mostly just matching numbers and suits together.
Shuffle the deck of cards and deal each player 7 cards face down.
Place the remaining deck of cards in the middle of the table and flip over the top card.
As long as it is not a card with a value of 7, place it face up next to the deck in the middle. (This card is known as the "Chopper", and it's relevance will be explained in the Rules Section)
The Directions for the game Matatu:
Player 1 will place a card from their hand into the middle of the table (ie a 6 of Spades).
Player 2 must then look at their own hand and try and play a card with the same suit (ie. a Spade) or the same value (ie. a 6)
Then the next player will try and play a card based off of Player 2's card, and so on.
If a player is unable to play a card, they will pick up from the deck in the middle until they can play a card.
The game is over when a player has no cards left in their hand and wins the game!
There are some "Special Cards", explained in the Rules section below.
The Rules for the game Matatu:
Special Cards:
(Ace Card)
Can be played at anytime, and also allows the player to pick any suit for the next player to play on (ie. Ace of Hearts, could change the suit to Diamonds)
(2 Card)
Makes the next player pick up 2 cards from the facedown deck and skip their turn (also if the next player has a 2 Card or an Ace Card, it can be played to stop the player from having to pick up)
(8 Card)
Is a reverse card, meaning it changes the direction of the game (ie. Clockwise to Counter-Clockwise, or vice versa)
(Jack Card)
Is a skip card, meaning it skips the next player’s turn
(7 Card)
Can be a Chopping Card, meaning if at any point a player has cards with a total value of less than 30, they can play the 7 of the correct suit to “chop”, or end the game early. Otherwise the card is played normally
How to Win using the Chopper:
The “Chopper”, which was placed face up during the set up, is another way for players to win.
When a 7 is played (matching the suit of the “Chopper”), the game ends, and players add up their cards.
Whomever has the least amount of points in their hand, wins the game!
The actual card values are as follows:
Ace of Spades = 60
Ace of Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs = 15
King = 13
Queen = 12
Jack = 11
Ten = 10
Nine = 9
Eight = 8
Seven = 7
Six = 6
Five = 5
Four = 4
Three = 3
Two = 0
Wrap-up
While it is great playing games that you can buy at the store, sometimes you might not have them laying around when you need them. So while a game like UNO is so much fun to play there might be a time you only have a deck of playing cards.
Now with Matatu, you can show all your friends and family members how to play an UNO-Like-Game, and hopefully be able to beat them at it as well! Some similar games you can find on our site include
Have you every played Matatu? Do you typically play the classic or the joker version? Let us know in the comments!
About LowerShelf Games
LowerShelf Games is a free game sharing website that provides a one stop shop for family/party game lovers. The site is a showcase for the numerous games that exist in this world. It provides a single platform for people to not only share games with common items they would find around their house, but also standardized instructions on how to play them.
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