Experience Shakespeare: How to Play Maw

You can use this tutorial to learn how to play the game of Maw.

The official rules of Maw are outlined inside The Groom Porter’s Laws which appear in Ancient Ballads and Broadsides published in England in the sixteenth Century… as preserved in the Library of Henry Huth, London, 1867. (yes, that’s the entire title) I found out about this marvelous book through Partlett Games where he adds “There is a copy [of this Ancient Ballads book] in the Bodleian Library. I am grateful to Thierry Depaulis for communicating this discovery.” Source

I am grateful as well to Thierry Depaulis, but as I don’t get to Oxford as often as I would like, I hoped there was a digital version to be unearthed somewhere.

Title page of the book where I found the Groom Porter’s Laws. Source

Screen capture (October 29, 2019) of the first of three pages that detail the official court rules of how to play Maw. Source

So I went looking for one, and I found a copy of something that claims to be that ballad book, but when you click on it, it says on the title page that it is “A collection of seventy-nine black-letter ballads and broadsides: printed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, between the years 1559 and 1597 : accompanied with an introd. and ill. notes” Either way, you can see the list of the laws for how to play on pages 123-125 (though the digital bar at the bottom will tell you it’s pages 121-123, but that does not correspond with the page numbers listed on the pages themselves). Read the book here

Helpful article on the 16th century playing of games (See backgammon on the table in this picture?) Source

Other books and references used when putting this tutorial together:

Screen capture of “Researches Into the History of Playing Cards: With Illustrations of the ...”
By Samuel Weller Singer | Pg. 259 and one of three references to Maw in this book | Available as a free ebook at the Google Books link included here.

This 16th century text accuses King James of postponing a criminal execution because he wanted to finish a game of Maw. Source
It is written by Anthony Weldon, who is notoriously critical of James I, but hilarious nonetheless.

The reference to the King’s Card Holder occurs in The Court and Character of King James by Sir Anthony WeldonJanuary 1, 1650 | Pg. 35

Also available at the National Library of Australia

Just a small sample of the massive collection of resources concerning historic card games available from David Partlett. Read more here.

A few paintings from the 16th century depicting card players. The center painting (the one of uncertain authorship done in the style after Lucs van Leyden) shows the card game Primero.

Peasants Playing Cards by Norbert vanBloemen (1670-1746)
after Lucas van Leyden, The Card Players, , probably c. 1550/1599, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection
LEYDEN, Lucas Hugensz van_Los jugadores de cartas, c. 1520_221 (1971.9)