Rules of Durak

Durak — “the fool”. The rules as the app plays them, including every table rule you can switch in Settings.

The goal

There is no winner in Durak, only a loser. Players who run out of cards are simply out. Play continues until one player is left holding the whole remainder — that player is the durak, the fool, and the next deal is theirs to suffer.

With two players this means one of you loses. With more, you are playing not to be last.

The deck and the deal

Durak is played with a stripped deck. The app offers three:

Everyone is dealt six cards. The next card is turned face up and laid crosswise under the remaining stock: its suit is trump for the whole game, and that card is the very last one drawn.

Ranks run 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, low to high. Any trump beats any non-trump; a trump is beaten only by a higher trump.

Who attacks first

Three conventions, all in Settings → Table rules:

• Traditional — the seat to the dealer's left opens.
• Lowest trump — whoever was dealt the lowest trump opens. The usual house rule, and the reason people show their lowest trump before the first card.
• Always you or always the computer — for when you would rather not argue about it.

The bout

A bout is one round of attack and defence. The attacker leads a card face up. The defender to their left must beat it:

• with a higher card of the same suit, or
• with any trump, if the attack was not a trump, or
• with a higher trump, if it was.

A beating card is laid across the card it beats, so anyone can see at a glance what is still uncovered.

Throwing in

In Podkidnoy (thrown-up) Durak — the mode most people mean by “Durak” — the attack is not one card but as many as the table can throw. Once an attack has been covered, any player may add another card, but only of a rank already on the table, counting both the attacks and the cards that beat them.

Two limits apply:

• never more than the defender still holds in hand — you cannot bury someone with more cards than they could possibly cover;
• never more than six attacks in one bout. (Switch Throw in more than six on in Settings if your house plays without that cap.)

The seats throw in turn, starting with the attacker, going round to the defender's other neighbour.

Passing it on

In the Perevodnoy (transfer) modes the defender has a third option. Instead of beating the attack, they may add a card of the same rank to the table and pass the whole bout to the next seat, who now has to deal with it — with one more card to cover than before.

In Transfer 2 a trump of that rank passes it on as well. The bout can travel right round the table this way, which is how a single six becomes somebody's disaster.

Beaten, or taken

The bout ends one of two ways:

• Done — every attack is covered and nobody adds more. The whole table goes face down to the discard, out of the game. The defender survived, and they attack next.
• Take — the defender gives up and takes. They do not pick up immediately: the other players may keep throwing in cards of ranks already on the table, up to the same cap, and the defender takes every one of them. Then the whole table joins their hand, and their turn to attack is skipped — the next seat along attacks instead.

Drawing back up

After each bout, while the stock lasts, every player draws back up to six cards — in a fixed order: the attacker first, then the other players in turn, and the defender last. The face-up trump under the stock is the final card taken.

Once the stock is empty nobody draws again, and the endgame begins: from here on, what you are holding is all you will ever have.

Ending the game

A player who has played their last card and has nothing to draw is out, and takes no further part. The rest play on. When only one player still holds cards, that player is the fool and the game is over.

With an even number of cards it is possible for the last two players to run out together — an honourable draw, and nobody is the fool.

The modes at a glance

Trump exchange

A common house rule: a player holding the lowest trump of the deck — the six, in a 36-card game — may swap it for the face-up trump card lying under the stock. Settings lets you allow this for nobody, for yourself only, for the computer only, or for everyone.

A few habits worth having

• Trumps are for defending, not for showing off. A trump spent beating a six is a trump you do not have when the ace comes.
• Count what has gone to the discard. In the endgame, knowing that both remaining kings are already buried is the whole game.
• Taking is not always losing. Taking six cards early, while the stock is deep, costs far less than taking two at the end.
• Watch what the seat before you is short of. In thrown-up Durak you are not only attacking the defender — you are helping the next attacker.

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