Durak glossary

Durak came to most players through Russian and Azerbaijani kitchens, not through a rulebook, so the vocabulary at a table is a mixture of both languages and whatever the room settled on. These are the terms Durak Peak uses, with the names you will hear elsewhere.

Attacker

The player who puts a card on the table for someone else to beat. The first attacker of a round is whoever holds the lowest trump; after that the role moves around the table with each round.

Beat

To cover an attacking card with a higher card of the same suit, or with any trump. A trump attack can only be beaten by a higher trump.

Bita

Also: discard, the beaten pile. The cards taken off the table after a defender covers every attack. They are out of the game permanently and never return to the deck. Watching what has gone to bita is the single most useful habit in the game — see strategy.

Defender

The player being attacked — always the one to the attacker's left. They must beat every card played at them, or take the lot.

Deck size

24, 36 or 52 cards. The deck has to hold six cards per player, so a 24-card deck seats at most four. 36 is the classic.

Durak

The fool. The player left holding cards when everyone else has emptied their hand — and the name of the game. There is exactly one durak per round; nobody finishes second.

Podkidnoy

Throw-in Durak. The standard game, where players other than the attacker may add more cards to an attack, as long as the rank is already on the table. When somebody says "Durak" with no qualifier, this is what they mean.

Perevodnoy

Transfer Durak. A variant that adds one move: instead of defending, play a card of the rank being attacked and the whole attack passes to the next player. Pairs become escape routes.

Talon

The undealt deck, with the turned trump card sitting face up beneath it. Everybody refills from the talon after each round until it is empty. The turned trump is the last card anyone draws.

Throw in

To add a card to an attack somebody else started. Only ranks already on the table may be thrown in, and a table is set to allow it from the defender's neighbours only, or from everyone.

Tricky table

A table where breaking a rule on purpose is permitted, and where every other player may challenge a move they believe was illegal. A correct challenge costs the cheat; a wrong one costs the challenger.

Trump

Kozır. The suit of the card turned face up under the deck at the deal. Any trump beats any card of any other suit, however low. The six of trumps beats the ace of everything else.

Turn clock

The time each player has to move before the table moves on without them. Set per room: 15, 30 or 60 seconds.