How to play Durak

The goal

Get rid of your cards. That is the whole game. There is no score to chase and no tricks to collect — the round ends when everybody except one player has emptied their hand, and that last player is the durak, the fool.

So: one loser, everyone else wins. Nobody comes second.

Step 1 — Look at the trump

Six cards are dealt to each player. One more is turned face up under the deck. Whatever suit that card is, that suit is trump for the whole round.

Trumps beat everything. The lowest trump in the deck beats the ace of every other suit. Count how many you have before you do anything else — that number is your hand's real strength, not the pretty face cards.

Step 2 — Somebody attacks

The attacker puts one card face up on the table. If you are sitting to their left, you are the defender and it is aimed at you.

The opening attacker of the first round is whoever holds the lowest trump. After that it moves around the table.

Step 3 — Beat it, or take it

To beat the attacking card you need:

• a higher card of the same suit, or
• any trump — unless the attack was itself a trump, in which case you need a higher trump.

Lay your card across theirs. Now the other players may pile on: anyone can add another card, but only of a rank already on the table. If a nine has been played, more nines may come; a queen may not.

Beat all of them and the whole pile is discarded — gone from the game — and you attack next.

Miss one and you take everything on the table into your hand. The attack skips past you to the next player.

Step 4 — Refill, and count the deck

Everyone draws back up to six cards while the deck lasts, attacker first. When the deck runs out — and the face-up trump is the very last card anyone draws — no one refills again.

That moment is when the game actually starts. Up to then a bad round costs you nothing; after it, every card you take is one you have to get rid of on your own.

Four habits that win rounds

Spend low cards early. While the deck is deep, throwing away sixes and sevens costs nothing — you draw straight back up. Do it before the deck dries out and those cards become dead weight.

Do not defend with a trump you will want later. Taking a small pile early is often cheaper than burning the ace of trumps to avoid it.

Watch what leaves the table. Discarded cards never return. If all four queens are gone, your king of that suit is now unbeatable outside trumps.

Count the deck, not your hand. Everyone can see how many cards are left. The player who knows the exact turn the refills stop is the player who plans for it.

Then what

The rules above are the honest, throw-in game — the one nearly everybody means by "Durak". Two variations are worth knowing once you are comfortable: transfer Durak, where you can pass an attack along instead of defending it, and tricky tables, where breaking a rule on purpose is allowed and everyone else can challenge you for it.