How to play Durak
Durak (the fool) is the card game Russia grows up on, and it is played across Eastern Europe and beyond. Players take turns attacking and defending with cards, and the one left holding cards at the end is the durak. Nobody wins a game of durak. Everybody else simply is not the fool.
- Players
- 2 to 6
- What you need
- 36 cards, sixes up to aces
- How long
- Three games, a few minutes each
What Durak is
Durak is a game of attack and defence. One player throws a card at the next, who has to beat it. Others join in by throwing more cards at the same defender, and the defender has to beat those too, or give up and take the lot.
There is no score inside a game. Players go out once the stock is gone and their hands are empty, and the last player still holding cards is the durak, the fool. This version is podkidnoy, the throw-in game, which is the one most people mean by durak.
The deal
- Use 36 cards: every six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king and ace.
- Deal six cards to each player.
- Turn the next card face up and lay it under the rest of the stock, sideways, so it shows. Its suit is trumps for the whole game. The turned card is the last one drawn.
Whoever holds the lowest trump shows it and attacks first. With six players every card is dealt, so the last card dealt, the dealer’s, is the one that names trumps.
What beats what
Aces are high and sixes are low. A card is beaten by a higher card of the same suit, or by any trump.
A card of another suit that is not a trump never beats anything, however high it is.
A bout
- The attacker leads any card at the next player round the table, the defender.
- The defender beats it, laying the beating card across it, or takes.
- The attacker and the others may throw in more cards, and the defender must beat each one.
A bout holds six attacks at most (five in the first bout of a game, at most tables), and never more cards waiting to be beaten than the defender holds.
Throwing in
Once the first card is down, any card may be thrown in whose rank is already on the table, among the attack cards or the cards that beat them.
Everybody but the defender may throw in. At this table they are asked in turn, starting from the attacker. A player with nothing that could go in is passed over, and a player who has had enough presses Done.
When every attack is beaten and nobody wants to throw in more, the bout is over. The cards are bito: they go face down out of the game, and the defender attacks next.
Taking
A defender who cannot beat a card, or does not want to spend the cards it would take, gives up and takes. The others may still throw in more cards of the ranks on the table, within the limits, and then the defender picks up everything on the table.
Taking costs the defender their turn to attack: the player after them attacks next.
Passing the attack on
In perevodnoy, the passing game, a defender who has not yet beaten anything may lay a card of the same rank beside the attack. That passes the whole attack on to the next player, who now has two cards to beat and may pass it on again.
The next player must hold at least as many cards as the attack would become. It is a house rule, off unless the table turns it on.
Filling hands again
After every bout each player with fewer than six cards draws from the stock until they have six, the attacker first, then the others round the table, and the defender last.
The turned trump is the last card drawn. Once the stock is gone nobody draws, and hands only get smaller, unless a defender takes.
The end of a game
Once the stock is gone, a player whose hand is empty is out and plays no more. The last player still holding cards is the durak.
If the last two players go out on the same card, the defender beating the attacker’s last card with their own, nobody is the durak and the game is a draw.
The match
A match is a number of games, and the durak of each game deals the next. The table counts how many times each player was the durak.
Whoever was the durak least often wins the match. If two or more share the fewest, the match is a draw.
At this table
The bout lies across the middle of the table as pairs, each attack card with the card that beat it laid across it. The stock is at the left end with the trump under it, and beaten cards go face down to the right.
On your turn, tap a card to lead it, throw it in, or beat with it. A card that could beat more than one attack card lights them, and a second tap on one lays it there. The buttons are Take for the defender and Done for a player who may throw in.
If you cannot beat a card at all, you take without being asked. Each seat shows how many cards it holds, and whether it is attacking, defending or out.
Tactics
- Attack with low cards that are not trumps, and keep your trumps and aces for defending.
- Throw in the cheap cards you want rid of, especially while the defender is taking.
- Early on, taking a few small cards can be better than spending a high trump on them.
- Count the trumps that have gone. Once the stock is gone you can know every card left.
Options
Every table here plays the rules above. These are what the players agree before the first deal.
| Setting | Standard | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 4 | Two to six. With six, every card is dealt and there is no stock. |
| Games | 3 | How many games a match lasts. |
| Passing the attack on | Off | Lets a defender pass the attack on with a card of the same rank. |
| Pack | 36 cards | The whole pack of 52 makes a longer game with a longer stock. |
| First bout of a game | Five | How many attacks the first bout of a game may hold. |
| Difficulty | Medium | Easy plays loosely. Medium keeps its trumps. Hard remembers every card and works out the endgame. |
The words
- Durak (дурак, दुराक)
- The fool: the player left holding cards at the end of a game.
- Kozyr (козырь)
- Trumps, the suit of the card turned under the stock. In Nepal, turup (तुरुप).
- Bito (бито)
- Beaten: said when every attack is beaten and the cards go out of the game.
- Podkidnoy (подкидной)
- The throw-in game, where other players may add cards to the attack. The game this table plays.
- Perevodnoy (переводной)
- The passing game, where a defender may pass the attack on with a card of the same rank.
Every rule on this page is the one the app plays by. Change any of them on the game's own page before you start.