Durak
Also known as: The Fool
Quick Rules
- Uses a 36-card deck (6 through Ace); the last card dealt sets the trump suit for the whole hand.
- The attacker plays a card; the defender must beat it with a higher card of the same suit, or any trump card, or pick up everything on the table instead.
- Other players can pile on more attacking cards matching any rank already on the table, up to the number of cards the defender still holds.
- Successfully defending against every attack clears the table and the attacker role passes on; failing means you pick up all the cards played that turn.
- Players who empty their hand (with the draw pile also empty) are out and safe; the very last player still holding cards is the Durak - the Fool.
How to Play (Quick Overview)
- 1
Shuffle a 36-card deck (6 through Ace in each suit) and deal 6 cards to each player; place the rest face down as the draw pile, with the bottom card of that pile turned face up to reveal the trump suit for the entire hand.
- 2
The player with the lowest trump card in hand attacks first, playing any one card face up in front of the defender (the player to their left).
- 3
The defender must beat that card - with a higher card of the same suit, or with any trump card if they can't (or choose not to) match the suit - or pick up every card played so far in this turn instead of defending.
- 4
If the defender beats the card, other players may add more attacking cards of any rank already showing on the table, up to the number of cards left in the defender's hand, and the defender must beat each new card in turn.
- 5
If the defender successfully beats every attacking card thrown at them, all those cards are set aside out of the game, and the attacker role passes to the next player; if the defender picks up instead, all the played cards go into their own hand, and the attack role skips ahead to the player after them.
- 6
After every turn, all players draw back up to 6 cards from the draw pile (attacker first, defender last) until the draw pile is empty; a player who empties their hand with the draw pile also empty is safely out of the game - the last player left still holding cards is the Durak.
Objective
Get rid of every card in your hand before anyone else - unlike most shedding games, Durak has no “winner” as such. The real goal is simply to avoid being the very last player left holding cards.
Setup
Shuffle a 36-card deck (only 6 through Ace in each suit - remove 2 through 5 from a standard deck). Deal 6 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards face down as the draw pile, then turn the very bottom card of that pile face up (without disturbing the rest of the pile) to reveal the trump suit for the entire hand.
How to Play
Whoever holds the lowest trump card in their starting hand attacks first. The attacker plays one card face up in front of the player to their left, who becomes the defender for this turn.
The defender must respond to each attacking card by either:
- Beating it with a higher card of the same suit, or with any trump card (trump beats every non-trump suit, regardless of rank), or
- Picking up every card currently played on the table this turn, adding them all to their own hand, ending their turn as the defender without beating anything.
If the defender successfully beats the first card, any other player at the table may add another attacking card, as long as its rank matches a rank already showing on the table (from either side) - up to the number of cards the defender currently still holds in hand, which caps how many attacks can pile up in a single turn. The defender must beat every added card in the same way.
If the defender beats every attacking card thrown at them, the whole batch of cards played this turn is set aside, out of the game entirely, and the role of attacker passes to the player after the defender. If the defender instead picks up, all those cards join their hand, and the attacker role skips past them to the next player after that.
After every turn, all players refill their hand back up to 6 cards by drawing from the draw pile, in order starting with the attacker and finishing with the defender, until the draw pile itself runs out.
Scoring
Durak has no point score of any kind - it’s purely about turn order and who runs out of cards.
Winning
Once the draw pile is empty, players can no longer refill their hand. Any player who manages to empty their hand completely at that point is safely out of the game for good. Play continues among the remaining players until only one is left holding cards - that player is the Durak (the Fool), and there’s no formal “winner,” only the loser.
Variations
- Podkidnoy Durak (“Passing Durak”): the version described above, where any player can pile on extra attacking cards, not just the original attacker.
- Perevodnoy Durak (“Transferable Durak”): a variant that lets a defender “transfer” the attack onto the next player instead of defending, if they hold a card of the same rank as the one just attacked with.
- Podkidnoy vs. classic 1v1 Durak: two-player Durak simplifies the pile-on rule since there’s no third player to add extra attacking cards.
History
Durak developed in Russia, with its name (literally “fool” in Russian) and core attack-and-defend structure believed to date back to at least the 19th century, though like many folk card games its precise origin isn’t well documented. It became, and remains, one of the most widely played card games across Russia and much of the former Soviet Union, often considered close to a national card game.
Fun Fact
Durak was reportedly discouraged in some social and educational settings in the Soviet Union at various points for being seen as a frivolous pastime, which did little to dent its enormous ongoing popularity in Russian households.