Russia's most beloved card game: attack, defend and make sure you are not the last one left holding cards, because that player is the “durak”, the fool. For 2 to 6 players with 36 cards, in the classic version or with transfers, it mixes memory, trump counting and a pinch of luck.
Goal: Get rid of all your cards before the others: the last player still holding cards loses and is the “durak” (the fool).
Durak is played with a 36-card deck (6 up to Ace) by 2 to 6 players. Everyone is dealt 6 cards. The next card is turned face up and slid under the deck: its suit is the trump suit for the whole game, and that card is drawn last. With 6 players the whole deck is dealt, so the last card dealt is turned face up, stays in its owner's hand and shows the trump.
Within each suit the cards rank from low to high: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. Any trump beats any card of another suit, and a trump can only be beaten by a higher trump.
The player holding the lowest trump attacks first; if nobody holds a trump, the first player at the table begins.
The game is a series of “attacks”. In each attack one player, the attacker, plays a card face up and the next player clockwise, the defender, has to cover it: with a higher card of the same suit or with any trump (if the attacking card is itself a trump, only a higher trump will do).
In this game the cards are played one at a time: after each attacking card the defender answers by covering it, by taking the cards or, in the transfer variant, by passing the attack on to the next player.
Once the defender has covered every attacking card, the attackers may add more: first the main attacker, then the other players in turn, clockwise (the defender never attacks). Only a card whose rank is already on the table, among the attacking or the covering cards, may be thrown in, and the defender has to answer every card that is added.
An attack has at most 6 attacking cards, and never more than the number of cards the defender held when he began to defend.
When nobody wants (or is able) to add another card, the defender has beaten off the attack: all cards on the table go to the discard pile (“bito”, the “beaten” cards) and are out of the game for good. Players with nothing to add are skipped automatically.
If the defender cannot or does not want to cover a card, he says “take”. The attackers may still add cards (same rank rule, same limits) to give him more to carry. Then the defender picks up every card on the table, including the ones he had already covered with, and loses his turn to attack: the player after him attacks next.
If the defender covered everything, he becomes the next attacker (provided he still has cards) and the player after him defends. If he took the cards, the next attacker is the player who follows him.
Then everyone with fewer than 6 cards draws from the deck up to 6: first the attacker, then the others clockwise, the defender last. The trump card turned up at the bottom of the deck is drawn very last and is thereby shown to everybody.
Once the deck is empty, a player who runs out of cards leaves the game: that is a win, and players are ranked in the order they leave. Players who have left are skipped. The last player still holding cards is the “durak”. If the last players run out of cards in the very same attack, the game is a draw: nobody is the durak.
If the very same situation comes up again without any card leaving the game (the cards just go round in circles), the game is a draw.
Classic (podkidnoy): the rules described above.
With transfer (perevodnoy): as long as the defender has not covered any card, he may pass the attack on: he adds a card of the same rank as the attacking cards (a trump is fine too) and the next player becomes the defender, provided he holds at least as many cards as are now on the table. The transfer can be repeated, even all the way back to the first attacker. As soon as one card has been covered, transfers are no longer possible.
Who may add cards: all attackers (default) or only the two neighbours of the defender, that is the main attacker and the player to the defender's left.
First attack limited to 5 cards: in the very first attack of the game at most 5 attacking cards may be played instead of 6.
Attack with low cards (pairs of the same rank are best) and save trumps and aces for the endgame. Cover with the smallest card that does the job and remember which cards have already gone: counting trumps helps a lot, especially when the deck is nearly empty. Taking the cards is not always a defeat: sometimes it costs less than wasting a high trump.