The deck and the deal
Durak is usually played with 36 cards — six through ace in each of the four suits. There are also 24-card (nine up) and 52-card (two up) decks.
Each player is dealt six cards. The next card is turned face up and its suit becomes trump for the whole game. It goes under the deck face up and is drawn last.
Attack and defence
The attacker plays a card. The defender has to beat it with a higher card of the same suit or with any trump. A trump can only be beaten by a higher trump.
Cards rank: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace.
Throwing in
While the defence goes on, the attacker, and then the other players, may throw in cards of any rank already on the table. A single round has at most six attacking cards, and never more than the defender holds.
Beaten or taken
- If the defender beats every card, they go to the discard pile and the defender attacks next.
- If they can’t or won’t defend, they pick up every card on the table and lose their turn: the player after them attacks next.
- After each round players draw back up to six — the attacker first, the defender last.
End of the game
Once the deck runs out, players who shed all their cards leave the game. The last player still holding cards is the durak — the fool. If the last cards go from everyone at once, it’s a draw.
Passing Durak
Everything is the same, but the defender has one more option: before beating any card, they can lay a card of the same rank and pass the attack to the next player, who can pass it on again. You can only pass if the next player holds enough cards to defend.
In the app the server keeps the rules: it deals the cards, runs the turn clock and shows which cards you can play.