
They do not have to follow the suit that was led or lay a trump card. If the defending player chooses to defend against the attack, they may play any card they wish from their hand. If the defending player chooses to accept the attack, they pick up the card and add it to their hand. The following player does not have to follow suit if they do not want to. The leading player may choose any card from their hand to lead first. The defending player has two choices: to defend the attack, or pick up the card. The player who leads will attack their opponent by playing any card of their choice. In Durak, each trick is characterized by attacking and defending. At the beginning of the following rounds, the non-dealing player will become the attacker and lead first. If no one has the 6, the player with the 7 goes first and so on. For example, if hearts are trump, the player with the 6 of hearts goes first. The player with the lowest trump card becomes the attacker and goes first. From this point on, the loser of the round becomes the next dealer. The top card is flipped over to determine the trump suit for the round and placed under the draw pile in such a way that it can be seen. The rest of the deck is placed on the table as the draw pile. The player who drew the lowest card deals first.ĭealer collects the cards, shuffles thoroughly, and deals six cards to each player one at a time. To play this game with a French deck, remove the 2’s up through the 5’s.Įach player should take a card from the deck. THE CARDS & THE DEALĭurak uses a 36 card deck. Unlike most trick taking games, in Durak players are not required to follow suit or lay trump.ĭurak is an extremely interesting trick taking game that really feels like a battle while you are playing.

Each player is trying to shed cards from their hand and be the first player out of the game. This is a trick taking game that frames each trick as a battle between attacker and defender. The rules for a 2 player game are included below. The game can be played with 2 – 5 players individually or in teams. Durak literally means idiot, and it denotes the loser of the game. OBJECTIVE OF 2 PLAYER DURAK: Be the first player to empty their hand NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 players NUMBER OF CARDS: 36 card deck RANK OF CARDS: (low) 6’s – Aces, Trump suit (high) TYPE OF GAME: Trick taking AUDIENCE: Adultsĭurak is an extremely popular trick taking card game in Russia.
