How to play Durak: rules, strategy and variants

01What kind of game is Durak?

Durak (Дурак) means fool in Russian, and the name tells you how the game ends: the last player still holding cards is the fool. Everyone else simply gets out. It is the most familiar card game in Russia and across the former Soviet Union, the game people play on long train journeys and at the kitchen table.

Unlike most card games, Durak has no tricks to win and no points to count. Instead it is a game of attack and defence. In each bout one player attacks, the next player defends by beating every card thrown at them, and anyone who can't defend has to pick the cards up. Picking up is bad, because once the deck runs out the aim is to get rid of your cards.

If you want to try it while you read, you can play Durak online free in your browser against the computer, with nothing to install.

02The deck, the deal and the trump suit

Durak is traditionally played with 36 cards: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace in each of the four suits. Ace is high. Some players use a full 52 card deck instead, which makes for a longer game and is handy with 5 or 6 players.

Each player gets 6 cards. The remaining cards form the talon, the draw pile. Its bottom card is turned face up and laid under the talon so everyone can see it. That card decides the trump suit for the whole game, and because it sits at the bottom, it is the very last card to be drawn.

Durak works for 2 to 6 players. With two it is a tight duel. With more it becomes a noisy table where several people gang up on whoever is defending.

03Who attacks first

In the first game, the player holding the lowest trump attacks first. If hearts are trumps and you hold the 6 of hearts, you start. The attacker always attacks the player on their left.

In a series of games, house rules vary. In our game, later games of a match are led by the player to the left of the last durak, which spares the loser from defending straight away.

04How a bout works: attack, beat, throw in

A bout is one round of attack and defence. It goes like this:

• Attack. The attacker plays any card face up in front of the defender. They may also lead two or more cards of the same rank together, such as two 9s.
• Beat. The defender covers each attacking card with a card that beats it: a higher card of the same suit, or any trump. If the attacking card is itself a trump, only a higher trump beats it.
• Throw in. Once everything on the table is beaten, attackers may add more cards, but only of ranks already on the table. If the table shows a 7 and a 10, you can throw in any 7 or any 10. The defender must beat these too.
• Bito. If the defender beats everything and nobody throws in more, the cards on the table are set aside as beaten (players call this bito). The defender becomes the next attacker.
• Take. If the defender can't, or would rather not, beat everything, they take. Attackers may still throw in matching cards first, then the defender picks up every card on the table and also loses their turn to attack.

05Drawing back up, and how the game ends

After each bout, everyone with fewer than 6 cards draws from the talon until they have 6 again. The order matters: the main attacker draws first, the other attackers next and the defender last. When the talon is short, that order decides who gets the last cards, including the face up trump.

Once the talon is empty, nobody draws. Now the game becomes a race to shed your hand. A player who runs out of cards is out and safe. The game goes on until only one player still has cards, and that player is the durak. If the last two players get rid of their cards at the same moment, nobody is the durak and the game is a draw.

Many families play a match rather than a single game. A common format, and one our game offers, is to play until someone has been the durak 3 or 5 times.

06Podkidnoy vs Perevodnoy

The two big variants are named after the move that defines them.

Podkidnoy (подкидной), throw-in Durak, is the classic game and the one described above. Its whole tension comes from the throw-in: a defender who handles one card easily can suddenly face five, because everyone at the table had a card of the same rank. Some tables let everyone throw in. Others allow only the attacker and the player on the defender's other side, which keeps bouts shorter.

Perevodnoy (переводной), transfer Durak, keeps every Podkidnoy rule and adds one escape. Before beating anything, the defender may lay down a card of the same rank as the attack. That turns the attack into a bigger one and passes it to the next player, who becomes the defender. The new defender must hold at least as many cards as there would now be attacking cards. They can transfer again in the same way, so an attack can travel right round the table.

A popular Perevodnoy house rule lets you transfer just by showing a trump of the attacking rank instead of playing it, so you keep the trump. Each trump can only be shown once in a bout.

Which should you learn first? Podkidnoy. It teaches the core skills of beating cheaply and saving trumps. Once that feels natural, Perevodnoy adds a layer of bluff and timing that experienced players love.

07Simple Durak strategy for beginners

You don't need to count every card to stop being the fool. These habits make the biggest difference:

• Shed small cards early. While the talon still refills your hand, attack with low non-trumps. They are the cards that sink you later.
• Keep your trumps. Use a trump only when there is no cheaper way to beat a card, or when taking would cost you more. High trumps win endgames.
• Attack with pairs. Two cards of the same rank make the defender spend two good cards, and get two of yours out of your hand.
• Throw in with purpose. A card the defender beats with a 6 helps nobody. Throw in when it forces out a trump or a high card.
• Take early rather than late. Picking up a few low cards when the talon is thick is a small setback. Picking up a pile of high cards near the end often decides the game.
• Watch what goes out. Remember the beaten cards, what each player picked up and who drew the face up trump. By the endgame you can know almost every card.

08Durak vs other shedding games

Durak is a shedding game, meaning the goal is to get rid of your cards, but it plays very differently from its cousins.

In matching games like Crazy Eights and Mau-Mau, you play a card that matches the top card by suit or rank, and the first player to empty their hand wins. Our guide to Crazy Eights and Mau-Mau rules covers that family. Satti, the South Asian version with 7s, Jacks and 8s as special cards, is explained in Satti, Sevens and Badam Satti.

Durak turns the race around. There is no single winner, just one loser, and the play is direct confrontation: one defender against everyone else's cards. The closest relative in Pakistan and India is Bhabhi, also called Thulla, where the last player holding cards becomes the Bhabhi. Bhabhi is played by following suit in tricks, while Durak is played in bouts of attack and defence, but both share the same fear of being the last one left. If you know Bhabhi, the Bhabhi rules guide makes a good comparison.

• Goal: Durak, don't be last. Crazy Eights and Satti, be first out.
• Interaction: Durak, attack and defend directly. Matching games, play on a shared pile.
• Trumps: Durak has a fixed trump suit for the whole game. Matching games use special cards instead.
• Skill: Durak rewards memory and planning more than most shedding games.

09Play Durak now

The fastest way to learn Durak is to play a few games. On PlayNest you can choose Podkidnoy or Perevodnoy, 36 or 52 cards, 2 to 6 players and three computer levels, from Easy to a Hard opponent that tracks every card. The hint button, the light bulb, suggests a move when you are stuck, and the bout log shows every bout so you can see where it went wrong.

When you are ready for people, invite friends with a room code or a WhatsApp link, and the computer fills any empty seat. Play now: play Durak online free on your phone or computer, with no download and no sign-up.