President (game)
| Type | Competition |
|---|---|
| Players | 3–8; 9+ with multiple decks |
| Cards | 54 (2 jokers) |
| Deck | Anglo-American |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | Joker, deuce (2), ace, king, etc. |
| Playing time | 5–15 min. |
| Related games | |
| Daifugō (Japan), durak (Russia) | |
President is a westernized version of an originally Japanese card game named daifugō or daihinmin. It is a game for three or more, in which the players race to get rid of all of the cards in their hands in order to become "president" in the following round. It can also be played as a drinking game. A commercial version of the game exists under the name The Great Dalmuti, with a non-standard deck.
Generally, players attempt to get rid of their cards first. It is usually played as an aces-high game, although 2s are wild and the red 3 is highest, but 2s cannot be red 3s. The black 3s are the lowest cards, and 2s can be played as black 3s. The player goes first if they have a 3 of spades in the first round.
Double 2s are not needed to clear doubles.
There may be many titles used by players during the game. Often, players move seats to sit in the order of their place, so as not to forget the order. There is generally at least a president, vice-president and scum. However, this game is usually played with up to 6 players, and if so, more titles may be needed.
The rankings for four players are as follows:
There are other titles for games with larger numbers of player with various names.
Rules regarding card passing can be changed to accommodate these two positions if desired. A large and/or odd number of players generally calls for having at least one Average Joe, but there can be as many as needed.
The President (or the Scum in some versions) deals the cards, starting with himself and proceeding in order of player hierarchy from low to high until all cards are dealt. If the Scum is the dealer, this ensures that the President begins with the fewest number of cards if the hands are uneven.
The rules provided are merely one of many ways known to play the game; there are many different varieties with slight twists to the rules.
The person who is president (or the scum in some versions) shuffles and deals the cards. All the cards are dealt as evenly as possible in clockwise rotation.
After cards are dealt, the scum must hand over his best two cards to the president, while the vice-scum must hand over his best card to the vice-president. Variations with more than two top and two bottom positions sometimes require the scum to hand over more than two cards to the president, up to the number of top positions in the game. For example, a game with a secretary and clerk might call for the scum to hand over three cards to the president, the vice-scum to hand over two cards to the vice-president and the clerk to hand over one card to the secretary. In any event, the players who receive cards from the bottom positions always hand back an equal number of any "junk" cards they do not want. They are not obliged to pass back their lowest cards, but often do.
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Wikipedia