VideoChess 2×2

Durak: rules

This is how Durak works on our site: every mode and rule exactly as the game server checks them.

The table has four seats going clockwise: 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 1. Two to four players.
Empty seats can be taken by bots (at most three), but at least one human must be at the table.
The game starts when everyone seated has pressed “Ready” (bots are always ready). During a game empty seats are closed.

The mode is chosen before the game by the human player in the lowest-numbered seat.
Rules: throw-in (podkidnoy) or transfer (perevodnoy).
Teams: every player for themselves or pairs. Pairs are available only when all four seats are taken; if someone stands up, the mode automatically switches back to every player for themselves.
Cheater mode is switched on separately and works with any rules and teams.

Partners sit diagonally: seats 1 and 3 play against seats 2 and 4.
You attack and transfer only against opponents: the partner is skipped when choosing whom to attack or transfer to.

The deck has 36 cards, from six to ace.
Everyone is dealt 6 cards, one at a time around the table, starting from the lowest-numbered seat.
The last card of the deck lies face up and sets the trump suit; it is the last card to be drawn.

The player with the lowest trump moves first. If nobody has a trump — the player with the lowest card; on a tie, the lower seat number.
You attack the next opponent clockwise who is still in the game.

The attacker puts any card on the table.
The defender beats each card with a higher card of the same suit or with a trump. A trump can only be beaten by a higher trump.
You may throw in cards of a rank already on the table — among both attacking and beating cards.
At most 6 cards can be played into a bout, and there can never be more unbeaten cards than cards in the defender's hand.
The defender can press “Take”. After that more cards may still be thrown in (within the same limits) until all throwers press “Done” or there is no room left. Then the defender takes all cards from the table.
When all cards are beaten and everyone who may throw in has pressed “Done”, the cards are discarded. The bout also closes by itself when the sixth card is beaten or the defender runs out of cards.

At first only the player who started the bout (after a transfer — the one who transferred) throws in. The others may throw in once that player presses “Done” or has nothing to throw.
Every player for themselves: everyone except the defender may throw in.
Pairs: only the defender's opponents throw in; the defender's partner does not.

While no card on the table has been beaten and the defender has not pressed “Take”, they can transfer the bout by playing a card of the same rank as the card on the table. The next opponent clockwise then defends.
A transfer is possible only if that opponent has enough cards to beat all cards on the table including the transferred one, and there will be no more than 6 cards on the table after it.
After a transfer the player who transferred throws in first.

After a bout everyone draws from the deck up to six cards: the attacker first, then the others clockwise, the defender last.
If the defender beat everything, they start the next bout. If they took the cards, the next player clockwise starts.

Once the deck is empty, a player with no cards left goes out of the game.
Every player for themselves: the last player still holding cards is the durak (the fool). If all remaining players run out of cards at the same time, it is a draw.
Pairs: the pair whose two players both go out first wins. If both pairs go out at the same time, it is a draw.

Each action has 30 seconds. If a player runs out of time: the defender takes the cards, a thrower says “Done”, and the player starting a bout plays their lowest non-trump card (or their lowest trump if they have no other cards).
If a player presses “Stand Up” during a game, or disconnects and does not return within 30 seconds, the game ends: that player loses, and in pairs their pair loses.

You may play any card — when attacking, throwing in, beating or transferring — but only when the turn order and the bout limits allow you to play at all.
Cards of the current bout can be caught with “Catch!”. You cannot catch your own cards or your partner's.
Catching an unfair card: the cheater takes all cards from the table and the bout ends.
Catching a fair card is a false accusation: the accuser takes a penalty card from the deck (if the deck is empty — a random card from the discard pile) and cannot catch again until the bout ends.
Before every bout closes there is a 4-second check: the cards stay on the table, nobody can play, catching is allowed.
If the defender is caught, play continues as if they had taken the cards; if the attacker or a thrower is caught — as if the cards had been beaten and discarded.

The table menu has a “Move hints” switch. Each player has their own setting, remembered in the browser; hints are on by default.
Hints on: cards you can play are raised and the rest are dimmed, cards on the table you can beat are highlighted, and on a wide screen a hint line says what to do.
Hints off: nothing is highlighted and a move takes two taps — the first raises a card, the second goes to a card on the table (or to the same card again if it can be played only one way).