Durak

Durak is a family of card games popular in Russia and neighbouring countries, whose name is the Russian word for fool. Nobody wins a hand: the aim is to avoid being the last player left holding cards, and that player becomes the durak and is mocked by the others. Play runs in bouts in which one player attacks with a card and the defender must beat it with a higher card of the same suit or with any trump, or else pick the cards up, while further cards of matching rank may be thrown in. The best known form is Podkidnoy Durak, played with a 36-card pack by two to six people and especially well by four in two partnerships. A popular variant, Perevodnoy Durak, lets a defender pass an attack to the next player by matching its rank. The loser customarily deals the next hand, which is regarded as menial work, and the game is almost never played for money. It is played across Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.