Beat every card thrown at you — the last player holding cards is the fool.
The default card game of Russia and much of eastern Europe. There is no winner in durak, only a loser — the fool left holding cards.
36 cards — six up to ace. Six cards each.
The next card is turned face up and placed under the remaining deck, half showing. Its suit is trump for the whole game, and that card is the last one drawn.
Whoever holds the lowest trump attacks first. After that, the attacker is always the player to the left of whoever last defended successfully.
The attacker plays a card face up in front of the defender. The defender must beat it:
with any trump, if the attacking card was not a trump.
A trump attack can only be beaten by a higher trump.
Once the first attack is beaten, the attacker — and, in most house rules, any other player — may add more cards, but only of ranks already on the table. The defender must beat each new one. The number of attacking cards is limited by how many cards the defender holds.
If the defender beats everything, all the cards go to the discard pile and are out of the game. The defender becomes the next attacker. If the defender gives up, they pick up every card on the table, and the attack passes over them to the next player.
Everyone then draws back up to six from the deck, attacker first, while cards remain.
Once the deck is gone, players who empty their hands are out. The last player still holding cards is the durak.