Shithead (card game)

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Shithead (also known as Bastard, Danish Bastard, Asshole, Dogmeat, Shed, Palace, Loser, Idiot, Karma, and CFUCG an acronym for "Crazy Fucked Up Card Game") is a card game in which the aim is to lose all of one's cards.

The game, and variations of it, are popular in many countries, particularly amongst teenage and twentysomething travellers - learning it almost seems to be a rite of passage. The basic structure of the game generally remains similar, but variations often differ in the special roles that the rules assign to particular cards.

Contents

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Overview

Shithead is a popular card game for two to six players in which players aim to not be the last player to get rid of their cards. The winner of the game is usually considered unimportant!

The loser is referred to as shithead, must deal the next game and, in theory, can be forced to do the bidding of his/her fellow players. This usually means a forfeit of the group's choice (which is often alcohol related but need not necessarily be). Shithead status is thus passed from losing player to losing player after each game.

Some variations lose this attribute, and the object is simply to get rid of ones cards.

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Rules

There are many variations of the rules, which are not formalised. For this reason, it is impossible to accurately document an "exact" ruleset for shithead - no such thing exists. Readers should pick, choose and try a set of rules as they see fit. It is possible to form a game which involves a considerable amount of strategy.

However most players agree that "original" shithead is played only with 2 as the restart card, 7 as a see through card and 10 as the burn card. Any other rules are usually part of spin-off games, e.g. Barrymore or Pol Pot.

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Preparing/dealing the cards

From a standard, shuffled 52 card deck (Jokers may also be included), each player is dealt a number of 'face down cards' in a row. (The number varies with player number and variation - often three per player, but sometimes more if there are fewer players) They are not allowed to see or change these cards. On top of the 'face down cards', they are dealt the same number of 'face up cards'. The same number is again dealt to each player (face down) which become the players' 'hand'. Players are then allowed to switch the cards in their 'hand' with their 'face up cards' in an attempt to produce a strong set of 'face up cards' for later in the game. For details of what constitutes a strong set of cards, read on. The dealer places the remaining cards face-down in what we shall refer to as the 'deck'. Players will lay their cards in turn in what we shall refer to as the 'pick up pile' or 'pile'.

These terms ('face down cards', 'face up cards', 'hand', 'deck' and 'pick up pile' or 'pile') will be used consistently throughout this page.

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Starting play

After the cards have been dealt, players lay cards in turn onto the pick up pile, starting with the first player to claim he/she holds the lowest (weakest) card in his/her hand.

The lowest card will vary depending on the rules in force, but should be agreed on before play begins. It should be defined as the weakest card in the set - and is typically a 4. In some variations of the rules, red cards are considered lower than black cards - meaning that, for example, play might commonly start with a red 4 rather than a black 4. If no red or black version of the lowest card is held, players (led by the dealer) should consider the next lowest card, and so on.

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Order of play

Each player must lay a card (or two or more cards of the same number) equal to or higher in value than the one at the top of the pick up pile, then draw cards from the deck so they have at least 3 cards in their hand (unless the deck has run out of cards or they already have 3 or more cards in their hand). Some variations allow the player to "match" the drawn card, that is, if it has the same value as those the player has just played, he or she may play the newly drawn card as well.

When players have no more cards in their hand, and the deck is empty, they may proceed to play from their three face up cards. The cards laid form a pile which must be picked up by any player who cannot beat the most recently played card. (Note also that it is quite common to allow players to pick up this pile even if they "do" have a card in their hand that would allow them to beat the most recently played card. This arguably increases the level of strategy involved in the game). Picking up the pile can often put a player at a great disadvantage when many cards have been played as they will have more cards to lose than other players. Even so, it is still possible to quickly recover from this handicap.

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The values of the cards

Once again, these rules should not be considered law - many variations are in wide circulation. Common cards for each role are written in brackets.

Aces: Aces are high (meaning that they are stronger than the Jack, Queen and King) but can be beaten by certain special cards, detailed below.

Burn or Nuke Cards (10): Cards that remove the existing pile from play permanently. The player who lays a burn card should then have another go. Burn cards are usually either four cards of the same value played in a row (not necessarily by the same player) or one specific card that can be played on its own. Two aces played in a row can also burn the pack in some versions of the rules. Burn cards can typically be played on any card. For example the sequence Q, K, K, burn card means that the pile will be put to the side (face down). An example of the four-card burn would be: Player 1 - J; Player 2 - J,J; Player 3 - J. The pile would be put to the side (face down) and player 3 would have another go. Burn cards are usually wild and can be played at any time, but in some variations may not be played on the reverse card.

Reverse Card (9 or 7): The Reverse Card of any suit reverses the standard rules on the pile for one turn, meaning the next player must play a lower card on their next term - or another reverse card. This is particuarly useful when high cards are known to dominate opponent's hands. For example consider the sequence 4, 5, 5, reverse card which means that the next person must lay lower (or equal to) the reverse card - usually they would need to lay a higher or equal card. Again, rules vary widely, but a choice must be made as to whether the reverse card can be played on 'anything' or only on cards which are lower. For example, while it is certainly always legal to play 4, 5, 5, reverse card it is not, depending on who is playing the game, always legal to play Q, K, K, reverse card.

Play Again Card (4) This card enables the player who played it to have another (mandatory) turn. The play again card can be played at any time.

Miss-a-Go Card (8 or 2): When one of these cards is played the next player misses a go. When more than one of these cards are played at the same time the number of consecutive players that miss their go is equal to the number of cards played (e.g. when three miss-a-go cards are played, the next three players miss their go). Depending on the number of players, this card may result in the player who laid the cards missing his or her own go or having another go. The miss-a-go card can not typically be played on 'anything'.

Rotation Card (Jack) Changes the rotation of the game (e.g. clockwise to anti-clockwise). Playing more than one rotation card has the same effect as playing one (playing two does not cancel the rotation). This card can be played in any situation.

Mirror/Transparent Card (3, 4, 5 or 8): The mirror card simply 'mirrors' whatever card is below it in the pile, meaning the next player has to beat the card which is played before the mirror card. Mirror cards also apply to special cards; for example a mirror card played on a reverse card means that the mirror card then acts as a reverse card. The mirror card can typically be played on any card.

Restart Card (2 or 3): The restart card of any suit can be played on any card and 'resets' the pack so that the next player will be able to play any card (even the weakest).

Pick-Up / Vengeance card (Jack, Ace or Joker): The pick-up card can be played on any card to make the next player in turn pick up the pile (except the pick-up card itself). The only cards that can top this are:

  • If another pick-up card (or the mirror card, rendering itself the equivalent of a pick-up card) is played by the next person, meaning next player must pick up the cards, OR;
  • The burn card is laid down, removing the pile from play.
  • The restart card is played.

In some games, the player who plays this card can choose who must pick up the pile. In this case, the name Vengeance Card is more often used.

Optional Rules: Some other possible rules are:

  • It is not legal to play a Jack, Queen or King on a 5 OR playing a 5 means all players must switch their hand (not the face up/face down cards) with the person BEFORE them in turn
  • It is not legal to finish your cards with either a 6 or a 9 (assuming 6 and 9 are not in use for other purposes). If the last card a player holds (either as a hand card or face down card) and plays is either 6 or 9, they must pick up the pile. The aim of this rule is to add some interest to what are otherwise 'useless' cards.
  • 'Aceing' is sometimes played, meaning that those who play an ace can choose who goes next. Play then continues from the 'aced' player in the normal fashion.
  • If one player plays a card, and then picks up another card from the deck (to complete his hand of 3), he may play this newly picked up card if and only if a) the next player in turn has not yet taken his go and b) the newly picked up card has the same value as the one he just played
  • Once during each game, each player can blindly take a card from the deck and attempt to play it. This is often known as the 'Hand of God' rule. He must show it to all players. If it beats the previous card, play continues. If it does not beat the previous card, the player picks up the face up deck as normal - including the hand of god card.
  • If Jokers are used, they can be used to reverse the direction of play, i.e. if the direction of play is clockwise, playing a Joker changes it to anti-clockwise. The next player to play (who was also the previous player) now has to beat their own card, as the Joker also acts as a mirror card (see above)
  • The Queen of Spades may be played (at any time), which means everyone moves their face down and face up cards anticlockwise round the table (so you get the cards of the player on your right). This can be countered by the player who plays the Queen, if they play 2 or more Queens, and the Queen of Spades is not on the top, e.g. play the Queen of Spades and the Queen of Hearts together, with the Queen of Hearts on the top of the play pile, however in order to do this it must be legal to play a Queen in the current situation (unlike playing the Queen of Spades on its own or on the top when it can be played at any time). Playing this rule often results in players putting low cards in their face up pile at the beginning of the game in order to disadvantage their fellow players, should the queen be played.
  • It may be played that when a player plays 3 sixes (denoting 666 - the devils number) then next person to play must pick up all the cards in the deck that are not in someones hand (i.e the pick-up pile, discard/burn pile and all previous cards played) unless they have the fourth 6 to complete the set. A special card may not be used to constitute a 6.
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When the pick-up pile is empty

Once a player has lost all of their hand cards and the deck is empty they then play their face up cards. At this stage, other players have the advantage of seeing which cards are available to the player. This means they are often able to play cards that cannot be beaten in order to make an opponent pick up the pile.

Once a player has lost their face up cards they are left with their three 'blind' face down cards of which they can choose any to play (one at a time). If the blind card does not beat the card on the pile, the user must pick up the pile as before. Depending on the agreed rules, players "either" must or need not reveal a blind card if it does not beat the previously played card. It is another example of the versatility of the rules of the game: players can select and agree on which aspects they like for purposes of fun and strategy.

When players are using their face up or face down cards and cannot go (i.e. they cannot or do not want to beat the previous pile card), they should pick up the pile and the card that they would have played from the face up/face down cards. However, some variations hold that this is only true for the face-down cards.

Play continues in this fashion until only one player has cards remaining.

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Variations

  1. Obviously, the meanings assigned to each card can be changed (making 7 the reverse card or 5 the vengeance card, for example)
  2. The Jack (or Joker?) can also be an 'invisible' card played on any other card.
  3. In one variation, other cards are assigned special status (for example where the King means "change direction of play" or the Queen means "play between Queen and 7 on your next go" - that version is known as fuckhead, at least in certain circles.
  4. Placing a one-eyed card (Jc, Jh or Kd) reverses the direction of play back to whomever played the previous card. The one-eyed cards have no additional 'powers' and thus have to be played legally, i.e. on a lower card. This variation allows for tactical manoeuvring when the locations of the higher cards become known.
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History

The game was first documented in 1994 by David Parlett under the bowdlerized name "Shed" and is found in a large number of countries - it is known to have been played before Parlett took note of it, however. In Norway and the United Kingdom this game is also known as Idiot. It is also available on Neopets as Go! Go! Go!

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External links

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