Durak & Balda
Durak & Balda
About the game
It is a traditional Russian card game. The deck is shuffled, and each player is dealt six cards. The bottom card of the stock is turned and placed face up on the table, its suit determining the trump suit for the current deal. For example, if it is the Seven of diamonds, then diamonds rank higher than all plain-suit cards. The rest of the pack is then placed on half over the turnup and at right angles to it, so that it remains visible. These cards form the prikup or talon. The turnup remains part of the talon and is drawn as the last card. Cards discarded due to successful defences are placed in a discard pile next to the talon. The player with the lowest trump is the first attacker and leads to the first trick. The Ace is the highest card of each suit and the Six is the lowest. A trump card of any rank beats all cards in the other three suits. For example, a Six of trumps beats an Ace of any other suit.
How to play
After the surrender of six cards to all involved in the game, a trump card is revealed. The first move belongs to the one who has the smallest trump card in his hands. Any card is allowed to move. You can move both from one card and from pairs, for example, from two or three sixes. Cards are beaten in a suit, a card of a higher value or a trump card. A trump card can only be beaten with a higher trump card. If the player "beat" all the offered cards, then these cards go to waste. Both players draw cards from the deck up to six. The game ends when one of the players is left without cards. The one who was left with the cards in his hands is the "fool".
