Durak Card Game

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Durak is a unique and fun card game that originated in Russia. While uncommon outside this area, the game is very popular in many areas of Russia and the Ukraine and makes a great addition to any card player's repertoire of games.
The game is generally played by two to five players each playing independently. The game uses a deck consisting of 36 cards. This deck can be made by removing all cards of denominations 2, 3, 4, and 5 from a standard 52 card deck. The ranking of the cards used in this deck is as follows (from high to low); Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6.
Selection of seating positions and first dealer can be performed using a variety of methods, with drawing for high card commonly used. Once this has been determined, the dealer shuffles the cards and offers the deck to the player to his right for the cut. After the cut, the dealer then distributes the cards to the players in a clockwise direction, face down and one by one. The dealer continues distributing the cards until each player has a total of six cards. The dealer then removes the bottom card from the remainder of the deck and places it face-up in the center of the table. The suit of this exposed card is then set as the trump suit for the hand. He then places the remainder of the pack partially on top of this card, usually set at a 90 degree angle to form the draw pile or talon.
The game consists of a series of rounds or 'battles' which usually consists of two players, one attacker and one defender. The player with the lowest card of the trump suit in his hand will be the first attacker and the player to his immediate left becomes the first defender.
The attacker begins by selecting any card from his hand placing it face up on the table. The defender must then respond by attempting to play a higher card of his own if he has one. If a card of the trump suit was played, any higher ranked card of the trump suit can beat it. If a non-trump card was played, a higher ranked card of any suit can beat it, as can any card of the trump suit. The defender's card should be played on top of the attacker's card.
If the defender does not have (or elects not to play) a higher card than the attacking card, he can concede defeat of the battle, and simply pick up the attacking card and add it to his hand. In this case the attacker is said to have won the battle. However if the defender is able and elects to play a card higher than the attacking card he wins. In this case, the attacker as well as any other opponents (except the defender) may play additional cards to the table that the defender must also beat. Players may do this if they have a card of the same rank as a card that is currently still on the table (from this battle). However, they may not do so if the total number of current attacking cards exceeds the total number of cards remaining in the defender's hand. The defender must then beat each of these additional attacking cards by playing a higher such card from his hand on top of the attacking card. If he is unable to beat every attacking card he must take every card currently played to the table. However, if the defender is able to beat each of the attacking cards, the defender prevails and is said to win the battle. When the defender wins the battle, all the cards currently played to the table are set aside to a discard pile, not to be used further in this hand.
If the original attacker wins the battle, the turn passes to the player to the immediate left of the last defender. That player becomes the new attacker and the player at his immediate left becomes the new defender. However, if the defender wins the battle instead, the defender becomes the new attacker and the player at his immediate left becomes the next defender.
After each battle, each player who has less than six cards in his hand then draws cards into his hand to replenish the hand back to six cards. The face-up, exposed trump card is considered the last card of the talon, so this would be the last card drawn from the pile. The order of drawing starts with the attacker, then the defender and clockwise around the table. Once the talon is depleted, play continues but players no longer draw cards after each round.
Play continues in this manner until the draw pile is exhausted. After this, play continues as normal, however players do not replenish the hand at the end of each battle and instead continue with the cards remaining in the hand. Immediately upon playing the last card from his hand, that player drops from the game. If a player who runs out is the current attacker or defender, the battle immediately ends, with the player who played his last card considered the winner of the battle. If he was the attacker (and would thus normally become the attacker), the player to his immediate left becomes the next attacker. The last player with cards is said to be the loser for the hand. This player is also required to gather all cards, shuffle and deal the next hand. The player to his immediate right would become the first attacker for the next hand with the dealer becoming the first defender.