Shithead (card game)

From Academic Kids

Shithead (also known more politely as Shed, Palace, Idiot and Karma) 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. 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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Rules

The game is played by two to six players. Players aim to be the first to leave the game by getting rid of all their cards.

From a standard 52 card deck each player is dealt three cards face down in a row. They are not allowed to see these cards. On top of the face down cards, they are then dealt three cards face up. Then three more cards are dealt the the player (face down) which become the players' hands. Players are then allowed to switch the dealt cards in their hands with their face-up cards. They to try to ensure their face-up cards are the best possible that they can be, in order to be in the best possible position for later in the game.

After the cards have been dealt, players lay cards in turn, starting with the player who holds the lowest card in his hand. (If more than one person has the lowest card then play is started by whichever of these players calls the fastest). Each player must lay a card (or two or more cards of the same number) equal to or higher in value than the one before, then take cards from the remaining deck so they have at least 3 cards in their hands (unless the deck has run out of cards or they already have 3 or more cards). When players have no more cards in their hand 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. This can often put them at 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.

There are special rules related to particular cards and combinations (and these can also differ between variations of the game):

Burn / Nuke Cards: Cards that remove the existing pile from play permanently and beat any cards, the player who lays a burn then has a go again. Burn cards are usually either four cards of the same value played in a row or one specific card that can be played on its own (usually 10). Two Aces played in a row can also burn the pack in some rules.

Reverse Card: The Reverse Card (usually, as in this example, a 9) 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 9), particuarly useful when high cards dominate the pile. For example: Q,K,K,A,A,9 <- here the next person must lay lower than 9 when they would otherwise expect to have laid a high card.

Miss-a-Go Card: 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 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. The 8 card is usually the Miss-a-Go card (in which case the Mirror card is 4).

Restart Card: The 2 of any suit can be played on any other card and 'resets' the pack so that the next player will be able to play any card.

Mirror / Transparent card: 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; a mirror card played on a reverse card means the the mirror card then acts as a reverse card. 3, 4 and 8 are all popular mirror cards.

Pick-Up / Vengance card: The pick-up card (often Jack, Ace or sometimes the Joker cards) 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.

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

Any combination of the above cards can be used in a game.

Once a player has lost all their starter cards and the pick-up pile 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 them pick up the pile.

Once a player has lost their face up cards they are left with their three 'blind' cards of which they can choose any to play (one at a time). A blind card once played MUST be revealed to the other players. If the blind card does not beat the card on the pile, the user must pick up the pile as before.

Once a player has lost all of their blind cards and any cards they have in hand they are out of the game. The first to get out wins, the sole remaining person is the Shithead. This can usualy result in a forfeit of whatever the group decides (usually drink-related or meerly having to be dealer, but has been known to include anything).

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Variations

Obviously, the meanings assigned to each number can be changed (making 7 the reverse card or 5 the pick-up card)
The J can also be an "invisible" card played on any other card.
In one variation, other cards are assigned special status (for example where the K 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

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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. In Norway and the United Kingdom this game is also known as Idiot.

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