Games - Shithead

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	Games - Shithead

Shithead (also known as 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.

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.

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 and 10 as the burn card. Any other rules are usually part of spin-off games, e.g. Barrymore or Pol Pot.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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