What we’re about
The Sydney Shitheads meet to play the fantastic card game Shithead (also known as Bastard, Shed, Palace and Karma.)
It's a wonderfully simple but fun game using a traditional 52-card deck, Aces high.
The object of which is to lose all of one's cards, with the final player being the "shithead"
Shithead can be played by 2, 3 or 4 people.
Games are fast and furious and rely on a combination of skill and luck.
The Rules
There are many variations on the game, but we follow these rules.
From a standard, shuffled deck of 52 cards, each player is dealt 9 cards in total:
- 3 face-down cards (blind cards)
- 3 face-up cards on top of the blind cards
- 3 hand cards.
The blind cards will be the last cards to be played and players are not allowed to see or change these cards until the game's ending. The three face-up cards are the second to last set of cards to be played in the game (before the blind cards).
At the beginning of the game, players are allowed to switch their hand cards with their face-up cards in an attempt to produce the strongest set of face-up cards for the final. Cards with the same numerical value can be stacked on top of each other if needed.
The beginning player is the first person to put a 4 in the pile from the cards in their hand. If no player has a 4 in hand, the game is started with a 5; if no 5, then a 6, and so on.
The second player must then place an equal or higher card (in numerical value) than the card played previously, this card is to be put on top of the play pile. All subsequent players are then to follow this rule.
Each player must pick up a card after discarding so they always have at least 3 cards in their hand at all times, unless the deck has run out of cards. If you already hold more than 3 cards, you do not need to pick up. The game continues sequentially in a clockwise direction.
After a player has no more cards in their hand, and the deck is empty, they need to play from their three face-up cards. They can chose which card to play, as long as it follows the standard rule that the value of the played card must be equal or higher than the value of the card on the top of the pile.
If a player cannot play any of their face-up cards, then they must pick up the pile.
Once all of the face-up cards have been played, a player must then play their blind cards. These cards are played one at a time, without the player knowing the card until the moment it is played. As usual, if the chosen card is lower than the previous card played, they need to pick up the pile, and are required to play their entire hand again before progressing to the rest of their face-down cards.
Throughout the game, four wildcards can be used to spice up play.
- 2: Can be played on, anything at anytime - sets the deck back to 2.
- 3: Can be played on, anything at anytime - the next player must pick up the pile of discarded cards, unless they can play a 3 as well, in which case (2 players games) the original player has to pick up (unless they were holding two 3's, in which case they can play the second) or (3+ players games) the next player has to pick up the pile (unless they themselves also hold a 3 in which case it proceeds to the next player). Once a 3 has been played, it is not transferred but discarded from the deck.
- 7: Can only be played on cards lower than 7 - the next player has to play a card that is 7 or lower.
- 10: Can be played on anything, at anytime - kills the discarded deck and removes it from play.
Simples :)
