Rules
Durak is a shedding game: the aim is to get rid of your cards. There is no winner, only a loser, the last player still holding cards, who is the durak, the fool.
The deck
Thirty-six cards, six to ace in four suits, or twenty-four (nine to ace) or the full fifty-two. Ace is high, then king, queen, jack, ten and down. No suit outranks another, except trumps.
The deal
Everyone is dealt six cards. The next card is turned face up: its suit is trumps for the whole game, and it goes under the talon to be drawn last. The player holding the lowest trump shows it and leads first. If nobody holds a trump, the cards are dealt again.
Attack and defence
The leader plays any card to the player on their left, who defends. A card is beaten by a higher card of its suit, or by any trump if it is not a trump itself. A trump is beaten only by a higher trump.
Throwing in
Once the attack is open, the other players may add cards, but only of ranks already on the table, attacking or defending. There are never more unbeaten cards than the defender holds, and never more than six attacks in a bout, five until the first discard. When only neighbours throw in, it is the two players either side of the defender.
The end of a bout
If every card is beaten and nobody adds another, the cards go to the discard face down and the defender leads next. A defender who cannot or will not beat a card takes instead: the others may still throw in, then the defender picks up everything on the table and loses the lead to the player on their left.
Drawing
After every bout, while the talon lasts, everyone draws back up to six: the leader first, then round the table, the defender last.
Transferring (perevodnoy)
In perevodnoy, a defender who has not beaten anything yet may pass the attack on by adding a card of the same rank. The next player then defends against all of them, as long as they hold enough cards to cover every one.
The durak
Once the talon is empty, a player whose hand runs out is out of the game. The last player left holding cards is the durak. If the last cards leave the table together, the game is a draw.