podkidnoy durak

[Emily Saunders]

For what it is worth this game (described as "President" on the website  
you give) I have actually played in Russia under another name -- Govno,  
I think.  It's a bit like the card game "Bullshit" -- and I apologize  
for the epithets, but these are the names of the games -- however, the  
key elements include changing seats at the end of each round and the  
exchange of cards according to the "social status" obtained during the  
last hand.  I have some uproarious memories of playing Govno with a  
huge group of friends on a Primorsky beach in the summertime, with us  
kicking sand all round at the end of each hand as we switched places...

The associations I've always had with Durak is that it is a  
college-student (possibly army recruit), on long train trips, visiting  
grandparents type of card game.  It's perhaps a bit of a working class  
game, but I would say that it lacks the strong childhood associations  
that games like Go Fish, Old Maid, and Crazy 8's have for your average  
American card player.

(Erik:  Thanks for the www.pagat.com website address -- I was delighted  
to find rules for tysyacha (1000) there.  Memories from college dorm  
late-night card sessions come flooding back...)

Regards,

Emily Saunders


On Apr 18, 2006, at 2:28 PM, Erik McDonald wrote:

> There is a card game played in the US that is somewhat similar to  
> "podkidnoi durak," though it isn't the same.  Its unliterary name - I  
> know it as "Asshole" - and its social status as a drinking game rather  
> than a children's game might make it unsuitable for the Grossman  
> translation.  The rules can be found at  
> http://www.pagat.com/climbing/asshole.html, which gives some less  
> offensive names for it as well.  That site puts it in a different  
> classification than Durak (the same site's Durak rules, as Anthony  
> Qualin wrote, can be found at  
> http://www.pagat.com/beating/durak.html), but at least it isn't a  
> trick-taking game.  As in Durak, the last person with cards left loses  
> and becomes the name of the game.
>
> Erik McDonald
>
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