Shithead

Shithead (also called Palace or Karma) gives each player three sets of cards to get through: the ones in your hand, three face-up cards in front of you, and three face-down cards you have never seen. Getting rid of your hand is the easy part - the blind cards at the end decide it. A game takes about 15 minutes.

What You Need

• Players: 2-5 with one deck. Add a second deck for 6-8.
• Deck: One standard 52-card deck. Aces are high.
• Extras: Nothing.

Key Terms

• The pile: The face-up stack in the middle that you play onto.
• Table cards: Your three face-up cards, playable once your hand is empty.
• Blind cards: Your three face-down cards, played sight unseen at the very end.
• Pick up: Taking the whole pile into your hand when you cannot beat it.
• Burn: Removing the pile from the game entirely.

Setup

1. Deal each player three cards face down in a row. Do not look at them.
2. Deal three more cards face up on top of them.
3. Deal three more cards to each player as a hand.
4. Before play starts, you may swap any of your hand cards with your face-up table cards. Put your strongest cards face up - you will need them later.
5. Put the remaining cards face down as the stock. Whoever holds the lowest card (often a 3) starts.

How to Play

1. On your turn, play a card equal to or higher than the top card of the pile. You may play several cards of the same rank at once.
2. If you cannot play, pick up the entire pile into your hand. Play passes on.
3. While the stock lasts, draw back up to three cards in hand at the end of your turn.
4. Once the stock is empty and your hand is gone, play from your face-up table cards.
5. When those are gone, play your face-down blind cards one at a time, flipping each as you play it. If a flipped card cannot beat the pile, you pick the pile up and must clear your hand again before returning to the blind cards.

Special cards

• 2: may be played on anything, and resets the pile so any card can follow.
• 10: burns the pile. Set the whole pile aside out of the game and play again.
• Four of a kind: completing four of the same rank on the pile, whether in one turn or across several, also burns it.
• 7 (common house rule): the next player must play a 7 or lower.

Scoring & Winning

• There is no score. The first player to get rid of all nine of their cards wins and drops out.
• Play continues among everyone else.
• The last player still holding cards is the shithead, and traditionally deals the next game.

Example

The top of the pile is an 8. You have no card that high, so you take the whole pile into your hand. On a later turn you play a 10 to burn a big pile before anyone else can be forced to pick it up.

Variations

• 8 is invisible: the next player must beat the card under the 8 instead.
• Ace resets: aces burn the pile in place of 10s in some groups.
• No swapping: deal without the initial swap phase for a more chaotic game.

Tips for New Players

• Put 2s, 10s, and aces face up during setup. Those are the cards that save you when the pile is high.
• Playing several cards of one rank at once feels good but empties your safety net. Keep one back if you can.
• Late in the game, count what is left. If nobody can beat a king, holding one is as good as a burn.