Welcome to Dudák!

Have you heard of Dudák? It’s an exciting card game that can be played by 4 players. All you need is a 32-card German-suited deck. You can play just one game or multiple games in a row. The objective of the game is simple: don’t be the last player to get rid of all your cards. If you’re the last player with cards in your hand, you lose. There’s no winner in Dudák.

Let’s Set Up the Game

First, we need to decide who will be the first dealer. It can be anyone – just pick someone randomly. If you’re playing multiple games, the loser of the last game becomes the dealer for the next one. Once you have a dealer, shuffle the cards and deal 8 cards to each player.

How the Cards are Ranked

In Dudák, the German-suited deck consists of four suits: Acorns, Leaves, Balls, and Hearts. Each suit has its own set of cards, and they are ranked in the same way. At the top is the Ace, followed by the King, Over, Under, 10, 9, 8, and 7. The Ace is the highest-ranking card in each suit, and the 7 is the lowest.

Hey there! Did you know that you can actually modify a traditional 52-card deck to play a cool game? The only catch is that it makes the game a little less authentic. If you want to give it a shot, you’ll need to remove the 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, and 2s from the deck.

Let’s Get Started!

So, the game begins with the player sitting to the left of the dealer, and from there, it continues in a clockwise direction. Each player takes their turn and plays cards from their hand, placing them on the pile in the center.

To kick things off, the first player simply plays any card from their hand to start the pile. Now, here’s a fun twist: if the pile ever becomes empty during the game, the next player follows the same instructions and plays a single card from their hand to start the pile again.

When it’s my turn, I gotta try and beat the card on top of the pile by playing a higher-ranked card of the same suit or a special trump card. After that, I can add more cards to the pile for the next player.

But if I can’t or don’t want to beat the top card, I have to pick up some cards. The number of cards I draw depends on a few things which I’ll explain below.

Whenever I’m playing the game, I have the power to choose a trump suit at the beginning of my turn. This suit will be my special suit for the entire game, until the next one starts. No one else can have the same trump suit as me, so I have to be the first one to declare it. Deciding on a trump suit can really change the way the game is played, so sometimes I like to wait and see what the other players are going to do. Once three out of the four suits have been called, the remaining suit automatically becomes my trump suit.

Before I have a trump suit, when I need to draw cards I will draw one card from the top of the play pile. I’ll put it separate from my hand until the top card of the play pile is one I can and want to beat with a card from my hand. Once I have a card to beat it, I can play it, take the drawn cards into my hand, and play any card for the next player to beat. Oh, and if I’m lucky, I might even draw the whole play pile into my hand. If that happens, all cards go into my hand and I don’t have to play any cards. I simply pass my turn.

However, after I have a trump suit and I must draw cards, things change a bit. I have to draw the entire play pile and pass my turn without playing a card.

As I play the game, other players will eventually start to get rid of their cards and bow out. When someone finds themselves with only one card in hand and uses it to beat the top card of the play pile, the entire pile is taken out of the game. The next player will then have to start a new pile.

Game Over

If you find yourself as the last player with cards in hand, unfortunately, you have lost the game.

If you find yourself as the last player with cards in hand, unfortunately, you have lost the game.