Fool's Trump guide: how to win Durak against the computer

The rules in one minute

The deck has 36 cards, from 6 up to Ace, and the card under the deck shows the trump suit. Whoever holds the lowest trump attacks first. The attacker plays a card, and the defender has to beat it with a higher card of the same suit or with any trump. Cards you can play glow, and the take and done buttons only appear when they are yours to use.

When every attacking card has been beaten, the attacker taps done and the defender becomes the next attacker. If the defender cannot or does not want to beat a card, they tap take and pick up everything on the table. A bout never has more than six cards, and never more cards than the defender holds. After each bout both players draw back up to six, the attacker first.

Attack with low cards, defend with trumps

The most useful habit in Durak is also the simplest: lead with your low non-trump cards and keep your trumps for defence. A trump is the only card that beats a card of a different suit, so every trump you spend on attack is one fewer answer when the computer attacks you.

The deck is also a clock. While cards are still being drawn, your hand refills after every bout, so a cheap lead costs you little. Spend the junk first, keep the high cards and the trumps back, and your hand gets stronger relative to the computer's as the bouts go on.

Throwing in: use what the table already tells you

In the throw-in game, the attacker can add more cards of any rank that is already on the table. This is where most games are decided. If a 7 and a King are lying there, every other 7 and King in your hand is a legal throw-in, so the table itself tells you which cards you can add.

Throw in the cards the computer probably cannot beat. A good clue is a rank it has already taken: if it picked up a pile with queens in it earlier, it is holding queens, and it will be harder for it to answer a rank it has few high cards in. Do not throw in just because you can. Every card you add that the computer beats is a card you will not play later, so throw in when it forces the computer to take or to burn a trump.

When taking the table is the right move

Taking is not losing. Sometimes picking up the cards is cheaper than beating them, especially when beating means spending a high trump on a small attack. Taking early can be the better trade: you get the cards, the computer attacks again with the cards it has left, and you keep your trump for a bout that matters.

The cost is size. Everything you take goes into your hand, and a large hand is easier for the computer to play against and slower to empty. Take when the cards are low and cheap to hold, and beat when the attack is expensive for the computer to repeat. Do not hand over a big pile of high cards just to save one trump.

The passing game: pass the attack back

Passing Durak, called perevodnoy, is a separate game. Before you beat anything, you can play a card of the same rank as the attacking card and pass the attack to the other player. It makes defence much more active, because a defender holding a matching card does not have to beat or take.

The practical effect is that a pair becomes a defensive weapon as well as a throw-in. Hold on to cards of the same rank, and when the computer leads one, check your hand first: passing can turn the whole bout around. Remember the limit from the basic rules, though, because a bout still never has more cards than the defender can hold.

The endgame: count the cards

Once the deck is gone, nobody draws any more, and the game becomes a counting puzzle. Every card played is information. Remember the trump under the deck: someone will draw it last, and that player has a guaranteed trump in hand when the draw pile runs out.

Near the end, count the cards that have already left the game. If six of the nine hearts are gone, you know how many hearts the computer can still hold. Use that to decide whether to attack with a card it cannot beat, or to hold a card back for defence. The player who runs out of cards first wins, and the one left holding cards is the fool.

How to get three stars

On the level ladder, finish while the computer still holds four or more cards for three stars. That means you cannot just win slowly: you have to go out while the computer still has a lot of cards in hand. Winning with a handful of cards left is the difference between a win and a clean win.

The best way to do it is to keep your hand small without giving up your trumps. Throw in aggressively when the computer cannot beat cards, force it to take large piles, and the computer's hand grows while yours shrinks. That is what a four-card gap looks like at the end of a game. The computer gets sharper as you climb the levels, so expect to keep adjusting.

Frequently asked questions

Play it here

• Fool's Trump — Durak — don't be the one left holding cards
• Spade Call — Spades with a partner — bid it, then make it
• Heartbreak — Hearts — dodge the hearts and the Queen of spades
• Wild Eights — Match the colour or the number — first to empty their hand