President Card Game Rules

President is a card game for three to eight players in which you race to get rid of your cards, and the order you finish in decides your rank for the next hand. Win and you are President; finish last and you are the Scum, who has to deal, sit in the worst seat and hand your best card to the President. It is a game of many names – Scum, Arsehole (or Asshole in the US), Rich Man Poor Man, Capitalism, Warlords and Scumbags in Australia – and probably has Chinese roots; its immediate ancestor is perhaps the Japanese game Dai Hin Min (Daifugō). This guide covers the President card game rules, the card swap, the common variations and the odds behind the deal.

President Rules at a Glance

How to Play President

1. Deal everything. Shuffle and deal the whole pack, one card at a time.
2. Lead. The player to the dealer’s left (the President, from the second hand on) leads any single card or any set of cards of the same rank: one card, a pair, three or four of a kind.
3. Beat it or pass. Going round to the left, each player either plays the same number of cards of a higher rank, or passes. Two sixes can be beaten by two sevens or two Kings, but not by one King and not by three sevens.
4. Passing is always allowed, even if you could play, and in the basic game you can still play next time round.
5. Win the trick. When everyone passes on a play, the cards are set aside and whoever made that last play leads again with anything they like.
6. Go out. The first player with no cards left becomes President, the second Vice-President, and so on; the last player still holding cards is the Scum.
7. Swap and play again. Players move seats into rank order, the Scum deals, then hands their highest card to the President, who passes back any card they do not want. The President leads the new hand.

An example trick

Five players, A to E. A leads a pair of 4s. B and C pass; D plays two 6s, E two 9s, A two Jacks. B, C and D pass, E plays two Kings, A and B pass, and C plays two Aces. Nobody can beat a pair of Aces without two 2s, so everyone passes and C leads the next trick with anything.

President Variations

President Odds: What the Card Swap Is Worth

The swap is what keeps the President on top. With four players and 13 cards each:

• The swap is almost always a 2. The Scum’s best card is a 2 in 70% of deals, an Ace in 22% and a King in 6%.
• The President is nearly sure of a 2. Before the swap the President holds at least one 2 in 70% of deals; after it, 94%. On average they hold 1.7 twos instead of one.
• Two 2s together are less common than you think: 26% of hands.
• Four of a kind – the trigger for a revolution where that rule is used – turns up in your hand in 3.4% of deals.

Tips for winning at President

• Lead your low cards. Threes and fours are hard to get rid of later, so lead them when you win a trick.
• Keep your sets together. Don’t break a pair to beat a single card unless you have to; pairs and triples clear several cards at once.
• Save a 2 for the end. A 2 wins a trick and lets you lead, which is exactly what you need when you are down to your last few cards.
• Pass to keep control. Passing costs nothing and you can usually play next time round.
• As President, give back your worst card. The swap is your best chance to dump a lone 3.

More Card Games

For more family card games, try Switch, the bluffing game Cheat, or rummy. Like Tongits and Pusoy Dos? Pusoy Dos is a close relative: another climbing game where the 2 is the top card.

An easier game for younger players: Go Fish, where you ask for cards and collect books of four.

For a big, noisy group: try Irish Snap, the counting-and-slapping version of Snap.

For four players in teams: Spades, bidding and trick-taking with spades as trumps.

Another climbing game: Tien Len, the Vietnamese 13 card game where only a bomb or a higher 2 can beat a 2.

President card game: frequently asked questions