Shithead (Palace) Card Game Rules

Shithead – also called Palace, Karma or Shed – is the card game travellers teach each other in hostels all over the world. Players take turns to play a card equal to or higher than the last one; anyone who can’t has to pick up the whole pile. Twos and tens have special powers, and every player has a row of face-up and face-down cards to play once their hand runs out. Nobody wins: the last player left holding cards is the Shithead. This guide covers the Shithead rules step by step, the special cards, the endgame, the most popular house rules, and the odds behind the blind face-down cards.

Shithead Rules at a Glance

How to Play Shithead

1. Deal nine each. Deal each player three cards face down in a row, then three cards face up, one on top of each face-down card, then a hand of three. Put the rest face down as the stock. Nobody may look at their face-down cards.
2. Swap. Before play, you may swap any cards between your hand and your face-up cards. Most players put their strongest cards – 2s, 10s and Aces – face up for later, and take the low cards into their hand.
3. Find the starter. The player with a 3 face up starts. If nobody has one, the first player to show a 3 in their hand starts; if there is no 3 about, look for a 4, and so on.
4. Play equal or higher. Play one card, or a set of cards of the same rank, face up to start the pile. Going clockwise, each player must play an equal or higher card (or set) on top.
5. Draw back to three. After playing, draw from the stock so you have three cards in hand again. Once the stock is gone, just keep playing from your hand.
6. Pick up if you can’t. If you cannot play – or choose not to – pick up the whole pile into your hand. Your turn ends and the next player starts a new pile with any card.
7. Hand first. While you have cards in hand, you can only play from your hand, not from your table cards.

Twos, tens and four of a kind

• 2 – reset. A two can be played on any card, and any card can be played on a two. It resets the pile to the bottom.
• 10 – burn. A ten can be played on any card. The whole pile is removed from the game and you play again, starting a new pile with anything. (Some groups don’t allow a 10 on a Jack, Queen, King or Ace.)
• Four of a kind – burn. When the top four cards of the pile are the same rank – played together or one after another – the pile is burnt and whoever completed the four plays again.

The Endgame: Face-Up and Face-Down Cards

Face-up cards. When your hand is empty and the stock has run out, you play from your face-up cards, using the same equal-or-higher rule. If none of them will play, the standard rule is that you put one face-up card on the pile and pick the whole pile up; many groups simply let you pick up the pile and leave your face-up cards where they are. Either way, you must play your hand out again before you return to your table cards.

Face-down cards. Once your face-up cards are gone, flip one face-down card onto the pile at each turn, without looking first. If it is equal or higher (or a 2 or 10), it stays. If it is lower, you pick up the pile, including that card, and play from your hand again.

Getting out. When you have no cards left in hand or on the table, you are safe and drop out. Your last face-down card only gets you out if it can be played. The others carry on until one player is left with cards: the Shithead, who deals the next game and, by tradition, makes the tea.

Shithead Variations and House Rules

Almost every group plays Shithead slightly differently, so agree the special cards before you deal. The most common extras:

Palace: the American Version

In the US the game is usually called Palace, and Bicycle publishes its rules under that name. The heart of the game is the same: three cards face down, three face up, play equal or higher, 2s reset the pile and 10s burn it. The differences are in the deal, the first card and, above all, how the game ends.

• What a 2 does in Palace: a 2 can be played on any card and resets the pile, so the next player can play anything on it.
• What a 7 does in Palace: in Bicycle’s rules a 7 is an ordinary card. Many groups play the house rule that after a 7 the next player must play a 7 or lower, or a 2 or 10.
• Jumping in: some Palace players let anyone complete four of a kind out of turn. If three 7s are on the pile, whoever holds the fourth can play it, clear the pile and take the turn.

Other Names and Origins

Shithead goes by many names: Palace, Karma, Shed, Caboodle, China Hand and Ten-Two Slide. It is probably Scandinavian in origin – it closely resembles the Swedish game Vändtia (“turn ten”) and is related to the Finnish Paskahousu – and it spread around the world in the late 20th century with backpackers, which is why so many people learn it while travelling.

Shithead Odds

Most of Shithead is decided by the cards you hold, but the numbers explain why the swap and the face-down cards matter so much:

• Blind face-down cards are a gamble that depends on the top card. On a 4, a blind flip plays 92% of the time; on a 7, 69%; on a 9, 53%; on a Jack, 45%; on a King, 29%; and on an Ace only 22% – and most of those are 2s and 10s. On a 3, a 2 or an empty pile, every card plays.
• Power cards at the deal. With eight 2s and 10s in the pack, there is a 65% chance that at least one is among the six cards you see before play, and a 23% chance of two or more. There is a 40% chance that at least one is hidden among your face-down cards.
• The swap matters. In 40,000 simulated four-player games where everyone played their lowest legal card and held 2s and 10s back until nothing else would go, a player who swapped their best cards face up before play ended up the Shithead 19% of the time against players who did not, instead of the fair 25%. A player who skipped the swap while everyone else did it lost 31% of games.

Tips for Shithead

• Swap well. Put 2s, 10s and Aces face up. You will need them at the end, when you can no longer draw.
• Save your tens. A 10 burns the pile and gives you another go, so keep it for when the pile is high or large.
• Play low early. Get rid of 3s, 4s and 5s while you can still draw replacements.
• Watch what others pick up. If you know someone has collected high cards, the “lower” rule or a burnt pile can leave them stuck.
• Keep sets together. Pairs and triples let you shed several cards at once, and a fourth card of a rank on the pile burns it.

More Card Games

If you like Shithead, try President, another game about playing higher and not being last, or Switch, Cheat, Irish Snap and Spit.

For a gentler family game: try Newmarket, played for matchsticks on four horse cards.

Another game of getting rid of your cards: Crazy Eights, the classic with wild eights.

Shithead card game: frequently asked questions