Gamehelppresident

Overview

President (also known as A**hole, Scum, Capitalism, and P's and A's) is a trick-taking card game for three or more players. The goal is to get rid of all of the cards in your hand faster than the other players. The players who do this the earliest are granted advantages in the next round (the first of which is the "president").

Card Ranks

Lowest						Highest
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A 2

When used as a single card, the Joker ​ is the highest-ranked. When used with other cards, it is wild.

The first player to go out is the winner of the round. That player is considered the President, which is the highest rank. The last player to go out in the round is the lowest-ranked, or Beggar. Depending on the number of players, other titles may be necessary.

• Minister - Second player to go out in the round. (Used with Downfall variant in a three-player game)
• Peasant - Second to last player to go out in the round. (Used for negative scoring.)
• Citizen - Any player who is not the President, Minister, Beggar, or Peasant. (i.e. players in the middle ranks)

Gameplay

The Deal

Cards are dealt one at a time clockwise until all cards have been dealt. Depending on the number of players, cards may not be evenly distributed.

For the second round and after (once player rankings are determined), the Beggar must give their best card(s) to the President and the President gives two cards of their choice to the Beggar. If playing with four or more players, the Minister must

The Play

A first player plays either a single card or any set of equal rank (ex. K♣ K♦ or 7♠ 7♣ 7♦ 7♥) and can include a full set plus the Joker to make 5 (ex. 2♣ 2♦ 2♠ 2♥ ​).

Each subsequent player must play the same number of cards of a higher rank. For example, if the first player plays a 5♠, the next player must play a single card of 6 or higher. If a player plays 5♠ 5♥ 5♦, the next player must play three cards of the same rank that is higher than 5. If you cannot play such a set (or choose not to), you must pass.

When all players except one pass, the cards are removed from the table. The player who played last starts a new trick. If that player played their last card and no other player can or wants to play, the next clockwise player starts next.

A player may wish to pass or not play to hold onto larger more powerful sets. For example, if a player plays a single 10 and you have A♠ A♦, you could play a single A, but that would break up the set. If you get a chance to play first or another player plays a set of two, a high-ranking set of two could give you control.

Round End and Scoring

The game continues until all players, except one, have gotten rid of their cards. Each player scores points equal to the number of players they have beaten. (Example: in a four-player game, the President scores 3, the Minister scores 2, the Peasant gains 1, and the Beggar gets none.) The game ends when someone reaches the target score (15 points in a medium-length game).

In the next round, the first player who got rid of all their cards is the highest-ranked, or President. The last player to go out is the lowest-ranked (the Beggar). When the next round starts, the Beggar must give their two highest cards to the President (these are "taxes") and the President gives back two cards of their choice to the Beggar. In games of four or more players, the Minister (second to go out) and Peasant (second-to-last to go out) do the same, but with only a single card instead of two.

The Beggar starts the next round.

Variant Rules

Game Length

	Positive Scoring	Negative Scoring
Short	Goal: 2x # of players	Starting Points: 10
Medium	Goal: 3x # of players	Starting Points: 15
Long	Goal: 4x # of players	Starting Points: 20

Scoring Rule

Positive Scoring: Each player scores points equal to the number of players they have beaten in the round. The game ends when someone reaches the target score

Negative Scoring: President gains 1 point. Each Citizen loses 1 point. Peasant loses 2 points. Beggar loses 3 points. The game ends when someone reaches 0 points or lower.

Customizable Rules

• Revolution: When a player plays a set of four or more cards, the rank hierarchy becomes reversed for the round. 2 becomes the lowest ranked and 3 becomes highest. (The Joker is unaffected) If another player plays a set of four or more, the revolution reverses (the cards go back to normal).
• Joker: Include the Joker ​ card or not.
• First player: Choose who goes first in a round. Options are highest-ranked player or lowest-ranked player.
• Same Rank Skip: When a player plays a card or set of cards of the same rank (ex. playing 6♠ 6♦ on 6♣ 6♥), the next player is skipped. A ​ alone cannot be skipped.
• Unskippable 2/3: The highest ranked card cannot be beaten by a card of the same rank. Usually, that is a 2, but a 3 if a Revolution occurred.
• Same Suit Sequence: A run (3 or more cards of consecutive rank in the same suit. Example: 5♠ 6♠ 7♠) can be played instead of a set of the same size. Special effects are applied if applicable.
• Suit Lock: If two players play a set of the same suit consecutively, all further plays must follow that suit (until the trick restarts). The Joker alone cannot activate a suit lock, but can be used as a wild suit.
• Ender 8: Playing one or more 8s ends the trick immediately.
• Reversing 9: Playing one or more 9s reverses turn order permanently.
• Jack Back: Playing one or more Js causes a Revolution.
• Illegal Finish: If a player goes out by playing a 2 or ​, that player is out and automatically demoted to Beggar. (This can also happen if a player goes out by playing 3 if Revolution has happened, or one or more 8s if Ender 8 is active.)
• Downfall: If a player other than the current President goes out first, the current President is automatically out and demoted to Beggar (unless someone else is disqualified by Illegal Finish).
• Permanent Pass: Passing is permanent for the trick. A player who passes cannot play again until the next trick is started.
• Automatic Turn Skip: If a player cannot beat the currently played set, the player automatically passes. BGA determines this using discarded cards only (public information).

Rule Sets

BGA provides preset rule/variant combinations for common and popular games.

Type	Enabled Variants
Moderate Variant	Revolution, Joker, Same Rank Skip, Illegal Finish, Downfall
Full Variant	Revolution, Joker, Same Rank Skip, Unskippable 2/3, Same Suit Sequence, Suit Lock, Ender 8, Reversing 9, Jack Back, Illegal Finish, Downfall
No Variant	No variants enabled.