Shithead (card game) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Shithead (also known more politely as Shed, Palace and Karma) is a card game in which ones aim is to lose all of one's cards.
Although the structure of the game is universal, the effects of cards are subject to variation.
The game is an ace high, jokers wild, popular English student card game for two to six players. The objective is to be the quickest to leave the game by getting rid of all your cards.
With a standard 52 card deck each player is dealt three face down cards in a row that they cannot see. On top of these, they are then dealt three cards face up. Then each player is dealt their hand with the remaining cards divided equally between the players. Players are then allowed to switch their dealt cards with their face-up cards to try to gain the best cards on top of the three face down cards. The reason for this is that players use these cards last before their face down blind cards and thus wish to be in the best possible position.
With the cards sorted, players then lay their cards starting with whoever has the lowest card (if more than one person has the lowest card its whoever calls the fastest) and then each player lays a card higher than the one below in order to beat it. (eg. 3,4,7,10,J,K,A) Each player who lays a card must then take card out of the remaining deck until it is gone. This continues until players lose all their cards in hand and then proceed to their 3 face up cards. With cards laid they form a pile until a player cannot beat the highest card and thus they have to pick up all the cards. This puts them at great disadvantage as they will have more cards to lose.
There are special cards and combinations that do affect the game (different combinations of special cards are sometimes used in variations of the game, usually depending on where you are and who you play with ! i.e you could agree to just use 2's, 3's, 7's and 10's);
Burn / Nuke Cards:
Cards that remove the existing pile permanently and beat any cards, the player who lays a burn then has a go again. Burn cards include:
4 of kind: eg four 7's
any 10 (the main burn card)
Reverse Card:
The 9 or 7 (only use one) of any suit reverses the standard rules on the pile, meaning that the next player has to lay a LOWER card than 9, particuarly useful when high cards dominate the pile. For example Q, K,K,A,A, 9 <- here the next person must lay lower than nine when they would expect to have laid a high card.
Restart Card:
The 2 of any suit brings the pile back down to the bottom and the next player then only needs to lay higher than a 2 (any card really). Tactical card to take high cards out of play.
Mirror / Transparent card:
The 8 of any suit is the mirror card, this simply mirrors whatever card is below it in the pile and thus the next player has to beat that card, eg 7 then 8 thus next person must lay higher than 7). Mirror cards also apply to special cards for example 9, 8 then next player must lay lower than a 9. 5 Is also a popular mirror card.
Pick-Up card:
The 3 of any suit can be played on any card to make the next player in turn pick up the pile. The only card to top this is if another 3 is played by the next person and so pass the pick up onto the next player. This can continue until the next player without a 3 has to pick up the pile. ( In a variation on this the 3 can also be an "invisible" card played on any other card )
Once a player has lost all their cards they then play their face up cards. This is where other players try to stitch this player with a pile of cards that this person cannot beat in order to make them pick up the pile. This happens as all placers can see the face up cards. For example: Assuming John's face up includes K Q J, if the player before John lays a 9 or an Ace, John will have to pick up the pile.
Once a player has lost their face up cards they are left with their three blind cards of which they can choose any to lay. Other players will, as with the face up cards, try to stitch this player to make her pick up, yet they do not know what the blind cards are so have to base their lay on judgement. A blind card once played MUST be revealed to the other players. For example Sarah and Ben lay a Queen and then an Ace before Rich's go. Rich then blind lays an Ace and the circle continues. If not Rich picks up. However Sarah could lay a Queen but Ben could lay a 9 and thus Rich would have to blindly pick lower than a 9.
Once someone has lost all their blind cards and any cards they have in hand they are out of the game. The first to get out wins, the sole remaining person is thus the Shithead! This results in a forfeit of whatever the group decides (usually drink-related but has been known to include anything!)
The game was first documented in 1994 by David Parlett under the bowdlerized name "Shed" and is found in a large number of countries due to being popular among international travellers.
In Norway this game is known as Idiot.Rules
History