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Scum / Asshole! Card Game
Rules and Strategy

A fun shedding-type card game, Asshole (also known as Scum) combines elements from standard card games like Uno, Poker, and Bluff.

At its heart, Asshole/Scum is a Shedding-type card game: the winner is the first guy to lay down all his cards. But because of the shame of being named “Asshole” or “Scum” is at stake, your Asshole/Scum game is bound to get loud and argumentative.

One thing you can be sure of: there will always be 1 Official Asshole in every round! Game on!

Asshole/Scum Card Game: What you Need to Play:

* A Standard Deck of Playing Cards (combine 2 or more decks as desired)

* Optional: A hat with the monicker “Asshole”

* Optional: A hat with the monicker “President”

* Optional: A hats with a monicker for each of the other ranks like “Vice-President”, “Vice-Asshole”, etc. Provide 1 hat for each player if you can. It adds to the craziness.

Preparing a Game of Asshole/Scum:

* The game is best played when each player holds a hand of 8-13 cards. You may or may not include Jokers.

* Dealing out the cards is the job of your resident “Asshole” who was determined in your previous hand.

* In your first hand, the dealer assumes the role of President-Asshole.

* Start dealing the cards with the President (previous round’s winner) and go around the players in clockwise manner.

* When you’ve dealt out all the cards, the game can begin.

Playing a Game of Asshole/Scum:

* First “Play”: the President leads or opens.

* A play can be a single card or a Pair, a Trio (3-of-a-Kind) or a Quad (4-of-a-Kind). This is as far as the similarity to Poker goes. Straights, Flushes, Full House and other poker combinations are not allowed.

* Note: Assuming you use Jokers (wildcards) or mix 2 or more decks, this makes 5-of-a-Kind (and beyond) possible.

* The turn passes to the left (i.e., clockwise order). The next player is expected to “match” or “beat” the previous play.

* You must abide by the strict hierarchy of the cards, which is (in ascending order): 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A-2

* Furthermore, you must abide by another ascendancy: Quads over Trios, Trios over Pairs, Pairs over Singles. Note, however, that you cannot beat a pair of 5s with a Trio of 4s.

* This means that the next player has to either:
..Match or Beat the Value; or,
..Match or Beat both the Value AND Combination.

Playing a Game of Asshole/Scum: (continued)

TWOs are Trump Cards:

* “Two”’s are the exception: “Two”’s are trump cards that override both value and combination.

* Even if the previous guy dumps a 5-of-a-Kind, you can play a single 2 and END (or “Clear”) the hand.

* The guy who plays a Two (thus ending or clearing the hand) “Opens” the next hand with his card (or cards) of choice.

* By doing this, a guy can play his low card(s).

Skipping the Next Player(s):

* If you match the last play (i.e., you play a card with similar value to the previous player’s discard), this results in skipping the next player(s).

* For example: the previous guy discards a “Four”. You have 2 “Fours” in your hand and decide to put down both of them. This results in the next 2 players being skipped.

Passing your Turn:

* Let’s say it’s your turn and you can’t (or choose not to) beat the current play: You have the option of passing.

* Doing so causes the game to move on to the next player. If everybody passes and the turn reverts to the guy who played last, the hand is considered “Cleared” and the guy who played last gains control.

Clearing the Hand:

* A Hand lasts until somebody ends (or “clears”) it with a “Two”. This means that a hand can go round and round the group for quite a while especially if everybody is keen on playing their low cards as singles.

* The Asshole or Scum has the job of physically clearing away the cards to a discard pile.

Winning the Game:

* The first guy to shed all his cards wins and is proclaimed the next game’s “President”.

* The winner exits the current game and waits for the rest of the players to finish.

* The game keeps going until just 1 guy is left with card(s) in hand.

* The loser becomes next game’s “Asshole” or “Scum”.

Ranks and Titles in the Game of Asshole / Scum:

More ranks can be used or invented for the hierarchy of players. See below for a quick guide on how you can assigns ranks/titles to the players:

The only really important ranks above are the President and Asshole. If you have more than 4 players, the Vice-President and Vice-Asshole roles can also be important. Read below to find out why, but note that the other ranks are just gravy.

You can use Titles that follow a theme such as the above example of a Mob family. Other ideas for Titles can be military (General, Colonel, Lieutenant, etc) or empire (emperor, seneschal, knight, etc.).

Succeeding Rounds of Play:

At game’s end, a President and an Asshole are determined for the next game. In the next game, the Asshole assumes the dealer duties.

* The players must change their seating to reflect the new hierarchical rankings. The President should always have the Vice-President to his left and the Asshole / Scum to his right. All other players sit clockwise from higher to lower rank.

Card Swap: Additionally, the President and Vice-President enjoys advantage via Card Swap in the following manner:

* The President gives his 2 worst cards to the Asshole. In trade, the Asshole gives his 2 best cards to the President.

* (Optional) The Vice-President and the Vice-Asshole do a similar trade but only 1 card is exchanged.

The trades are done with the cards face-up on the table. Everybody is tasked to witness the exchange and if it is discovered later on that somebody cheated during his trade, that person automatically becomes the next game’s Asshole.

Rules Variants for Scum / Asshole Card Game:

On Joker's As Wildcards:

* Jokers are wild but cannot be played as a Two; or,

* Jokers are wild and CAN be played as a Two (note that this basically results in extra trump cards for your game).

On the Use of Trump Cards: These rules alter the outcome of a game especially when 2 or more players are down to their last cards. We suggest that you stress these rules at the start of each game so that it’s clear to everyone and they can adjust their strategies accordingly.

* Trump Cards can be played out of turn: This is an added twist that drastically alters the outcome of a game -- imagine that anybody can butt in anytime with his Trump Card!

* The Hand is instantly Cleared: When somebody plays a Two, he instantly clears the Hand and assumes control of the next hand (i.e., he opens the next hand).

* The Hand is NOT instantly Cleared: In this version, other players are invited to Match or Beat the Trump Card that was just played.

An example: Player 1 discards a 2 of Diamonds. Player 2 passes. Player 3 decides that he needs to get control of the next hand if he wants to have a shot at being President. Yet he knows that Player 4 is holding a 2 which can nullify his own 2 if he plays it as a single. So Player 3 discard his Pair of 2s – 2 trump cards played as a Pair. At this point, if Player 4 wants to control the next round, he has to at least match Player 3’s discard.

How to Play Asshole / Scum as an Adult Party Game:

The Asshole Card Game is, in fact, a fairly popular Drinking Game. Find the Drinking Game Rules for Asshole when you follow this link. You will also find optional Strip Game Rules when you follow the link.

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