How to play President

Learn the rules to the playing card game President quickly and concisely - This video has no distractions, just the rules. While there are many variations to President, this video covers the original base rules.

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RULES:

The object of this 4 to 7 player card game is to be the first player to get of all the cards in your hand. Setup. Shuffle a standard 52 card deck of playing cards and every player picks a random card from the deck. 2 is highest, followed by Aces, then king, all the way down to 3, the player with the lowest card is the first dealer. If there is a tie, pick again. The dealer shuffles then deals all the cards out to the players one at a time. Some players may have more cards than others.

The player to the dealer’s left goes first. On your turn, lead any single card or a set of cards face up on the table. A set of cards is more than one card of the same rank. After you play, then next player clockwise either plays or passes. You must always match the quantity of cards played and the rank of cards must be greater than the previously played cards. When sets are played you must follow with another set. You may choose to pass one turn then play on another. The play continues until everyone passes consecutively, bringing the play back to the person who played the last card.

For example. Player 1 leads with a pair of 4s. Player 2 passes. Player 3 passes. Player 4 plays a pair of 6s then player 5 a pair of 9s. Player 1 plays a pair of jacks. Players 2 3 and 4 pass and player 5 plays 2 kings. Player 1 and 2 pass but player 3, who has not yet played, decides to play 2 aces. Players 4 5 1 and 2 all pass. Player 3 then takes the trick.

After the trick is taken, the cards on the table are flipped face down and pushed to the side. The player who took the trick leads the next play. This process repeats everyone plays all their cards, skipping players who don’t have any more cards in their hand. Then the seating order changes for the next hand based on the order in which players when out. The first player who played all their cards is the President and picks the most comfortable seat, the 2nd player is the vice-president and sits to the left of the president. The 3rd is the speaker of the house, and so on down to the last player, who is the beggar who sits to the right of the president.

If keeping score, the players get points depending on their position - 2 points for the President, 1 for the Vice President, and zero for everyone else.

The beggar is responsible for shuffling, dealing, and clearing away the cards when necessary. When the deal for the next had is complete, the beggar must give their highest card to the president then the president gives any card of their choice back in return. The president then leads the next play. This process repeats until one player reaches a predetermined point total, usually 11, then they are the winner.

[FPAlius]

My favorite president rule is revolution. If someone plays 4 of a kind, all values become the opposite. 2 is worthless and 3 is the highest. The only way to change it in a round is a counter revolution, ie, another 4 of a kind.

[saulthechicanootaku]

I remember that this game is popular in Japan, its country of origin, and if booze is involved, things go crazy

[ZlueTheDragon]

Alternate rules:
Joker:
The joker acts as anycard, able to participate in runs or pairs of any other card. Only one is used.
However, if played as a standalone card (therfore being higher than 2), the 3 of spades counts higher than the standalone joker.
Ending with a joker results in being the last aviliable place.
Downfall:
If the president doesn't come first the next round, they are automatically last. Only recomended for higher skilled players of president, as groups may find the president position too overpowered. The vice president never applies to this rule.
Suit restrictions:
If a predetermined number of cards are played of the same suit in a row, all following cards must follow suit.
Harsher taxation:
The president gives two cards of their choice, and the beggar two highest.
The vice and rank above beggar are given the same taxation rules as president and beggar without harsher taxation.
Revolution:
If a four of a kind is played, ranks of the cards are reveresed (2 low, 3 high). Jokers remain the best if in the deck, and the 3 of spades still trumps it.
The trick continues after the revolution, with the new rankings of the cards. Another revolution can occour, reseting the cards to their normal rankings.
8 clear:
Any play involving an 8 (single, paired, or in a run) clear the trick immediately, play starting from the person who played the 8.

Round play:
Instead of points being scored, the end roles after a predetermined number of rounds are the final standings.
Downfall still applies if agreed apon.

[lukesun]

Omg this channel is so helpful i love this, I am so glad that I stumbled across this so that I could play this card game with my friends. I really like the part at 1:26 because the explanation was really clear and I was able to understand the content perfectly.

[croutendo]

You can play with more than 7 players if you use two decks.
Also a fun variant is to have the beggar/scum give the president/king their 2 highest cards (and vice versa). Then the peasant (or whoever is next lowest after beggar) gives their 1 highest card to the vice president/duke and gets 1 in return.

[DrLogii]

In Germany, there is a very similar game called "Der große Dalmuti". There are only a few changes:
You play with special cards, labeled 1 to 12. The 1 is the highest card, 12 is the lowest. Also, the card 1 is only once in the deck, the 2 is twice, and so on. Therefore, the 12 is twelve times in the deck. Also, the player who comes first is called "Großer Dalmuti", and trades two cards with the player that came last, called "Großer Diener". Trading rules are the same as in "President". The player who came second is called "Kleiner Dalmuti", and the player who came second to last is the "Kleiner Diener". They only trade one card with each other, with the same rules as in "President". Also, there are two Jokers. You can add a joker to any card or set of cards, and it will match with these cards and extend the set by one card ( Example: 10-10-10-J counts the same as 10-10-10-10). Jokers alone are the worst card in the game, worse than a 12. You don't have to give away Jokers as "Diener", they will never count as your best card. If a player has both jokers, he can choose to announce it publicly, but he don't has to. If any player does this at the beginning of the round, it's a "Aufstand", and no cards are traded in the round. But there's one exception: If the "Großer Diener", the worst player on the table, gets both Jokers, he can also announce w "Revolution". In this case, the trading hierarchy changes, and the "Großer Dalmuti" has to give his best two cards to the "Großer Diener", and receive any two cars back, and the "Kleiner Dalmuti" has to give his best card to the "Kleiner Diener" in return for any card.

[Anhedonis]

I also learned this from summer camp, though we had the president, vice president, secretary, vice a-word, and a-word. The president got to boss the a-word and vice a-word around, with the president having veto power, and the a-word getting worse treatment. The fun came when the a-word somehow manages to beat the odds and becomes president. My god, the revenge!

[CaptainFritz]

I prefer the Great Dalmuti, which is pretty much the same rules but where 1 is the highest and 12 is the lowest. Its a custom deck in which there are 12 12s, 11 11s, 10 10s, etc. This makes high cards (1, 2s, 3s) very valuable.

[gabriellecrawford]

Glad you used "beggar" and not the A word. Much obliged.

[giovannilloretsorribas]

I think there is no one way to play President, each group has their own rules and this look to me like your and your friends' rules

[masterimbecile]

Wow I’ve always wondered what this game is called in English! I love this game and tried to teach my friends, but I didn’t know how it’s called so I (and the other immigrant kids) just called it “Big 2”, the literal translation from its Chinese name 大老二.

For us, the rule ends at 2:04. We’d just keep going until someone wins and then we’d do another round; none of this “president, vice president” business. We did have many “house rules” on what kinds of hands are permissible though (3 of a kind, etc). Some rules also make Diamond out-ranking heart which will never stop being weird.

Another variation I loved is for 2 or 3 players: we’d deal 3 piles with 1 card left over which we put in the center. Then whoever has the 3 of clubs (lowest possible card), or the lowest card out of the players, take that extra one and begin the turn. For 2 players, the extra pile is a draw deck for every time we had to pass. For 3 players the game continues as usual.

[ksarehere]

1:43 Why would play 3 wait to play double aces? If he played it immediately then his opponents wouldn't have had the chance to get rid of some of their cards. Is there some strategy to not playing your high card right away?

[Mr.Autodelete]

This is objectively the best card game

[zechnox]

Great video! could you explain the maximum number of players for this game?

[papyrussemi]

A popular pastime among Phantom Thieves.

[Xian]

One version I was taught - 3s are the bomb card that clear the floor then starts a new round.
4, 5, 6 cards are wilds. Then 7 is the low card then work the way up to 2 being high card.
Then in round two, the winner and the very last person with cards from round 1 will swap cards. Winner gives 2 lowest cards, then loser gives their 2 highest cards. Then the round starts with the loser going first. up til the winner who is going last. When it comes to wilds, you can play them with other cards to make doubles or triples. But if you play it Individually, it just counts as the next higher card.

[detroitandclevelandfan]

I used to play this in high school. There were three dfferences we did. The beggar had to give his or her's two best cards to the president and the president gives his or her's two worst cards to the beggar. The second thing we did was the twos. If a person laid down a two, even in pairs, it clearded the pile and that person who laid the two starts a new pile.

The final thing we did if a person completed a full 4 of something, then the person that completed the full 4 cleared the pile and starts a new pile. For example. If Steve put down two jacks then Jane put down the other two jacks, Jane would clear the pile and lay down whatever she wanted. I miss those days.

[JosannaMonik]

When you say player 3 takes the "trick" how do we know, when we can take the 'trick" ? Whenever we put on the Ace?

[tomahchin]

I wish he would have explained things like certain card actions (4 of the same number clears the stack, or #2 clears the stack)

[WalmartRich]

In this scenario, what if player 3 plays say a pair of 7's, and everyone passes. Does he get stuck with the set of Aces?