rules of shithead

Hey Dave, I have no idea if you've ever played it, but I want to share with you something that has kept me going through many many nights over the last... erm... twenty years.  Its a card game called Shithead (I've heard Ozzies call it President though I've just Googled and found something completely different.  Shithead Googles with the wrong rules too.*) and its one of the top three or four games I've ever played.  It goes like this.

Two to many players can play. You need two decks, from which jokers must be stripped. Shuffle the decks together.  Dealer deals clockwise : four cards face down which players cannot look at, then four cards face up for everyone, and then another four cards face down for all, and one card in the middle which stares the discard pile.  You are allowed to pick up and sort the eight cards you have access to.  You can sort the cards and place your top four cards face UP on the four cards you have face down.

The order of play is to lay a suitable card or cards to the discard pile and then pick up from the deck.  You must hold at least four cards in your hand where possible.  You must play higher or equal to the card last played except on a seven (you must play seven or lower on a seven).  Ace is the highest, two is a wildcard which can play on and be played on by anything, and ten reverses the order of play.  You can play multiples of cards up to a maximum of four on the discard pile.  When four of the same cards have been played, then they and the rest of the discard pile are put away for the duration of the game.  The person who puts away the discard pile with "four of those" gets to play again, after picking up if necessary. If you are unable to match or beat the last card played, then you have to pick up ALL the cards on the discard pile.

Once the last card is played from your hand, you can play your face up cards in any order you like.  Once they are gone, you are forced to play your cafe down cards blind. The one who is left with cards remaining is the Shithead, and can sometimes be required to forfeit something (go make the coffee etc).

* If you google Shithead there are a myriad of variations on the net.  There seems to be a very popular variation with three cards played at the start and requiring only one deck of cards.  It might be worthwhile looking into that too. Enjoy :-)