Objective

The goal of President is to accumulate the most points by getting rid of all of the cards in your hand faster than the other players in each round.

Playing the game

Number of players : 2-8 (no President or Beggar in 2/3-player)

President is played with a standard 52-card deck and 1 Joker. Following this hierarchy (lowest to highest): 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2.

• A Joker can be used as either the highest ranked single card, or a wild which can be used with other cards.

Cards are dealt one at a time clockwise until all cards have been dealt. When cards cannot be evenly distributed, lowest ranked players will receive more cards than others.

In 2 player mode, both players receive 15 cards instead.

A player can play a single card or a set of cards of equal rank :

• Double – a pair of cards of the same value (ex. 2 Kings).
• Triple – three cards of the same value (ex. 3 fours).
• Quadruple – four cards of the same value (ex. 4 sevens).
• Quintuple - four cards of the same value and the Joker as a wild (ex. 4 nines plus the Joker).

The first player of the round sets how many cards should be played for the entire pile.

• Player 1 : plays 1 five, then all others players must play one card until this pile is over.
• Player 1 : plays 2 nines, then all others players must play two cards until this pile is over.

The next player must play a higher ranked combination with the same number of cards or pass and wait until their next turn.

If all players except a single player pass consecutively, remove cards on the table and the player who played last starts a new play.

If a player played their last card, and no other player can play (or pass even if they can play), the next player available clockwise will start next pile.

End of the round

The game will continue until there is a single player left with at least a card in their hand.

The roles in the next round are:

• President: The first player to get rid of all of their cards
• Minister: The second player to get rid of all of their cards
• Peasant: The second to last player to get rid of all of their cards
• Beggar: The last player to get rid of all of their cards
• Citizen(s): Any other players are considered neutral

Before next round starts :

• The Beggar must give their two highest cards to the President and the President must give back 2 cards of their choice to the Beggar at the same time.
• The Peasant must give their highest card to the Minister and the Minister must give back 1 card of their choice to the Peasant at the same time.
• Citizen(s) do not exchange cards.

The Beggar will be the first player to start the next round.

Revolution

When a player plays four or more cards, the hierarchy of all the cards is reversed during the same round. The Joker is unaffected by the revolution.

For example, after the first revolution of a round, the order of power is (lowest to highest): 2, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, Joker.

If another revolution is played, the order would switch back to normal.

Skip

When a player plays the same number of cards of the same rank as the previous player, that skips the next person who would have played.

For example, playing a 7 on top of another 7, or a pair of 4s on another pair of 4s, the next player is skipped.

The Joker played alone cannot be skipped.

Illegal Finish

A player went out by playing 2 when card ranks are normal, 3 when card ranks are reversed, 8 when Ender 8 option is active, or the Joker (even as a wild card), is disqualified and is ranked the lowest.

If several players are disqualified by this rule in the same round, the player who went out later is ranked higher.

Playing illegal finish cards just before the last play is not forbidden.

For example, when a player with Joker and a 4 has the lead, the player can play the Joker to win the trick immediately and then play a 4 and go out legally.

Downfall

When the President (or the Minister in 3-player) fails to get the first place, that player is automatically eliminated from the round and ranked last unless someone else is disqualified by illegal finish.

Points

For each round, each player receives the points equal to the number of players they beat.

The game ends when a player reaches the target score written in the player panel.

Variant rules

The following additional variants are supported on BGA (as of 2025-01-13).

Scoring rule and Game length

The game length option works a little differently depending on whether positive scoring or negative scoring is used.

Rule set

• Moderate variant: Revolution, Joker, Skip, Illegal finish, Downfall
• Full variant: All card-related variants and Downfall.
• No variant: Removes all variants.
• Custom: Table creator can customize variant options.

First player

Determines whether the highest player (president) or lowest player (beggar) will be the first player to start the next round.

Automatic turn skip

The game checks only public information to determine whether a player has any chance of beating the current combination regardless of the cards in hand. If all relevant higher cards are discarded already, the turn is skipped automatically.

Same suit sequence

Three or more cards of consecutive rank and the same suit can be played as a valid combination. If applicable, all special effects of cards in the combination are applied.

Suit lock

If a player plays a combination of the same suit as the previous play, all further plays during the same trick must be the same suit combination. The Joker cannot activate a suit lock, but can be used as the required suit during a locked trick.

Ender 8

Playing one or more 8s ends the trick immediately.

Reversing 9

Playing one or more 9s reverses the turn order permanently.

Jack back

Playing one or more Jacks reverses card ranks or cancels the rank reversal during the same trick.

Permanent pass

A player passed their turn is completely out of the trick and cannot play cards again during that trick.

Unskippable 2/3

- 2s (or 3s when Revolution is in effect) cannot be beaten by the same rank.