How to play

PRESIDENT

The climbing card game — shed your hand fastest to rise from Scum to President.

Setup

• 3–7 players use one 52-card deck; 8–12 players combine two decks.
• Card rank runs low-to-high: 2 is lowest, then 3–10, J, Q, K, and Ace is highest. Suits don't matter.

Playing a trick

• In round 1, whoever holds the 3♣ leads first; from round 2 on, the previous President leads.
• The lead plays a single, pair, triple, or four-of-a-kind.
• Each following player must play the same number of cards at a strictly higher rank — or pass.
• Once everyone else passes, the last player to play takes the trick and leads a fresh one.

Finishing & titles

• Run out of cards first → you're President next round; second out → Vice-President.
• The last player still holding cards is the Scum; everyone in between is a Citizen.

The tax (between rounds)

• Before each new round, the Scum gives their two highest cards to the President, who returns any two.
• In 4+ player games, the VP and Vice-Scum swap one card each way.