Paskahousu - The Rules of Paskahousu

The Rules of Paskahousu

One deck of 52 cards is used, ace is the highest. The game is played by 3-6 players. Everyone is dealt five cards. The rest of the cards form a face-down stock. In each turn the player in turn places (one or more) cards of the same rank from his hand into a pile next to the stock according to the following rules.

• If the pile is empty, the player must play cards that are lower than jack. (Although, this rule varies, in some games player are allowed to play any card.)
• If the pile is not empty, the new cards must be of the same rank or of a higher rank than the previous cards in the pile.
• Twos can be played on the top of any card or on an empty table. Only another two can be played on the top of a two.
• If the top cards of the pile are lower than seven, the player is not allowed to play face cards.
• Aces can be played only on the top of face cards. Aces can also be played on the empty pile, but then the next player must pick it up, and the turn passes to the player left to him. Tens can also be played on empty pile, and as with the Aces, next player must pick it up.

If the player cannot or does not want to play cards according to the previous rules, he must take the entire pile in his hand. After the player has either played cards or taken the pile, turn passes to the next player.

If the player plays a ten or an ace the pile falls. The pile falls also when a player plays cards so that there are four cards of a same rank on the top of the pile. When the pile falls, the cards in the pile are discarded from play, and the same player plays the first cards to the now-empty pile. Ten causes pile with the previous card 3-9 fall, Ace causes pile with the previous card J-K. Ace cannot be played on 3-9, and Ten cannot be played on J-K.

If a player has fewer than five cards in his hand, he must take cards from the stock so that he has five cards (if there are cards left in the stock).

When a player gets rid of all his cards after the stock has exhausted, he is out and does not participate in the game anymore. The first player to go out is the winner. The loser is the player who has cards left when everyone else has gone out. In some circles the loser is called paskahousu, shitty pants.