Kazhutha Rules (Donkey Card Game)

Kazhutha (കഴുത, donkey) is a Kerala card game for three or more players. It is a "shedding" game: the aim is to get rid of all your cards. There is no winner, only one loser: the last player left with cards, who becomes the kazhutha.

🫏 Play it now: open Kazhutha with 4, 5 or 6 players.

Players and cards

• 3 to 8 players (4 to 6 is best). Everyone plays for themselves.
• One standard 52-card pack. Cards rank A (high), K, Q, J, 10 … 2. There is no trump.
• The whole pack is dealt, one at a time. Some players get one card more than others; that's fine.
• Play goes anticlockwise (to the right).

The first round

The player holding the A♠ leads it. Everyone else plays a spade if they can.

Following suit and dead rounds

• You must follow the suit that was led if you have it.
• If every player follows suit, the round is "dead": the cards are thrown away, out of the game.
• The player who played the highest card of that suit leads the next round, with any card.

Cutting (vettu) and picking up

• If you have no card of the suit led, you play any card from your hand. This is a cut.
• The round stops immediately; players after you don't play.
• The player who played the highest card of the suit led picks up all the cards in that round, including the cut card, and adds them to their hand.
• That player then leads the next round.

Example: hearts are led. Rahul plays 9♥, Priya plays K♥, Arjun has no hearts and cuts with the A♣. The round stops. Priya played the highest heart, so she picks up all four cards (the led heart, 9♥, K♥ and A♣) and leads next.

Getting out

• A player who has no cards left is out and safe. The order in which players get out doesn't matter in most homes, though getting out first is a nice boast.
• If the player who should lead next is already out, the next player still in leads.
• Play continues until only one player has cards. That player is the Kazhutha.

Scoring across games: K-A-Z-H-U-T-H-A

Each time you are the kazhutha, you get the next letter of the word K-A-Z-H-U-T-H-A. The first player to collect all eight letters is the full kazhutha and loses the match. (In English-speaking homes the same idea is played with D-O-N-K-E-Y.)

House rules you may meet

• Some families let the first round be led with any spade, or have the dealer's neighbour lead instead of the A♠ holder.
• Some throw away a dead round face up so everyone can count cards, others face down.
• In some versions the loser must deal the next game, or do a forfeit chosen by the table.

Cheettukali uses the rules above: A♠ leads, dead rounds are thrown away, the highest card of the led suit picks up after a cut, and the K-A-Z-H-U-T-H-A letters across games.

📖 ഈ നിയമങ്ങൾ മലയാളത്തിൽ വായിക്കാം

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