About Free Printable President (Asshole) Rules
Free printable President (Asshole/Scum) card game rules — setup, card rank ladder, turn flow, hierarchy, card exchange, scoring, variants, and house rules.
How to use
- Choose your print style. Full color renders the card diagrams with classic red hearts and diamonds on white card faces — great as a reference poster for game night. Ink-saver drops the colour for an economical class set or home printer.
- Choose whether to show card diagrams. Diagrams on (the default) includes a card rank ladder, three worked trick examples (pair beaten by higher pair, triple beaten by higher triple, anything beaten by a 2), and a card-exchange visual. Switch to text only for the most compact, fewest-pages version.
- Read the preview to confirm it is what you want — the rules flow from the objective and setup, through the high-to-low card rank ladder, lead-follow-clear turn flow, the social hierarchy (President, Vice-President, Citizens, Vice-Asshole, Asshole), the card exchange, common house rules (bombs, 2s as wildcards, threes reverse), scoring, and variants (Daihinmin / Daifugo, Capitalism, Egyptian / drinking rules).
- Click Print Rules to send it to your printer or save it as a PDF. The full illustrated guide prints cleanly across a few standard letter or A4 pages; choose Text only for the shortest possible reference card.
Frequently asked questions
What is the card ranking in President (Asshole)?
From HIGH to LOW: 2, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. The 2 is the highest natural card — not the Ace. Suits are irrelevant. In many house rules a single 2 also acts as a wildcard that can be played on any single card or set and may clear the pile.
How many players can play President?
Officially 3–8 players, and the game is best with 4–7. With 9 or more you combine two 52-card decks. With 4 players the middle finishers are Vice-President and Vice-Asshole; with 5+ players the middle finishers are Citizens (also called Neutrals).
How does the card exchange work?
Before each round after the first, the Asshole MUST give their highest card(s) to the President. The President returns any unwanted card(s) of their choice — they are not required to give back their lowest. The standard exchange is one card each way; the extended exchange (Bicycle) is two cards each way, with the Vice-Asshole and Vice-President swapping one card.
Can you beat a pair with three of a kind?
No. You must match the set size of the lead exactly. A pair can only be beaten by a higher pair, a triple by a higher triple, and so on. The common exception is the four-of-a-kind bomb house rule, where any four-of-a-kind immediately clears the trick regardless of what was led.
Who deals the next round?
The Asshole always shuffles and deals every round after the first, and typically clears finished tricks. The President has the opposite privilege — best seat, sometimes leads first, and may order the Asshole to perform table duties. These social mechanics are why the game is sometimes called Capitalism.
What's the difference between President, Asshole, and Scum?
They are the same game with different names. President is the family-friendly name; Asshole is the common college name; Scum and Capitalism are alternatives for the loser/game. The Japanese ancestor Daihinmin (大貧民) adds the Revolution rule where four-of-a-kind inverts the rank order.
What other printable game rules do you have?
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