Palace

Quick Pitch

A shedding card game where you're racing to empty your hand — but when your cards run out, you're forced to play blind from a face-down pile. The last person holding cards is the Shithead.

Hook

You start with three piles: cards in your hand, three face-up cards, and three face-down cards you can't look at yet. Empty your hand, then play your face-up cards, and finally flip your mystery face-down cards one at a time and hope for the best. Miss the pile's top card and you take the whole pile back into your hand. It's a game of steadily shrinking control — strategic at first, then just plain luck at the end — and whoever gets stuck holding cards at the finish earns a very unflattering title.

Equipment Needed

• 1 standard deck of cards (52 cards, no jokers) — a second deck if playing with 6+ players
• Paper and pencil (optional, for tracking penalties or scores in extended play)

Setup

1. Deal each player 9 cards: 3 face-down in a row, 3 face-up on top of those, and 3 in hand.
2. Players may swap cards between their hand and their face-up pile before play begins — use this to put your best cards face-up.
3. The player with the lowest card in hand leads.

Rules

Objective: Be the first to empty your hand, then your face-up pile, then your face-down pile. The last player with cards is the Shithead.

On your turn:

1. Play one or more cards from your hand onto the central discard pile. You must play equal to or higher than the top card, or pick up the pile.
2. After playing, draw from the deck to keep 3 cards in hand (while the deck lasts).
3. Once your hand is empty and the deck is gone, play from your face-up pile.
4. Once your face-up pile is gone, play from your face-down pile — you must flip and play blind. If the card doesn't beat the top of the pile, you take the whole pile into your hand.

Special cards:

• 2 — Can be played on anything. Resets the pile; next player can play any card.
• 10 — Can be played on anything. Burns the pile (remove it from the game); same player plays again.
• Ace — Highest card; can only be beaten by a 2 or another Ace (by house rule).

Pairs and four-of-a-kind: Playing four cards of the same rank at once burns the pile, same as a 10.

Tips

• Use the setup swap wisely — put your highest cards and any special cards face-up so you can control them.
• Save your 10s and 2s. They're most valuable when you're stuck with a bad card at the top of the pile.
• When forced into the face-down pile, brace yourself — there's no strategy, just luck.

Variations

• Karma: Australian name for the same game; some versions add a "karma" mechanic where the loser's penalty carries into the next round.
• Shed: UK name; rules are identical but 7s sometimes reverse the direction of play.
• House rules: Special card powers vary enormously by group — agree before you start.