Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
"Palace" is a very popular game played with regular playing cards, and also is commonly called names like "Shithead" or "Karma". There are numerous variations with other names like "Smeghead", "Shit-boot" or "Mukava".
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
"Palace" is a very popular game played with regular playing cards, and also is commonly called names like "Shithead" or "Karma". There are numerous variations with other names like "Smeghead", "Shit-boot" or "Mukava". In Sweden it is referred to as "Vändtia" and often comes with minor rules variations. The game is for two to six players in which players aim to not be the last player to get rid of their cards. Who gets rid of their cards first is usually considered unimportant. The loser must deal the next game. The game requires one regular 52-card deck (plus 2 Jokers, when six play). Aces are high, although twos and tens act as trump cards in different ways. Each player gets a set of piles of two cards, three face up and three face down. They then take turns to play cards onto a central pile, drawing from the deck to replenish their hand. If they can't make a play they have to pick up the pile and the next player begins a new one. Once a player has emptied their hand and no more cards can be drawn, they move on to play cards from their own piles.