Translated from French by Steve ThorsTen (2019)
The card game known as President – or in the case of French people, 'Asshole' – came from China, where several games, including zhengshangyou and zhengfen, are played. The specific mechanism of the game is so distinctly Chinese. In Japan, the game is known as the 'dai hinmin' and in the United States, people have stuck with the French original, calling it 'Asshole'.
Nobody is entirely sure how for the past fifty years the game has been spreading in the west. Some publishers have decided to give the name another name, such as 'Gang of Four.'
The Game
This game involves four players. Each player has a social rank, such as President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Treasurer, Worker or Asshole. The President is the master, he has the right to sit in the best chair and the other players must obey him. On the flipside is the Asshole who sits on an empty cardboard or a stool. The goal of the game is to finish as the President.
Rules of the Game
The ranking of cards is as follows: Joker, 2, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9 , 8 , 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3. At the beginning fo the game, each player draws a card. The strongest card is the President, the second strongest is the Vice President and so on. If two players happen to end up with the same rank, they need to draw again to decide the outcome.
Then, the players put themselves at the table based on their social rank. The President does the dealing and he usually gives himself an additional card. After this is done, everyone looks at their cards. The President can then give his two weakest cards to the Asshole. The first to go is the President who can place a single card or a combination of cards that are identical. A player, however, is never obliged to put a combination. The combinations rank in the same order specified at the beginning of the article. A combination is two Aces or two Queens, for example. To defeat the combinations, you need a stronger combination.
The player with the highest combination, however, wins the trick and the next round starts. The goal is to get rid of all of one's cards. The player who wins is the President. The game continues so that the other social ranks in the next game can be determined. The second player to win will be the Vice-president and so on. The winner in the game is the President in the next.
The game can be stopped at any point and when players agree to.
When a player wins a trick, they play again. There are some rules that always determine the order, i.e. the President will go first and so on. This makes climbing the social ladder even in the game more of a challenge. Other players, however, would rather have the President play second and so on.
Game Versions
5 and More
You can introduce a fifth social rank – the craftsman, who won't trade cards to any player.
Joker
Some game versions exclude the Joker altogether. In some versions of the game, the Joker is used as a 'replacement' card, which can help you to replace any missing card in a combination. In other words, the Joker is a wild card.
Counting the Points
At the end of the round, the President is awarded 2 points whereas the Vice President gets a point. The rest of the players get no points at all. The first player to hit 10 points wins the game altogether.
Adapted from the original source: jeuxdecartes.net