Description
Pasur is a fishing card game. It's one of the most popular card games in Iran. Other names for this card game are: Ch(ah)âr barg (four-cards), Haft khâj (seven-clubs) and Yâzdahtâyi (Eleveny).
Players and cards
A regular 52-card deck is used. Pasur is typically a 2-player game but it can also be played with 3 or 4 players (or more using two packs of cards). Four players can play in partnership, with partners sitting opposite each other. Deal and play are anticlockwise.
Deal
Starting from the player to dealer's right, the dealer deals out four cards at a time to each player face down and four cards to table face up. If a J was on the table, the dealer buries this card in the undealt pack and replaces it with the upcard of the undealt pack. If two Js, three Qs or three Ks were on the table, the dealer must gather the cards, reshuffle and deal once again. The remainder of the deck is temporarily put aside. After everybody played his four cards, another hand of four cards is dealt to each player from the undealt pack, but no more cards are dealt to table after the first deal. When these cards have been played there is another deal, and this continues until all 52 cards have been dealt (this takes six deals for 2-player game and three deals for 4-player game).
Play
Starting from the player to dealer's right, each player in turn must play a card to table face up. This play may result in some cards being captured from the table. In this case, the played card and the captured card(s) are taken and stacked face down in front of the player. If played card can't capture any table cards, then it remains on the table to be available for other players. When all the cards have been played in the final deal (i.e. the last hand of each round), the last player who made a capture wins all the remaining table cards.
Sur
If a player could take all table cards without playing a J, then he scores a Sur. Let's say there's only a Q on the table and it's your turn to play. If you have a Q in your hand then you can score a Sur. Another example: there's only a 2 and 3 on table while you have a 6 in your hand.
Notes
There's no Sur in the last hand of each round.
After having 50 or more points, a player / team can't score a Sur for the remainder of the game.
After you scored a Sur, take a card from your captured pile and put it beside the pile to represent your Sur. Later, if your opponent or a player from the opposite team could score a Sur, this card returns to your captured pile (tit for tat) because you get point for every Sur you have scored more than your opposing player / team.
Scoring rules
At the end of each round, it's time to count points:
- Each A is worth 1 point
- Each J is worth 1 point
- 2 of Clubs is worth 2 points
- 10 of Diamonds is worth 3 points
- Having 7 or more of Clubs (which is called Haft Khâj "seven-clubs") is worth 7 points
- Each Sur is worth 5 points