Play El Presi online

Get rid of your cards before anyone else and become the President.

Playing El Presi online

El Presi gets better the more people are at the table: with 3 the hierarchy barely registers, and from 5 or 6 upwards the card swap between President and Bum starts deciding whole rounds. The maximum is 8.

A game is several rounds back to back, and the hook is not winning one - it is escaping the Bum seat before the next round makes it harder again. Each round takes a few minutes, so a normal session is fifteen or twenty.

The table handles the deal, the role card swap and the turn order for you: all you do is choose what to play. You cannot play an illegal move either, because the play button stays disabled until what you have selected is legal.

What gets settled before the deal

El Presi has no rules to configure: every table plays the same way, with the 2 acting as a wild card, the four-of-a-kind you can discard out of turn, and the skipped turn when you match the play before you. The only thing that changes from table to table is how many people are sitting at it.

From the second round on, the deal pauses for the role swap, and each player hands over their own cards: the Bum has to give up their two best, and the President gives back whichever two they like. That moment has its own clock, longer than a normal turn, because it is a decision you then carry for the whole round.

Your first game

The turn clock is fifteen seconds, one of the shortest in the house, because nearly every decision here is immediate. If it runs out, the table plays a random legal move for you - passing included - so when you are unsure it is better to pass on purpose than to let the clock go. Run it out several times in a row and your clock gets a little shorter each time.

You cannot make an illegal play even if you try: the play button only lights up when the selection is valid, and tapping a card that does not fit what you had already selected restarts the selection with just that card.

The four-of-a-kind discard is yours to use whenever it suits you, out of turn as well, and it has its own button. It is the thing people forget exists for an entire first game.

How to start a game

1. Create a room from this page and share the code on screen with whoever is playing.
2. Everyone opens House Of Decks, enters that code and takes a seat at the table.
3. Once there are between 3 and 8 of you, the host deals and the game begins.
4. If you would rather not organise anything, drop into Quick Play and play with whoever is waiting.

Deck: Standard 52-card deck · Players: 3 to 8 players

Full rules for El Presi