As in Durak, the last player with a card still in their hand is declared the loser of the round.īlaze does little to adapt or change Durak’s time-honoured formula.

Defending is difficult work, but success means clearing dangerous cards from your opponents’ hands. If the defender wins, all the cards on the stack are discarded and do not re-enter play. The position of attacker and defender then shifts one position, changing the alliances of the previous round before the dance begins again. If at any point the defender is unable to fend off the jabs of their opponents, they pick up the stack of cards and add them to their hand. This volley continues until the attacker backs off, thus giving the player on the other side of the defender a chance to overwhelm them. The player with the lowest value trump card attacks whoever sits to their left, and that player can defend. While the broad strokes might remind some of Spades and other trick-taking games, Durak - and thus Blaze - focus on what’s known as the shedding phase for the meat of its action.Īt the beginning of each round, one card is turned face-up and determines the trump by its suit.

Blaze, a new title from publisher HeidelBÄR Games, mechanises that myth into a competitive race to dump your hand of cards or else be burned.īlaze is based on Durak, a widely popular Russian card game with roots stretching into the 18th century where three to five players use a 36-card deck to alternately single out and attack each other in a dance of shifting alliances and careful planning. Slavic folklore speaks of the Firebird’s feathers and the fools who chase after their promise of fortune.

Durak cats 2 player card game