How to play Dost Kazığı: rules and penalty points
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Dost Kazığı ("the friend's stake") is a light-hearted Turkish penalty game played among friends: the aim is to pile the penalty cards in front of everyone else and keep your own place clean. This guide explains the rules, penalty points and tactics of Dost Kazığı on Boombala.
House rules vary from town to town. Boombala plays the common version: match table cards to stake a rival, and match the top of a pile to hand the whole pile on.
How many players?
Two to four, each playing for themselves.
The deck and the deal
- A 52 card deck without jokers.
- Four cards go face up on the table and everyone gets four.
- When the hands are empty, four more each until the deck runs out.
- Only a card's rank counts; its suit never matters.
What is a kazık?
The face-up penalty pile in front of each player is their kazık. Cards handed to you go on it, its top card in plain view. At the end of the hand you score the penalty of everything in it.
What can you do on your turn?
- Take from the table and stake: if your card matches one or more table cards, take them with it and put them on the kazık of any other player (your card goes on top).
- Hand on a pile: if your card matches the top card of any kazık, hand the whole pile, with your card, to another player. You can't hand it back to the player it came from.
- The friend's stake: match the top of your own kazık and you hand your own pile on. The sweetest move in the game.
- Lay it: with no match (or if you'd rather not), lay the card face up on the table.
Penalty points
| Card | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | Its number |
| Jack, queen, king | 10 |
| Ace | 11 |
When the deck and the hands are done the hand ends: everyone adds up their kazık and the cards left on the table are thrown out. A table plays 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11 hands; after the last one the lowest total wins.
Example
The seven of spades and the seven of hearts lie on the table. Ayşe plays the seven of diamonds, takes all three sevens and puts them on Ali's kazık: 21 for Ali. Now it is Ali's turn: he holds the seven of clubs, and the seven of diamonds sits on top of his pile. He plays it and hands his whole 28 point kazık to Can. That is the friend's stake!
Winning tactics
- Watch your own pile: remember the rank on top of your kazık; a matching card in hand is your way out.
- Aim at the leader: staking the player with the fewest points keeps them from running away.
- Lay cheap cards: with no match, lay a low card; if someone stakes you with it, the penalty stays small.
- Save an ace for a big pile: if a pile is topped by an ace, your ace sends it to whoever you most want to punish.
- Timing: a pile still in front of you when the hand ends is yours to pay; don't miss your matching card in the last deal.
Dost Kazığı on Boombala
Every player's kazık lies face up beside them: top card, card count and penalty at a glance. Tap a card that can take something and the table asks where from and whom to, with each player's penalty so far. Play over voice and video and switch between a 3D and a 2D table any time.