Deckline

Deckline is a card game about a squad playing Durak at a table after their commanders abandon them and they run out of ammunition. Nobody is coming, and the squad plays as they did in the past while events outside the room grow more dangerous.

Play Durak

Durak has no winner, only a loser: the last player still holding cards is the Durak, or fool. Attack, defend and try to get rid of every card in your hand. The game uses a 36-card deck, with six cards dealt to each player and one suit as trump.

The attacker plays a card, and the defender must beat it with a higher card of the same suit or any trump. If the defender succeeds, they become the attacker; if they fail, they pick up the cards. Players who shed all their cards are safe. The game teaches the rules as you play, which takes two minutes to learn.

The table and its surroundings

You play a full game of Durak, with no simplified rules and an opponent who plays to win. The setting recreates Eastern Europe in the 1990s and draws on firsthand accounts from people who lived through that time. The outside remains off screen, but you hear what happens: shelling gets closer, and a strike above the room shakes the table and sends cards sliding.

When the power goes out, you light the kerosene lamp on the table yourself. Pills beside the deck can help with shaking hands, but only for a while. A global leaderboard and scoring system give each hand a score.