How to play Pâsur

Setup

Pâsur is a two-player game played with a standard 52-card deck. Shuffle thoroughly, then have one player deal. The dealer gives each player four cards face-down, then places four cards face-up in the middle of the table. That face-up middle is the pool, and every move in the game is fundamentally about interacting with it.

The non-dealer plays first. Players alternate turns. Each player uses up their four cards across four turns; once both hands are empty, the dealer deals another four to each player (the pool is not re-dealt — it persists). This repeats until the deck is exhausted, which takes exactly six deals per round (4 cards × 2 players × 6 deals = 48 cards, plus the original 4 in the pool = 52).

On the very first deal of each round, if any Jacks land in the initial pool, they are usually re-shuffled in (a Jack on the table at the start is uninteresting because there's nothing for it to sweep). Some tables instead deal the pool out as-is. Either way, once the round begins, the pool is the pool.

After all six deals, the round ends. Players count their captured cards and tally points (see Scoring below). The dealer rotates and a new round begins. The match continues round-by-round until a player reaches 62 points.

Capture by summing to 11

On your turn you play one card from your hand. If that card is a number card (Ace through 10), it captures by summing to exactly 11 with one or more pool cards. Aces are worth 1 for capture math.

Examples:

• You play the 7♥; the pool has a 4♣. 7 + 4 = 11 → you take both cards into your capture pile.
• You play the 7♣; the pool has an A♠ and a 3♦. 7 + 1 + 3 = 11 → you take all three.
• You play the 10♠; the pool has an A♥. 10 + 1 = 11 → you take both.

A single play can sweep multiple pool cards at once as long as they sum to 11 with your played card. The captured cards (plus the card you played) all go to your private capture pile, face-down. They will be counted at the end of the round.

Sometimes more than one combination is legal — for example, you play a 5 and the pool has a 6, a 4, and a 2. Both 5 + 6 and 5 + 4 + 2 sum to 11. You pick which capture you want; the rest stays in the pool. Standard heuristics: prefer the capture that takes more cards, more clubs, or higher-value scoring cards (Ace, 10♦, 2♣).

If your number card cannot capture anything (no valid sum), you simply trail it: place it face-up in the pool. Your turn ends. Trailed cards become future targets for you or your opponent.

Kings and Queens

Face cards don't play the 11-game. They capture by rank-match only:

• A King captures one King from the pool. One match per play, regardless of suit.
• A Queen captures one Queen from the pool. Same rule.

If the pool has no matching face card, the King or Queen you played simply trails — it sits face-up in the pool, waiting for its match. The first King or Queen to land in the pool always trails; the second one of the same rank claims the first. With four of each in the deck, expect to see one or two of these match-ups per round.

Kings and Queens never participate in numeric sums, even indirectly: a King in the pool is invisible to a number card played on top of it. Jacks (see below) are the only cards that can capture in their presence — and even Jacks ignore Kings and Queens.

Jacks are wild

Jacks are the most powerful cards in the deck. Playing a Jack captures every non-King, non-Queen card on the table at once — number cards and any trailed Jacks. The Kings and Queens stay where they are.

Tactically, Jacks are devastating on a crowded pool. If your opponent has trailed several scoring cards (an Ace, the 2♣, a handful of clubs), one Jack vacuums them all into your capture pile. Conversely, a Jack on an empty or nearly-empty pool is a waste — you only sweep what's there.

One important nuance: a Jack sweep does not count as a Sur, even if it leaves the pool empty. The Sur bonus (see below) is reserved for non-Jack captures that happen to clear the table. This is deliberate — Jacks are already strong enough.

If the pool is entirely empty (or contains only Kings and Queens) when you play a Jack, the Jack simply trails. A later Jack from either player will then sweep that Jack along with whatever else has accumulated.

Mandatory capture

You choose which card to play from your hand. But once you've played it, if the card can capture, you must take the capture. You cannot voluntarily trail a card that has a legal capture, even if you'd prefer to deny your opponent something on the table.

For example: the pool has the 4♠. Your hand has the 7♥, the K♣, and the 9♦. You may play any of those three cards. If you play the 7♥, you are required to capture the 4♠ — no trailing it to leave the 4 for your opponent. (You could instead play the K♣ or 9♦, which can't capture anything on this pool, and they would trail.)

When multiple capture sets are legal for the played card, you choose which one — but you must take at least one valid capture. Mandatory capture keeps the game tactical: the choice that matters is which card to commit, not whether to capture.

Sur — the sweep

Sur (سور, from the Persian word for sweep) is the signature bonus of Pâsur. If your capture empties the pool entirely, that's a Sur — worth 5 extra points on top of the cards you took.

Conditions for a Sur:

• The capture must be by a number card (not a Jack — see above).
• The capture must leave zero cards in the pool. Kings and Queens left behind count against you: if any cards remain after your capture, it's not a Sur.
• Surs can not be scored on the very last (sixth) deal of a round. The final deal often ends with leftover cards that get swept by the last-capturer rule (below), so the Sur bonus is suppressed to avoid windfalls.

Sur cancellation

Pâsur has a beautiful counter-mechanic: if your opponent scores a Sur after you've scored one, their Sur cancels one of yours instead of stacking on their side. Only one player can ever carry net Surs into scoring; the other side always sits at zero.

In practice this means: if you Sur on turn 4, and your opponent Surs on turn 9, both Surs vanish and the round counts no Sur points for either side. If you Sur three times and they Sur once, you carry 2 net Surs (10 points). The implementation tally tracks both sides' Surs and subtracts on the fly.

Last capture sweep

When the last card of the round is played, any cards still in the pool go to whichever player made the most recent capture in the round. This is a cleanup rule, not a bonus — it does not count as a Sur. It exists so cards don't get orphaned between rounds.

Scoring

At the end of every round, each player counts their captured pile and awards themselves points from the table below:

A few important notes on scoring:

• Haft Khâj (هفت خاج, "seven clubs") is the biggest single category. Of the 13 clubs in the deck, whichever player captured the most takes 7 points — but only if they captured at least 7 clubs. If both players ended up with 6 clubs each (or any split below 7-vs-6), no one scores Haft Khâj for that round. This makes clubs the focal point of careful play.
• The 2♣ is special twice: it's worth 2 points by itself and it also counts toward your clubs total for Haft Khâj. The same is true for any club that's also an Ace.
• Maximum possible score per round (ignoring Sur swings) is 20 points: 7 Haft Khâj + 3 (10♦) + 2 (2♣) + 4 aces + 4 jacks = 20. With Surs, a round can be worth substantially more.
• The match ends as soon as either player crosses 62 points. Standard practice is to finish the round in progress before declaring a winner; if both players cross 62 in the same round, the higher cumulative score wins, and an exact tie triggers a tiebreaker round.

Variations & house rules

Pâsur has been played for a century-plus across Iran and the diaspora, and you'll find house variations everywhere. Pâsur on playpasur.com implements the most common ruleset, but here are the variations worth knowing about:

• Target score. 62 is the most common, but some tables play to 51 (shorter), 71, or even 101 (much longer). 62 is the implementation default here.
• Four-player Pâsur. The same rules apply with two teams of two seated across from each other. Captures and Surs are pooled by team. Out of scope for playpasur.com, which is intentionally two-player.
• Sur on the final deal. Some house rules allow Surs on the sixth (final) deal of a round. The standard rule suppresses them. We follow the standard.
• Jacks as Sur. A few tables count a Jack-clear as a Sur. We follow the canonical rule: Jacks are already powerful enough; they don't earn the bonus.
• 10♦ scoring variants. Most tables (and we) score the 10♦ as 3 points. Some count it as 2; a handful play it as part of a larger "10s" bonus. 3 is the most common.
• Re-dealing the initial pool. Some tables re-shuffle if any face card lands in the initial pool, not just Jacks. We re-shuffle on Jacks only (Kings/Queens in the initial pool are fine — they trail until matched).

Local conventions matter — when learning at a new table, ask about the target score, sur rules, and last-deal handling before the first deal.