Zugzwang

Zugzwang: (German tsu-ktsvang, Chess) n. a position in which one player can move only with loss or severe disadvantage. - World English Dictionary

The Game

Materials:
A standard deck of 52 Anglo-American playing cards, no jokers.

Objective:
Be the first to discard all of your cards.

Setup:
Shuffle, then deal 11 cards to each Player.
Put the remaining 8 cards into a separate pile, face-down. This is "the Duck."
Flip over the Duck's first card, and place it face up in a new pile, the Discard pile.
Begin play, starting with the Player to the dealer's left, rotating clockwise.

Rules: 
On a Player's turn, the Player must discard one card that is of higher value than the previous discard. Aces are wild (and the only card that can be discarded above a King). The Player who plays after an Ace can discard any card in their hand.

If a Player cannot discard, The Duck will discard its top card instead. Play resumes with the Player after the Player who did not discard. (The Duck has played "for" the Player who did not discard).

The game ends when one Player has discarded all of their cards. If The Duck discards all of its cards first, everyone loses!

The Metagame

Zugzwang is a game of continuous disadvantage: every card a Player discards that is to their opponents' disadvantage is also to their own disadvantage. Every card a Player discards to their own advantage is to their opponents' advantage. And sometimes, a card a Player discards to their own disadvantage is to their opponents' advantage. The game is a continual struggle to win against thinner and thinner odds.

What makes Zugzwang unique is that the personal objective of each Player can change as the game progresses. Each Player wants to win individually, but when the odds seem too far gone, the Player has a choice to make: should they help another Player win, becoming teammates against The Duck, or should they side with The Duck and force everyone to lose? Each Player makes this decision separately, and thoroughly changes the social dynamic of the game.

In Zugzwang, no rules are made against tabletalk. This means that Players can tell others what is in their hand, or lie about their hand, or actively agree to help one Player win against The Duck, or admit they want The Duck to win. Players can even lie about their objective, or keep silent.

Because of the changing personal Player objectives, Zugzwang is both competitive and cooperative. It is reminiscent of common competitive card games, as well as cooperative & traitorous you-versus-the-board board games such as Shadows Over Camelot.

Play the game with friends, and tell me how you like it!