Scum: other names for the President card game

What are the other names for President?

The most common ones are Scum; Asshole, spelled Arsehole in the UK, Ireland and Australia; Presidents and Assholes; Capitalism; and, in Australia, Warlords and Scumbags. Older family versions go by Rich Man Poor Man. The name changes with the crowd, not with the game.

The main English names for President
Name	Where you’ll hear it	Good to know
President, Presidents	Everywhere; the plural is common in the US	The neutral name, safe for any table
Scum	US, Canada, UK	Mild enough for most groups; also the name of the last place
Asshole	US, Canada	The classic college and party name
Arsehole	UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand	Same game, British spelling
Presidents and Assholes	US	Often the party or drinking-game version
Kings and Arseholes	UK, Ireland, Australia	The winner is a King instead of a President
Capitalism	US, Canada	A clean name that sums up the card exchanges
Warlords and Scumbags	Australia and parts of New Zealand	The local name down under
Rich Man Poor Man	Older and family tables	Close to the meaning of the Japanese names

Is President the same game as Asshole or Scum?

Yes. Same 52-card deck, same goal, same pecking order at the end of each round: the winner becomes President, the last player becomes the Asshole (or the Scum), and the next deal starts with a card exchange in the President’s favor.

What changes from one group to the next isn’t the game, it’s the house rules: who leads first, what a 2 does, whether jokers or runs are allowed. Our guide to variants and house rules maps the common ones to the options in Le Président, and the complete rules cover everything else.

What is President called in the UK and Australia?

UK and Ireland: Arsehole, Presidents and Arseholes, or Kings and Arseholes, with Scum as the politer option.
Australia: Warlords and Scumbags, or just Scumbags. The winner is the Warlord and the loser the Scumbag. Arsehole is common there too, as it is in New Zealand.
Canada: Scum, or Presidents and Scum, alongside President.
US: President or Presidents at home, Capitalism as a clean alternative, Scum as a mild one, and Asshole or Presidents and Assholes once the party gets going.

Other languages have their own versions. Le Président is simply French for The President, and French players also call it Trou du cul, which translates exactly the way you’d guess. Spain says Culo, Germany Arschloch, and Brazil and Portugal Presidente.

What are the roles called in President?

The role names follow the name of the game. In Le Président they are President, Vice-president, Neutral, Vice-asshole and Asshole, and which roles you get depends on the number of players.

Role names in Le Président and at other tables
In Le Président	Also called
President	King, Warlord, Rich Man, Boss
Vice-president	VP
Neutral	Citizen, Person
Vice-asshole	Vice-Scum, High-Scum, Vice-Arsehole
Asshole	Scum, Arsehole, Scumbag, Poor Man, Peasant, Beggar, Bum

Whatever the names, the job is the same. At the start of the next round, the Asshole hands their two best cards to the President, who gives two back. See how the card exchanges work.

Where does President come from?

Nobody knows who invented it or when. According to pagat.com, the go-to site for card game rules, it’s a climbing game (each play has to match or beat the last one) that probably came from Asia. It’s closely related to the Japanese game Daifugō, also called Dai Hin Min, and spread to the West from the 1970s on. Most of its names come from the roles: the game is named after either the winner (President, King, Warlord) or the loser (Scum, Asshole, Scumbag).

Daifugō has a revolution rule too, and it’s often played with jokers and extra local rules.

President belongs to a family of climbing games. Its closest relatives work like this:

Big Two, also called Big 2, Deuces or Pusoy Dos: the 2 is highest too, but suits break ties, you can play five-card poker hands, and there are no roles or exchanges.
Tiến lên, or Thirteen (Vietnam): 13 cards each, runs allowed, and special bombs that can beat a 2.
The Great Dalmuti: a boxed game with its own 80-card deck, where rank decides your seat, and a revolution of its own that works differently.

Which version does Le Président play?

The French way: one 52-card deck, 3 to 6 players with bots welcome, plays of one to four cards of the same rank but never runs, cards ranked from 3 up to 2, and, in Classic mode, whoever holds the Queen of hearts leads the first round of each game. The host picks the variants before the first deal.