Scum
BGG rank
BGG #21,908
BGG rating
5.9

Scum

2005

Rules assistance for Scum

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 4–8 players
  • 5 min
  • Complexity 1.1/5

Rules assistant for Scum

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Scum is a board game released in 2005 for 4–8 players and 5 minutes per game. It was designed by Kevin Johnson and its main mechanics are Ladder Climbing.

Similar games

About the game

Scum is a game of trying to rise in the social order. One player is the president. The others are in decreasing social position, with the lowest player being scum. The object of each round is to deplete your hand of cards. Whoever does so first will be the new president down the line until the last one out becoming the new scum. The game is weighted so that those who are higher up in the social order will have a playing advantage over those below them, so it will take skill to rise to a higher position. Players of Asshole (Scum: The Food Chain Game) or The Great Dalmuti will recognize the basic mechanics of Scum. Scum adds trump cards of the President and the Wild president to the standard numbered cards. Also, there are variants that cause the color of the cards to have impact on the game play.

Designers

Publishers

  • 4J Enterprises

Questions and answers

Scum supports 4–8 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.