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Kazhutha card game: Kerala's name for Bhabhi

Short answer
Kazhutha is the Malayalam word for donkey, and Kazhutha — or kazhutha kali, “the donkey game” — is what Kerala calls the shedding card game known elsewhere as Bhabhi and Thulla. In English it is called Getaway, or simply Donkey. Deal the whole deck, the Ace of Spades leads, and follow the suit if you can. If you can’t, throw any card — a vettu — which stops the round and makes whoever played the highest card of the led suit pick up the pile. The last player holding cards is the kazhutha.

What does Kazhutha mean?

Kazhutha (കഴുത) means donkey in Malayalam, and kali means game, so kazhutha kali is “the donkey game”. As with every other name for this game, the name belongs to the loser: the player left holding cards at the end is the kazhutha, and the table lets them know it. Tamil has the same word, kalutai (கழுதை), which is why Kalutai turns up as a name for the game too.

That makes Kazhutha a direct match for the English Donkey. The formal English name is Getaway, and in Punjab and Pakistan the same game is Bhabhi or Thulla. A family from Kochi and a family from Lahore can sit down at one table and play without changing a rule.

How to play Kazhutha

  1. Deal the whole deck. One 52-card deck, dealt clockwise one card at a time. With four players everyone gets 13.
  2. The Ace of Spades leads. Whoever holds it plays it first.
  3. Follow the suit. If everyone follows, the cards are discarded for good and the highest card starts the next round.
  4. No card of that suit? Vettu. Throw any card. The round stops, and whoever played the highest card of the led suit picks up the whole pile.
  5. Empty your hand and you’re safe. The last player holding cards is the kazhutha.

The full rules page plays a complete round card by card and lists the household variations.

What is a vettu?

Vettu (വെട്ട്) is Malayalam for a cut, and it is the move the whole game turns on: the off-suit card you throw when you have none of the suit that was led. A vettu never wins anything for the player who throws it. It punishes someone else — whoever is holding the highest card of the led suit at that moment.

Punjabi and Pakistani players call exactly the same move a thulla, and in English it is just an off-suit card. Running out of a suit early is therefore the strongest position at the table, not the weakest. The strategy guide explains why.

Kerala’s trump version (Kasaragod)

Pagat records a version of the game from Kasaragod, in the far north of Kerala, that adds a trump suit. It plays very differently, so agree on it before the first deal:

  1. The Ace of Spades leads, and everyone must follow suit if they can.
  2. The first time anyone cannot follow suit, the suit they play becomes trumps for the rest of the game. That card does not stop the trick.
  3. From then on, a player with none of the led suit must play a trump if they have one. A trick with trumps in it goes to the highest trump.
  4. If everyone followed suit or played a trump, the trick is discarded and its winner leads the next one.
  5. Only a player with neither the led suit nor a trump can throw an ordinary off-suit card. That ends the trick, and its winner picks up all the cards.
  6. The last player left is the loser — in Pagat’s words, “a donkey with x legs”, where x is the number of cards they are still holding.

Trumps mean an off-suit card can win a trick instead of just ending it, so pick-ups happen less often. The standard game above is the one most tables play, and the one the Thulaa app plays.

Play Kazhutha online

Thulaa plays the standard Kazhutha rules on iPhone and Android, with four players at every table. Quick Play finds you a live table; a private room takes a code you send to your family group. The app calls the loser the Pabho. How to play online with friends.

FAQ

Kazhutha: quick answers

01What is Kazhutha called in English?
Kazhutha is called Getaway in English, and many English speakers also call it Donkey, which is what kazhutha means in Malayalam. Kazhutha is the same card game as Bhabhi, Thulla and Laad: follow the suit, and the last player holding cards loses.
02What is a vettu in the Kazhutha card game?
A vettu, Malayalam for a cut, is the off-suit card a player throws when they cannot follow the suit that was led. The vettu stops the round, and whoever played the highest card of the led suit picks up every card on the table. Punjabi players call the same move a thulla.
03What is a Thulla in the Bhabhi card game?
A Thulla is an off-suit card played by someone who cannot follow the suit that was led. It stops the round immediately — nobody after them gets to play. Whoever played the highest card of the original suit must then pick up the entire pile and add it to their hand.
04Is Bhabhi the same as Thulla, Getaway and Donkey?
Yes. Bhabhi, Thulla, Getaway, Laad, Donkey, Bhabho, Kazhutha, Kalutai, Tochoo and Cangkul are regional names for the same game. The core rule is identical everywhere: follow the suit if you can, and if you can't, your off-suit card ends the trick.
05How many players do you need for Bhabhi?
Bhabhi needs at least three players and works well up to six with a single 52-card deck, but four is the classic table and by far the most common. The Thulaa app plays it as a pure four-player game: every table, whether Quick Play or a private room, seats exactly four.
06Can you play Bhabhi online with friends?
Yes. Thulaa is a free app for iPhone and Android that runs live four-player Bhabhi games. Create a private room, share the code, and your friends join straight into your table. There is also Quick Play, which matches you with live opponents in about a minute.