Cheat (game)

Cheat (Britain), also known as Bullshit (United States) or I Doubt It, is a card game where the players aim to get rid of all of their cards. It is a game of deception, with cards being played face-down and players being permitted (and often required) to lie about the cards they have played. A challenge is usually made by players calling out the name of the game, and the loser of a challenge has to pick up every card played so far. Cheat is classed as a party game. As with many card games, cheat has an oral tradition and so people are taught the game under different names.

Cheat (Britain), also known as Bullshit (United States) or I Doubt It, is a card game where the players aim to get rid of all of their cards. It is a game of deception, with cards being played face-down and players being permitted (and often required) to lie about the cards they have played. A challenge is usually made by players calling out the name of the game, and the loser of a challenge has to pick up every card played so far. Cheat is classed as a party game. As with many card games, cheat has an oral tradition and so people are taught the game under different names.

Veryu Ne Veryu

The Russian game Veryu Ne Veryu (Russian, Верю не Верю, literally "I believe, I don't believe") is typically played with 36 cards, and differs from Cheat in several respects. First, the rank does not change as play proceeds around the table: every player must call the same rank as chosen by the first player. Second, aside from the options of laying down additional cards or calling "ne veryu" ("I don't believe") to call a bluff, a player has the third option to call "veryu" ("I believe"). In this case, the last played cards are revealed, and either the entire round's stack is removed out of play if the last played cards were truly of the claimed rank, or the entire stack is taken by the current (calling) player if they were not. If the current player takes cards due to an incorrect call, their turn ends, but the addition of the "veryu" call means that a player always has a way to avoid losing their turn, even when the previous player is clearly telling the truth and the next player knows that the current player does not have the needed rank. Finally, the game differs from Cheat in that play typically continues after a player gets rid of their cards (and "leaves" the game, in most variants only after finishing the round) until only a sole loser is left. Many variants of the game exists, including playing with more cards, not allowing aces to be called as their rank, and others. One version of the game also does not begin with the entire deck dealt out. Instead, each player is dealt a hand of five cards and draws up to five at the end of every round if they have fewer than five, and players are only able to leave the game once the draw deck is empty. If a round reaches a player at a point in which they have no cards in hand, they are forced to make a call.

Canadian/Spanish Bluff

Similar to Russian Bluff, it is a version used by at least some in Canada and known in Spain. The rules are rather strict and, while it is a variation, it is not open to much variation itself. It is also known in English as Fourshit (single deck) and Eightshit (double deck), the game involves a few important changes to the standard rules. Usually two decks are used instead of one so that there are 8 of every card as well as four jokers (Jokers are optional), though one deck may be used if desired. Not all ranks are used; the players can arbitrarily choose which ranks to use in the deck and, if using two decks, should use one card for each player plus two or three more. Four players may choose to use 6, 8, 10, J, Q, K, A or may just as easily choose 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, J, K, or any other cards. This can be a useful way to make use of decks with missing cards as those ranks can be removed. The four jokers are considered wild and may represent any card in the game. The first player can be chosen by any means. The Spanish variation calls for a bidding war to see who has the highest card. The winner of the challenge is the first player. In Canada, a version is the first player to be dealt a Jack face up, and then the cards are re-dealt face down. The first player will make a "claim" of any rank of cards and an amount of their choice. In this version each player in turn must play as many cards as they wish of the same rank. The rank played never goes up, down nor changes in any way. If the first player plays kings, all subsequent players must also play kings for that round (it is non-incremental). Jokers represent the card of the rank being played in each round, and allow a legal claim of up to 11 of one card (seven naturals and four jokers). A player may play more cards than they claim to play though hiding cards under the table or up the sleeve is not allowed. After any challenge, the winner begins a new round by making a claim of any amount of any card rank. If at any point a player picks up cards and has all eight natural cards of a certain rank, they declare this out loud and remove them from the game. If a player fails to do this and later leads a round with this rank, they automatically lose the game. Once a player has played all their cards, they are out of that particular hand. Play continues until there are only two players (at which point some cards have probably been removed from the game). The players continue playing until there is a loser. The object of the game is usually not so much to win, but not be the loser. The loser is usually penalised by the winners either in having the dishonour of losing, or having to perform a forfeit.

Sweden

In Sweden the game is known as bluffstopp, a composition of bluff ("bluff") and stoppspel ("shedding game"). Players are given six (or seven) cards at the start of the game, and the remainder make a pile. Players are restricted to follow suit, and play a higher rank, but are allowed to bluff. If a player is revealed to be bluffing, or a player fails to call or a bluff, the player draws three cards from the pile. Additional rules and players to play more than one card in secret, and drop cards in their lap. But if this is discovered, the player must draw three or even six cards.

References

Bibliography

Further reading

USPC Card Game Rule Archive (under the name "I Doubt It") accessed on 2006-05-10.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1303866434 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.