Cheat
How to play
In short: The game of bluffing. You play cards face down and announce what you laid – but only you know whether you told the truth. Anyone can call you out, and whoever gets caught takes the pile.
Rules
Players: 2–4 (for larger groups two decks can be used)
Cards: 32-card Hungarian deck
+ (optional) 2 Chroniclers (jokers)
Goal: be the first to get rid of all your cards
Order of the cards: VII, VIII, IX, X, Under, Over, King, Ace. After the Ace, continue the sequence with the 7.
Dealing: the dealer deals the whole deck evenly between the players (everyone gets the same number of cards; if that is not possible, set the remaining cards aside).
Start: the player to the dealer's right starts and must play (or at least announce) sevens.
- You may put down 1–4 cards from your hand at once. They can be any cards, but you have to say: "X sevens".
- If you have no seven, you have to lie (put down something else but say sevens). Whenever it's your turn, you must put down at least one card.
Next player: following the order, the next player must announce and put down eights (or bluff). They may not announce sevens or anything higher than eight.
Calling a bluff: if someone suspects that the previous player did not put down what they said, they can call out: "cheat!".
- The previous player's cards are then turned over to see whether they played honestly.
- If the previous player lied, they pick up all the cards played so far.
- If they told the truth, the accuser picks up the pile.
After a call:
- If the liar picks up the cards (because they were caught), the player who called the bluff plays next.
- If the accuser picks them up (after a false accusation), play continues in order (after the player who last put down cards).
End of the game and scoring:
- The game ends when someone has got rid of all their cards; that player wins the round.
- If you play several rounds, you can also keep score (e.g. 1st place gets 4 points, 2nd gets 3, 3rd gets 2).
The 2 Chroniclers (for advanced players):
- Coloured: can be played at any time and always counts as true, whatever you announce.
- Pale: can only be played as a bluff (you announce, for example, that you're putting down a "King", but it's actually this card).
The next player must call it out. If they don't, the player who played it picks up the whole pile as a penalty.
If they call it out and it turns out to be the Pale Chronicler, the accuser is out of luck: they pick up the pile, and the player who played it carries on as if they had played a correct card.