How to play Cheat

1 player vs computer, or 3 online

Be the first player with no cards left, by getting rid of them under claims the other two players are willing to believe, and by catching them out when they do the same to you.

The rules, step by step

1. 1

   The whole deck is dealt out between three players, seventeen cards each and eighteen to one of you.

2. 2

   On your turn, put one to four cards face down on the pile and say what rank they are. Everybody sees how many cards went down, and nobody sees what they were.

3. 3

   The rank you claim has to be the one on the table or one either side of it. If the table shows sevens, you may say sixes, sevens or eights. A king may be followed by an ace.

4. 4

   You always have to play something, so when you hold none of the three ranks on offer, you have to lie.

5. 5

   After a play, each other player in turn may call it. The cards are turned over: if the claim was false the player who made it picks up the whole pile, and if it was true the caller picks it up instead.

6. 6

   Play your last card and survive the call that follows, and you win. Get caught lying on it and the pile comes back to you.

Tips that change how you play

• Tell the truth while it is cheap. An honest claim can never cost you anything, because a player who calls it hands you the pile. Save the lying for the turns where the three ranks on offer are all ranks you are out of.
• Bury a card under a claim that is nearly true. Two real nines and one stray king, called as three nines, gets rid of the king and looks exactly like an ordinary turn. It only fails if somebody is holding two nines themselves.
• Count the rank before you call. If you hold three sevens and somebody claims two of them, that is five sevens in a deck that has four, and the call is free money. Without that arithmetic you are guessing, and a guess that is wrong costs you the pile.

The turn that gets rid of the king

The table shows sevens, so you may claim sixes, sevens or eights. Your hand is the six of clubs, the six of hearts, the eight of spades and the king of diamonds. The obvious play is the two sixes: it is true, it sheds two cards, and if either opponent calls it they pick up the pile and you have gained. It is also the play that loses you the game four turns later. The king is the problem. Sevens are in play, and by the time the table wanders far enough round the ranks to reach a king you will be down to it as your last card, which means finishing on a lie that will certainly be called. So put down the two sixes and the king, and call it three sixes. Somebody has to be holding two sixes themselves to prove that impossible, and there are only two left in the deck. Nine times out of ten it goes through, you are three cards lighter instead of two, and what you are left with is the eight of spades, which is playable on the very next turn. Same hand, one extra card, and the difference is whether your endgame is something you can say out loud.

Mistakes that cost beginners the game

Calling on a hunch because it has been quiet for a while.

Most claims most of the time are true, and a wrong call buys you the entire pile. Call when the arithmetic says a claim is impossible, when somebody puts three or four cards down at once, or when they are about to go out. Everything else is a donation.

Hoarding a card that is nowhere near the ranks in play.

A lone king while the table is on fives is a card you cannot ever play honestly, and holding it means your last turn will be a lie that gets called. Post it early under a claim that is mostly true, while the pile is small enough that being caught costs you nothing much.

Saving your best lie for the last card.

Going out on a bluff almost never works, because calling somebody who is about to win is free: if they were telling the truth they win either way. Plan two or three turns ahead so the cards you finish on are ones you can honestly claim.

Common questions about Cheat