How to Play Cheat Card Game (I Doubt It): Rules for 2 to 10 Players

Cheat is the card game where lying is not just allowed — it is the point. You play cards face down and say what they are. Everyone else decides whether to believe you. It goes by several names: Cheat in Britain, I Doubt It in older American books, Bluff in India and elsewhere, and a ruder three-letter name in plenty of college dorms. The rules are the same.

What you need

A standard 52-card deck for three to six players. For seven or more, shuffle two decks together. No jokers.

The deal

Deal out the whole deck, one card at a time. It does not matter if some players get one more card than others.

How to play cheat

1. The player left of the dealer starts by placing one or more cards face down in the middle and announcing them as Aces: "Two Aces."
2. The next player must play cards announced as Twos, the next as Threes, and so on up to Kings, then back to Aces.
3. You must play on your turn. If you have no card of the rank you need — or you would rather keep them — you lie.
4. After any play, anyone can call "Cheat!" (or "I doubt it!").
5. The challenged cards are turned over:

• If the player lied, even about one card, they pick up the whole pile.
• If the player told the truth, the challenger picks up the whole pile.

The pile then starts again from the next player, still following the sequence.

How to win

The first player to get rid of all their cards wins — but the last play can be challenged like any other. If your final cards were a lie and someone calls it, you take the pile and play on.

Cheat with 2 players and 3 players

Two players: deal 15 or so cards to each and leave the rest face down out of play. Nobody knows which cards are missing, which brings back the doubt that two players with a full deck would lose — you could otherwise track every card.

Three players: deal the whole deck. Hands are large (17 or 18 cards), so the early rounds are honest and the lying begins in the middle of the game.

Four or more: the classic game. With eight or more, use two decks, and a player may truthfully lay down as many as eight of a rank.

Popular variations

• Up, down or same. Instead of strict order, each player may announce the same rank as the last play, one higher or one lower. Much harder to catch a liar.
• Free choice. The first player in each new pile names any rank, and everyone plays that rank until the pile is picked up.
• Four of a kind away. A player holding all four cards of a rank may discard them face up at any time.

Tips for beginners

• Tell the truth early. When you have many cards, there is no need to lie, and an honest record makes your later lies more believable.
• Count the cards you hold. If you have three Sevens and someone plays "three Sevens", they are lying.
• Lie with one card, not four. "One Jack" is easy to believe.
• Call late in the game. The pile is small early on; it is not worth the risk.

A deck you do not mind being slapped about the table is the right one here. Plastic cards survive the pile-picking far better than paper — see plastic vs paper playing cards. For more games with a bluff at their heart, try liar's dice, or see the card games for adults list.