# How to Play Cheat (I Doubt It, Bullshit): Rules and Bluffing Learn Cheat, also called I Doubt It or Bullshit: deal every card, play face down and claim the next rank, call “Cheat!” on a liar, and be first to empty your hand. Source: https://pips.club/cheat - Players: 3 to 8 - Deck: 52 cards (two decks for a big group) - Type: Shedding - Level: Easy - Time: About 20 minutes ## At a glance ### Play face down, say what it is Cheat is a shedding game with bluffing. On your turn you put cards face down on a pile and say what they are. You may lie. Anyone who thinks you lied can call “Cheat!” Caught lying, you take the whole pile. Call wrongly, and you take it. In the US it is often called Bullshit; the polite name is I Doubt It. ## Setup ### One deck, three to eight players Use a standard 52-card deck without jokers. Suits don’t matter, only ranks. With a big group you can shuffle two decks together. In this example four players play: you, West, North and East. ## The deal ### Deal every card Deal the whole deck one card at a time, clockwise. With four players everyone gets 13 cards. With other numbers some players get one card more: that is fine. East deals, so you, on the dealer’s left, start. ## A turn ### Aces, then 2s, then 3s The claims follow a fixed order. The first player plays aces, the next player 2s, the next 3s, and so on up to kings. After kings come aces again. You never choose the rank: it is always the next one in line. ### One to four cards, face down On your turn put one to four cards face down on the pile and say how many and which rank. You must play: there is no passing. You play the ace of hearts and the ace of spades and say “Two aces.” That is the truth. ### No card of that rank? Bluff West has to play 2s but has none. West plays the 9 of clubs and says “One 2” with a straight face. Nobody calls, so the lie stands and the card stays in the pile. ### Call “Cheat!” Anyone may call “Cheat!” straight after a play. The cards just played are turned face up. North puts down three cards and says “Three 3s.” You hold the 3 of clubs and the 3 of spades, so that can’t be true. You call “Cheat!” and the cards are the 3 of diamonds, the 8 of spades and the jack of hearts. North lied, so North picks up the whole pile: all six cards. ### Wrong call? Take the pile yourself If the cards are exactly what the player said, the caller picks up the pile instead. Then play carries on with the next player in turn and the next rank. East plays two cards: “Two 4s.” West calls “Cheat!”, but they are the 4 of hearts and the 4 of spades. West takes them. Now it is your turn, and you play 5s. ## Special cards ### The last card counts only if it’s true Emptying your hand wins, but only if your last play survives a challenge. Caught lying on your last card, you pick up the pile and play on. Later your turn comes to play 9s and you have one card left, the 9 of diamonds. “One 9.” East calls “Cheat!” It is a 9: East takes the pile and you are out. Plan ahead: count which rank you will need to claim on your last turn. ## Scoring ### No points to count Cheat has no score. The size of each hand tells you who is winning: the fewer cards, the closer to going out. A player who just took a big pile is far behind, however good their poker face. ## Winning ### First with an empty hand The first player to get rid of all their cards, and survive any challenge on the last play, wins the game. Shuffle, move the deal one seat to the left, and play again. ## Variants and house rules - **Up, down or the same**: Instead of a fixed order, you may claim the rank just above, just below or the same as the last claim. - **Up or down**: You choose between the next rank up and the next rank down. - **Big group**: With many players, shuffle two or more decks together. Claims of five or more of a rank then become possible. ## Tips - Hide a lie among true cards: two real 7s and one stranger is harder to spot than a single card. - Call when your own hand makes a claim impossible, such as “three kings” while you hold two. - Tell the truth on easy turns so your lies look the same as your honest plays. ## Quick answers **What order do you play in Cheat?** Aces first, then 2s, 3s and so on up to kings, then back to aces. Each player must claim the next rank in the order. **How many cards can you play in Cheat?** One to four cards per turn, all claimed to be the rank that is due. **What happens if you call Cheat wrongly?** If the cards are what the player said, you, the caller, pick up the whole pile. **Is Cheat the same as Bullshit and I Doubt It?** Yes. They are different names for the same game: Cheat in Britain, Bullshit in the US, and I Doubt It in many rule books.