For a Rainy Day

There you are, 12000 miles from home on a campsite in the rain. You've got your little ones for the day and have some time to fill... Try this fast and furious card game, suitable for even the youngest! In a fun way it teaches there are consequences to cheating and false accusations.

If you are after the rules from a much wider selection of card games, you might want to take a peek at www.pagat.com

The Game of CHEAT

Players 2 or more
Cards Shuffled full deck of standard playing cards which may include Jokers (You can also combine multiple decks).
Winner First with no cards to play.
The Deal Each player is dealt 7 cards. The remaining cards are placed in a pile face-down in the center of play.
Start The top card is taken from the pile and placed face-up on the table. The dealer gets to go first.
Play Each player in turn plays a card of their choice from their hand face-down on top of the face-up card. Players take turns in clockwise direction until victory is claimed.
Your Turn After you play your card, any other player may shout "Cheat". If someone does, the played card is turned over...
  • If it is neither the same suit nor the same type of card as the one that is face-up, then you have "cheated": You must add all the played cards to your hand (including that initial one, that came from the pile).
  • Otherwise it is the person who shouted "Cheat" who must pick up those cards.
  • Then the next card from the central pile is turned over. The one who just had to pick up the last lot goes first.
End Game The moment a player has only one card in hand he/she must knock (to give other players a chance to say cheat). If they did not do so and on their next turn try to claim victory they must pick up 7 new cards from the top of the pile and the game goes on.
Rules for Jokers
  • A played joker is never a cheat (i.e. it matches anything).
  • If a joker is turned over from the pile, anything other than jokers played on it will be a cheat.
  • Note that players may want that joker so they can use it as their last card. Consequently there will be a reluctance to say "cheat" and give the joker to another player!
Incase the central pile runs out The player who picked up, plays his/her first card face-up and that determines the suit and card type for the new round. He/she can't be accused of cheating on that card.

So there you have it, you can all cheat at cards and nobody need feel guilty!

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