The aim of the game in Cheat is to get rid of all your cards. You deal out all the cards of a shuffled deck to the players. Five or so is best. To begin, a player puts down a numer of cards, face down. They all have to be the same, for example, three Kings. The player must state what cards he is putting down, saying out loud 'Three Kings'. The next player then has to follow by putting down cards either the same as, one above, or one below the previous players. So after three Kings, your options are another King, up to four Queens, or up to four Aces. Here's where the cheating comes in. You have to put cards down no matter what. You cannot skip a go if you don't have the cards to follow. So, if I had to follow a King, but had no Kings, Queens or Aces, I would have to lie and put down cards that were clearly not Kings, Queens or Aces, but state that they were. So after three Kings I might say 'Two Queens' but really I was putting down a Jack and a four. The other players then have the right to challenge my statement, by calling 'Cheat'. After which, the cards that I just put down must be turned over. If I am revealed as cheating, I have to pick up all the cards on the deck, thus hindering my effort to get rid of all my cards. If however I am proved to be telling the truth, ie. if I really had put down two Queens, the player who called cheat must pick up all the cards in the deck. The player to get rid of all his cards first wins. The game is about luck, and lying convincingly. So try not to say 'Four Aces' when you don't have them, coz the others will be damn sure you're lying. And of course, to win, your final cards put down must be truthful, as if a player is about to win, it's always worth calling 'Cheat'. Where I'm from that game is called Bullshit. And you have to start with the Ace first and you don't have to increase the number of cards you lay down. You go Ace to King over and over till someone loses all their cards.
