Liar's Post

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a turn
5. Losing the game
6. Two players
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Liar's Post is a bluffing game in which nobody wants to receive anything. On your turn you slide one card face down to another player and tell them what it is – truthfully or not. They must decide: do they believe you, or do they look at the card and pass it on to somebody else with a claim of their own? Whoever guesses wrong has to lay the card face up in front of them. The first player with four cards of the same kind face up in front of them loses; everyone else wins.

• Players: 2–6; best with 4–6.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks.

Liar's Post is our own adaptation for ordinary cards, inspired by Cockroach Poker (Kakerlakenpoker, Jacques Zeimet, Drei Magier Spiele, 2004). It has not been playtested in this form yet.

The cards

From both decks take the Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s and 7s – eight cards of each rank, 64 cards in all. The 2s to 6s and the jokers are not used.

Only the rank matters: there are eight kinds of card (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7), and there are eight cards of each kind. The suits don't matter at all – a 9♥ and a 9♣ are simply two 9s.

Setup

Shuffle the 64 cards and deal them all out, one at a time, face down. Some players may get one card more than others; that's fine. Everyone picks up their cards as their hand and keeps them hidden. The player to the dealer's left starts. (In the first game, choose the dealer at random.)

Playing a turn

1. Send a card. Choose any card from your hand and slide it face down to any other player. At the same time, name a kind: "This is a Queen." You may tell the truth or lie – it's up to you.

2. The receiver decides. The player who got the card has two choices:

• Call it. Without looking, say "True" (you believe the claim) or "False" (you don't). Then turn the card face up.
• If the receiver was right, the player who sent the card must take it.
• If the receiver was wrong, the receiver must take it.
• Pass it on. Look at the card secretly (don't show it to anyone), then slide it face down to another player who hasn't held this card yet in this turn (the player who first sent it counts as having held it), and name a kind yourself – the same one or a different one, true or false. Now you are the sender, and the new receiver has the same two choices.

If a card reaches a player for whom everybody else has already had the card in this turn, that player can't pass it on and must call it.

3. Take the card. Whoever has to take the card lays it face up in front of them. Keep your face-up cards sorted by kind so that everyone can see them. These cards stay there until the end of the game.

4. Next turn. The player who just had to take the card starts the next turn by sending a card from their hand.

Example: Anna slides a card to Ben: "This is a King." Ben already has two Kings face up in front of him and doesn't want to risk it. He looks at the card – it's the Q♥ – and passes it to Carla: "This is a 7." Carla says "False" and turns the card over. It's a Queen, not a 7, so Carla was right: Ben, who sent it to her, lays the Q♥ face up in front of him. Now Ben starts the next turn.

(Here Ben already had two Queens before the example; the new Q♥ is outlined. With three Queens, Ben must now be very careful: every card that might be a Queen is dangerous for him.)

Losing the game

The game ends as soon as one of these things happens:

• A player has four cards of the same kind face up in front of them (for example four 10s). That player loses.
• It's a player's turn to send a card, but they have no cards left in their hand. That player loses.

Everybody else wins together. For the next game, the loser shuffles and deals.

A player without hand cards is still in the game until it's their turn to send a card: they can still receive cards, call them and pass them on.

Two players

With only two players, a card can never be passed on – the receiver must always call it. As our own rule, the game then ends when a player has five cards of the same kind face up (instead of four), or when a player has no hand cards on their turn.

Tips for beginners

• Look at the table before you claim. If Dan already has three Jacks face up, a card you call "Jack" puts real pressure on him – he may pass it on just to be safe.
• Passing on is useful when you are unsure, but every player who looks at the card knows the truth – and the last one in the chain has no way out.
• Mix truth and lies. If you always lie, everybody simply says "False".
• Watch who seems relieved when they look at a card they are passing on.
• Don't use up your hand too early: running out of cards on your turn loses as well.

Variants

• One deck (quick game, 2–4 players): Use only the A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 of one deck (32 cards, four of each kind). A player loses with three of a kind face up (with two players: four).
• Eight different: A player who has one of every kind face up in front of them also loses.