Gameplay

Cheat is a shedding card game, but players can be dishonest. The minimum player count is 2, but there must be at least 3 players to remove perfect information about initial card counts.

Players are shuffled, and cards are dealt starting at the first player in the list. A random player is selected to move first.

Each turn, the current player discards some cards and claims that they are cards of the same rank. Players win when they have discarded all of their cards.

Other players have a chance to call "cheat" and challenge the cards that were just played, causing the entire discard pile to go to a player as a penalty. If the move was honest (the cards match the claim), penalty cards go to the player who made the claim. Otherwise, penalty cards go to the dishonest player.

After a challenge, the turn timer is reset, and the game continues from where it left off. To allow for a chance to call "cheat", the system will allow time before the next move can be finalized. To prevent misclicks, calling cheat is not possible in the first 750 ms after a move has finished or player has left.

If a player leaves, all his cards go to the bottom of the discard pile, but he gets the worst unfilled rank, and the turn timer is reset. If he made the last move, it can no longer be challenged. Otherwise, the 750ms minimum call timer (but not maximum call timer) is also reset.

Ranks

The cards ranks (4 each per deck) are in this order from lowest to highest:

Ace < 2 < 3 < 4 < 5 < 6 < 7 < 8 < 9 < 10 < Jack < Queen < King

Jokers (2/deck) are wildcards and may be used as any card.

Time Control

Intermissions last up to 30 seconds, ending early if all players are ready.

Each turn lasts up to 20 seconds by default, with automatic moves. Unused turn time cannot be carried to future turns. There is only a turn timer, not a game timer.

Options

Turn Time / s (default: 20, min: 5, max: 60)

An arbitrary move will be made after the turn timer expires.

Call Time / s (default: 3, min: 2, max: 10)

Turns use this time as the minimum time whenever there is a previous move, allowing players to call cheat. This cannot exceed the Turn Time.

Decks (default: 1, min: 1, max: 2⁵¹)

Number of decks to use.

Check

How are challenges resolved?

arbiter: arbiter checks and reveals only pass/fail
caller: the player who called the challenge checks the cards privately
public (default): the challenged cards are revealed to all publicly
public+: the cards below the challenged cards are shuffled, and all cards are revealed publicly

Count (off/on, default: all on)

How many cards may be played after the first turn? Any count may be played on the first turn.

If the current player has fewer cards than required, all of them may or must be played.

If the next move would require zero or an invalid number of cards (less than one or more than six times the number of decks), the trick ends.

At least one of the first 3 options must be enabled, or else the server will enable the first 3.

same: same count as the previous move
more: more cards than the previous move
less: fewer cards than the previous move, but not zero
zero: zero cards

Trick Rank Start (off/on, default: all on)

What card ranks may start a trick?

At least one option must be enabled, or else the server will enable all of them.

A: Ace
others: any rank other than Ace or King
K: King

Trick Rank Subsequent (off/on, default: first 5 on)

What card ranks may be played after the first turn of a trick?

If no card claim is possible for the next move, the trick ends.

same: same rank as previous move
up 1: previous plus one, when not wrapping
up 1 wrap: previous plus one, when wrapping
down 1: previous minus one, when not wrapping
down 1 wrap
up 2: previous plus two, when not wrapping
up 2 wrap
down 2
down 2 wrap
others: other ranks not covered above

Tricks

Passing must be within a trick. Passing is not allowed when starting a trick.
Passing prevents playing again until the next turn or trick.
When everyone except P (the last player to move) has passed, P starts a new trick.
If P has already won, the player after P starts instead.

Is passing allowed in tricks?

forced (default): no passing, must play every turn
pass turn: play or pass your turn
pass trick: play or pass the trick
single turn: treated as passed unless starting a new trick (end a trick early to start the next one)

FUTURE Options

Any Caller (default: on)

Can players other than the current player call cheat?

Believe (default: off)

Allow calling "believe": if last move was honest, discard pile is banished; otherwise, caller takes all cards.

Banish on New Trick (default: off)

When a new trick has started, banish all cards in the discard pile before the new trick.

Challenge Pass Reset Trick (default: off)

When a challenge passes, does a new trick start?

Challenge Fail Reset Trick (default: off)

When a challenge fails, does a new trick start?

Challenge Pass Control Flow

Who plays after a challenge passes?

no change (default): player after dishonest player
challenged: dishonest player who was challenged and lost
after caller: player after player who challenged
caller: player who challenged and won

Challenge Fail Control Flow

Who plays after a challenge fails?

no change (default): player after honest player
challenged: honest player who was challenged and won
after caller: player after player who challenged
caller: player who challenged and lost

Rules for Cheat