Cheat / BS / I Doubt It
Quick Pitch
Cheat (also called BS or I Doubt It) is a bluffing card game where players try to get rid of all their cards — and lying about which cards you're playing is not just allowed, it's often the whole point.
Hook
On your turn, you put one or more cards face-down on the pile and announce what they are: "Two Kings." But you might be holding no Kings at all. Anyone who thinks you're lying can call "Cheat!" — and if they're right, you take the whole pile. The tension of watching someone confidently play their cards and wondering whether to believe them is what makes this game endlessly entertaining.
Equipment Needed
- One standard 52-card deck (for 5 or more players, consider two decks)
- A table with space for a central pile
Setup
- Shuffle the deck and deal all cards as evenly as possible. It's fine if some players get one extra card.
- Players pick up their cards and look at them secretly.
- Decide who goes first. The player with the Ace of Spades often goes first, or just pick someone randomly.
- Clear a space in the center of the table for the discard pile.
Rules
Objective
Be the first player to get rid of all your cards.
The Rank Sequence
Cards must be played in order: Aces, then 2s, then 3s, all the way up to Kings, then back to Aces again. Each turn, the required rank advances by one.
How to Play
On your turn, you must play one or more cards face-down onto the central pile and announce what rank you're playing. You must announce the current required rank — even if you don't actually have any cards of that rank.
Example: If it's the turn for 7s, you might place two cards and say "Two 7s." Those two cards could be genuine 7s, or they could be any other cards entirely — no one can see them once they're face-down on the pile.
Calling "Cheat!": After any player plays cards, any other player can immediately call "Cheat!" (or "BS!" or "I Doubt It!" depending on what your group calls it). When challenged, the cards just played are flipped over for everyone to see.
- If the announcement was truthful (all cards were the claimed rank): The challenger takes the entire discard pile into their hand.
- If the announcement was false (any card was not the claimed rank): The player who lied takes the entire discard pile.
After a challenge (whether successful or not), the next player continues with the next rank in sequence.
No challenge: If no one calls "Cheat!" before the next player puts down their cards, the play stands and the turn advances.
Winning
The first player to play their last card and not get challenged (or survive a challenge on that final play) wins. Note: if your last play is challenged and you were lying, you take the pile back — so you haven't won yet.
Example Round
Required rank: 9s
Jamie plays 2 cards face-down: "Two 9s."
(Jamie is actually playing a 4 and a 9 — one genuine, one fake.)
Sam says "Cheat!"
Cards revealed: 4 and 9.
Since Jamie lied (the 4 isn't a 9), Jamie takes the pile.
Required rank: 10s (advances regardless)
Next player plays...
Expert Player
Tips
Lie boldly, but not constantly. Players who lie every turn become predictable and get challenged constantly. Players who only play honestly are easy to read too — they slow down noticeably when they don't have the right cards. Mixing genuine plays with confident lies is the key to not getting caught.
Watch the counts. There are only four of each rank in a standard deck. If you're holding two 5s and someone claims to be playing three 5s, at least one of them must be a lie. Counting what you hold tells you what's impossible for others to claim truthfully.
Challenge with purpose, not reflex. Every pile you force on someone is a punishment — but if your challenge is wrong, YOU take the pile. Challenge when you have strong evidence: the claimed count exceeds what's possible, the player hesitated unusually, or you're holding most of the claimed rank yourself.
Play aggressively on your strong ranks. When the required rank matches cards you actually have, play as many as you can legitimately. Getting rid of four cards on one turn is a huge advantage.
The pile gets dangerous late. A pile that's been growing for many rounds can have 20+ cards in it. A wrong challenge or a caught lie at that point is game-changing. Play conservatively when the pile is very large.
Variations
- Consecutive rank variant: Instead of cycling through all ranks, each player must play a rank one higher than the previous player's claimed rank. This makes calling "Cheat!" easier because players know the exact sequence.
- Any rank variant: Players can claim any rank they like on their turn, not just the next in sequence. More chaotic but simpler to learn.
- Multiple decks: For larger groups (7+), shuffle two decks together. This makes some claims harder to verify since more duplicates exist.
Learn More — History & Origins
History & Origins
Cheat belongs to a family of bluffing card games found across multiple cultures, and its exact origin is unclear. Similar games appear in different countries under different names: "Lügner" (Liar) in Germany, "Menteur" in France, and regional variants throughout Asia and Eastern Europe. The game's core mechanic — playing cards face-down and announcing their value — appears to have emerged independently in multiple places as a natural extension of the social dynamics that make bluffing games compelling.
In North America, the game became widely known under several names reflecting its central premise. "I Doubt It" was the polite version played in school settings; "BS" and "Cheat" were the less formal versions that spread through families, summer camps, and college dormitories. The card game designer James Nolen formalized a version in the 1980s, but the folk game had been circulating informally for decades before that.
Cultural Context
Cheat endures because it captures something psychologically real: the challenge of reading people. Unlike most card games where the cards themselves determine the outcome, Cheat is fundamentally about watching how someone handles themselves when they're lying (or being accused of lying). The physical tells — the confident voice, the carefully neutral expression, the slight hesitation before reaching for a card — become the actual game.
The game is endlessly replayable in part because it evolves with the players. In a group that's played together often, everyone develops a reputation: the player who almost always tells the truth, the shameless bluffer, the one who always hesitates on 4s. Managing and subverting those reputations becomes its own layer of strategy. Cheat rewards social intelligence as much as card sense.