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Is there any known effective strategies for the game I Doubt It (Wikipedia)?

How can you maximize your chances of winning?

We play the variant where players must continue placing cards of the same rank until someone calls "Cheat" or everyone decides to pass a turn. Like for example, the first player plays 3') 5's claiming they are 3 9's, then the next player has to claim their card is also a 9(they can play any card).

If someone thinking he is bluffing, he can then call him out, and if he is correct the loser will take all cards played so far.

The next player can choose any rank as the cards to claim he had put down, it doesnt have to be sequential.

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    By "cheats" do you mean they bluff, which is legal and therefore not cheating, or do you mean actually breaks the rules of the game?
    – Arcanist Lupus
    Aug 11, 2020 at 3:57
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    Also, in your variant can players still play multiple cards at once? Does passing remove you from a round for good, or can you reenter if other people keep playing?
    – Arcanist Lupus
    Aug 11, 2020 at 4:15
  • By cheating i meen bluffing, and you can reenter again in the round
    – Ahmed Eshra
    Aug 11, 2020 at 10:58
  • Does the number you claim the card to be increase sequentially, or can the first player of the next round choose whatever number they want?
    – Arcanist Lupus
    Aug 12, 2020 at 2:54
  • You can choose whatever number you want
    – Ahmed Eshra
    Aug 12, 2020 at 3:36

2 Answers 2

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Generally, let other people call BS

You don't mention it in your variant, but I assume that if someone calls BS and is incorrect, they themselves have to pick up the deck. When the BS-caller is correct, everybody at the table gets the same benefit (the BS-er gets farther from winning), but when the BS-caller is incorrect, only the BS-caller gets punished. Because of this, you should typically let other people call BS, since you'll reap the exact same benefits while taking none of the risks.

Of course, if you have 4-of-a-kind in your hand and anybody else attempts to play a card of that rank, you can call BS risk-free.

Always call BS on someone else's last card

If you are wrong, the game is over anyway. If you are correct, you still have a shot at winning.

If your last card is BS, don't play it

Since you should expect your last play to have BS called on it no matter what, you can only really win by making a non-BS play. If your last card does not match the current value, all you can do is pass, since playing the card will result in a BS call and having to pick up all the cards.

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  • Yes if someone calls BS and is incorrect, he gets all the cards
    – Ahmed Eshra
    Aug 13, 2020 at 21:04
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Cheat! without bluffing is entirely deterministic

In the variant you've described (assuming I've understood it correctly), all the Aces will be played, then all the 2s, then the 3s, etc. In theory, someone could withhold playing a card during the proper round, but there is zero benefit to doing so, and an enormous penalty (if you do so and nobody else does, you're guaranteed to lose), so in practice nobody would. This means that the person who wins will be the one who has the lowest high card. (ie, if my highest card is a Queen and your highest card is a Jack, then you will beat me.)

The strategy in Cheat is entirely in knowing when to bluff or call bluffs in order to minimize your chance of getting new cards while maximizing the chance of other players calling you out mistakenly, and using the bluffs to get rid of the cards that wouldn't be played for a long bit of time.

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  • I didnt mean the variant with no bluffing, we bluff normally. I meant that we play the variant where there is no order to play the cards, you just play the same suit.
    – Ahmed Eshra
    Aug 11, 2020 at 12:53
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    @Ahmed Eshra you need to explain your variant in more detail then, because it is not clear what rules you are playing by. In your question you refer to rank, but now you say suit. And if you bluff normally, what did you mean by "assuming no one cheats"?
    – Arcanist Lupus
    Aug 11, 2020 at 14:40
  • Sorry i meant to say same rank not suit, will update the question
    – Ahmed Eshra
    Aug 11, 2020 at 18:38
  • I edited it, is there anything unclear?
    – Ahmed Eshra
    Aug 12, 2020 at 0:59
  • @Ahmed Eshra, It's still self-contradictory. You state that there should be an assumption that noone cheats, but you later cover the situation when someone does bluff (cheat).
    – ikegami
    Aug 12, 2020 at 1:17

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