Taash Khelझूठ · धोखा
Bluff card game rules
Say how many tricks you will win. Then win exactly that many — because missing by one costs you all of them.
Bluff is called झूठ or धोखा in Hindi. Every card goes face down and you announce what it is. Anybody can call bluff; being wrong costs you the whole pile.
The whole deck is dealt out, so with four players that is thirteen cards each. First player to empty their hand wins, if nobody catches them.
Bluff card game rules and the Hindi name
In Hindi the game is झूठ (jhooth, meaning lie) or धोखा (dhokha, meaning deceit). In English it is Bluff, Cheat or I Doubt It. Same game, all of them.
Deal the entire deck out as evenly as it goes. Uneven hands are fine; the game does not require everyone to hold the same number.
How a turn works
The first player puts down one or more cards face down and announces a rank: "three kings". The cards may be kings. They may not be.
The next player must announce the rank above, or the same rank, depending on which version your table plays. Ascending order is the common form: aces, then twos, then threes, and around again.
At any point any player may say "bluff". The last pile played is turned over. If the announcement was false, the liar takes the whole discard pile. If it was true, the challenger takes it.
Bluff for 3, 4 and more players
| Players | Cards each | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 26 | Works, but the bluffing is obvious |
| 3 | 17 or 18 | One player holds one extra |
| 4 | 13 | The standard game |
| 5 | 10 or 11 | Two players hold one extra |
| 6 | 8 or 9 | Fast; consider two decks |
Four is the best number. At two, you hold half the deck and can work out most lies by arithmetic. At six the hands empty too fast for the bluffing to matter.
When to call bluff
Count what you hold. If you have three kings in your own hand and somebody announces three kings, exactly one king exists for them to play. That is a certain call.
Watch how many cards go down. Four of a rank is the maximum in one deck, so a player announcing four when two have already been seen is lying by arithmetic rather than by tell.
The hardest call is against a player with one card left. They must announce whatever rank the sequence demands, which means they are almost certainly lying — but calling and being wrong hands them the win.
What to agree before the first hand
Three things vary by table. Whether ranks ascend or you may repeat the previous rank. Whether a player may pass. And whether a wrong challenge costs you the pile or only one card.
Agree all three before dealing. The ascending-rank version with no passing and a full-pile penalty is the most common across India.
Two more Indian partnership games where the Hindi name tells you the object: Mendicot, or dehla pakad, which is about catching the four tens, and Court Piece, called rang, where one player names the trump on five cards.
Common questions
What is the bluff card game called in Hindi?
झूठ (jhooth, meaning lie) or धोखा (dhokha, meaning deceit). In English the same game is called Bluff, Cheat or I Doubt It.
How many cards for bluff card game with 4 players?
Thirteen each. The whole 52-card deck is dealt out, so four players get thirteen apiece. Uneven hands are fine at other table sizes.
How do you play bluff card game with 3 players?
Deal the whole deck, which gives seventeen or eighteen each. Everything else is the same; three players makes the pile grow faster between challenges.
What happens when you call bluff correctly?
The player who lied picks up the entire discard pile. If you call wrongly and the announcement was true, you pick it up instead.
Can you pass in the bluff card game?
It depends on the table. The common version has no passing, so every player must put down cards and announce a rank whether they hold it or not.
The app tracks what has been played so the arithmetic is done for you. A free card game download for Android.
about Adda CallbreakReferences
Bluff is a house game with no fixed rules. Whether ranks ascend, whether passing is allowed and what a wrong challenge costs all vary. The version here is the one most common across India.
- Card games of India at Pagat, the card-game rules archive maintained by John McLeod