10 Best Bluffing Games You Can Play With Cards

Good bluffing card games are something I’m always on the lookout for. There’s hardly anything better than lying to your friends and betraying their trust. Here are the best bluffing games you can play with cards.

Cockroach Poker

The bluffing game that’s given me and my friends the most joy is Cockroach Poker, the card game that has nothing to do with poker. This deck of cards only has suits, with no numbers or other rankings, as the suit is the only thing that matters.

Players will take turns handing a card from their deck to someone else and telling them what suit the card is. The other player will have to decide whether they’re lying or telling the truth. If they’re right, the first player gets the card. If they’re wong, then they get the card. When given a card, it’s placed in front of you.

When someone has four cards of the same suit in front of them, they lose and everyone else wins. In Cockroach Poker, it’s all about not coming last and tricking your friends into taking cards that will bring them closer to losing.

Coyote

Coyote is one of the more interesting bluffing games, for everyone knows everybody else’s cards, but no one knows their own card. Meaning no one knows the whole truth…

In Coyote, each card has a value, and players take turns stating numbers that are lower than the combined total of all the cards, but each player must say a higher number than the previously stated value. The game ends when someone challenges the previous value.

A numerical reverse bluffing game, Coyote provides the thrill of just knowing enough to maybe be sure of your challenge before the whole truth is revealed.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf

One Night Ultimate Werewolf presents an interesting twist of the standard Werewolf formula by having no one die and by consisting only of one night.

On this night, the players, representing many different roles, will activate one at a time. Some roles swap the role cards of others and of themselves, and other roles have more unique abilities and winning conditions. In the morning, no one can see their role card, even if it may have been swapped.

If the classic rendition of Werewolf has become stale, then adding numerous roles and only one night leads to a lot of bluff and deceit, especially when your own role (and side!) may have changed.

Sheriff of Nottingham

Sheriff of Nottingham presents a bulkier card game with bluffing as the core component. With the role of Sheriff being passed around and everyone else being merchants, you’ll have to bluff your way past all other players – and make sure no one bluffs you!

Each round, the merchants will be trying to stock the best goods, but the greatest are all contraband items. The Sheriff of that round can search any bag that they want for said contraband, but if the merchant is telling the truth and is clean, the Sheriff suffers a penalty.

A balancing act between searching for the right bags and getting your bags past all the other Sheriffs, the Sheriff of Nottingham presents a unique and revolving bluffing game.

Two Rooms And A Boom

Two Rooms And A Boom is an exceptional bluffing game that I couldn’t not put on this list. The card use is minimal in this card game, and a greater emphasis is placed on the communications between the players and their roles.

There will be two teams. One of those players will be the president, and another will be the bomber. At the end of a round, both teams will need to swap players, but if the bomber and president are placed in the same room, the bomber wins!

The players in each team will need to communicate and bluff to try and identify who is who before the swap happens, leading to a very explosive time.

Skull

Skull is a game of bluffing and gambling, as every challenge brings with it more risk. You’ll need two successful challenges to win, so no one can rely exclusively on luck!

Everyone’s deck in Skull will consist of roses and a skull, and players will take turns placing one of these cards face down. A player wins a challenge if they can turn over a number of cards they’ve stated and only draw roses. However, if they unveil a skull, they’ll lose the bet.

As everyone needs roses to win, skulls must be placed strategically so they don’t come back around to thwart your plans.

Spyfall

Spyfall is a quick and simple bluffing game where the conversation is what will make or break the secret spy. There are many unique locations that set the stage for the game, allowing for lots of replayability and variation between games.

In a group, there will be one spy trying to blend in and a special agent trying their best to uncover the spy. The spy won’t know the location that all the other players received, so when players start asking each other questions related to their location, the spy better be ready to give a convincing answer.

At the end of the round, the players will need to decide who they think the spy is based on all the given answers. The purely verbal deduction is always a thrilling feature.

The Chameleon

The Chameleon is similar to Spyfall in premise, as one player won’t know a piece of information that all the other players know, and they’ll have to blend in.

In this case, the piece of information everyone but the chameleon is privy to is one word. Using carefully chosen words and codes, the other payers will need to subtly identify who knows the word through association, and the chameleon needs to wise up to the word, or be equally careful, fast.

If the other players are savvy enough, they can speak just carefully enough to tip everyone else off but the chameleon itself. In this bluffing game, everyone is also trying to bluff the bluffer.

Mascarade

Mascarade is a bluffing game of masks with powers. In this game, bluffing and telling the truth about your secret mask will net you gold coins which are used to win the game.

Each mask has a different ability, but by using them to your advantage, you give away their identity. You’ve got to figure out other players’ masks without betraying the identity of your own. However, during the game, the masks may swap hands so many times you may lose track or even doubt your own identity.

In a bluffing game where you may even be bluffing yourself, try not to lose your head.

Traitors Aboard

Traitors Aboard is a more explosive bluffing game between pirates trying to fill a chest with gold and mutineers trying to sabotage the efforts and sow chaos.

The pirates will be trying to fill the chest with valuable items, but the mutineers will be trying to decrease the value. With action cards and the ability to throw others off the plank, there is more to the game than simply lying to each other’s faces.

With so much room for aggression and action, no player is safe from the distrust of others, even if they’re a pirate.

Now that you’ve got a fine selection of bluffing card games, you can enjoy lying to your friends the next time you all meet up. Enjoy!

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