How to Play Cockroach Poker, the buggy bluffing game
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Read the Rules
The aim of the game
To win, you’ll need to collect as few cards face up in front of you as possible, by deceiving your friends into taking them instead., because if you get 4 of the same, you lose!
Setup
Cockroach poker consists of 64 cards with 8 different creatures on.
- Shuffle the deck.
- Deal the cards equally between each player.
- Pick a starting player.
Gameplay
To begin the game, the starting player choose a card from their hand, slides it face down in front of another player and state what creature is on it, telling either the truth, or a lie.
For example: 'This card is a Toad'.
The player the card is in front of has 2 options:
1. Accept the card, by stating whether they think the statement is true or false, before revealing the card
- If they guess correct: The card is passed back to its owner who must keep it face up in front of them.
- If they guess wrong: They must keep it face up in front of themself.
The player who keeps the card starts the next round.
2. Pass the card - by peeking at the picture on it and then either confirming or making a new claim as to what creature is depicted and sliding it in front of someone else.
Now that player must pick between the same 2 options.
- A card can keep being passed around to any player who hasn’t seen it yet.
- If you are the last player to see the card, you have just one option, accept the card and guess if the claim is true or false
Game End
The game ends when a player has 4 of the same card in front of them - they lose and everyone else wins.
Alternatively, if a player starts a round with no cards in their hand - they’re the loser.
2 Player Rules
In a two player game, remove 10 cards from the deck at random.
You cannot pass the card, only accept it and make a guess as to whether the statement is true or false.
The loser is the first with 5 of the same card in front of them, or the one to start a round with no cards in their hand.
That’s cockroach poker, a card game for sneaky little creatures.
Like the sound of that?
Grab a copy of Cockroach Poker from the Happy Piranha store!