Doubt and Bet

Doubt and Bet is a bluffing game for 2–5 players where everyone holds a few hidden coloured cards. Players take turns claiming how many cards of a colour exist across all hands, then either build on the claim or challenge it. Win bets to collect chips, and be the last player left in the game.

Setup:

• Get together with 2–5 players in the same room and enter their names.

• Each player starts with 7 chips and 5 card slots.

• The deck has six colours: red, yellow, green, blue, purple and rainbow. The deck size is 2 × (number of players) cards of each colour, so a 5-player game has 10 of each colour (60 cards).

• Seating order is the order the names were entered. The first round starts with the first player.

Chips, slots and slot chips

• Chips are your basic currency.

• Card slots determine how many cards you are dealt each round. One slot means one card.

• Every slot except your last can also be wagered as a slot chip, which is worth 1 chip in a bet. Because you always keep at least 1 slot, you can wager at most 4 slot chips.

• If you lose a bet that included slot chips, you permanently lose that many slots and are dealt fewer cards.

Starting a round

1. Upkeep (round 15 onward). On rounds 15, 20, 25 and so on, every player loses 1 chip. A player with only 1 chip left loses a slot instead. A player with 1 chip and 1 slot is eliminated.

2. Seating shuffle. At the start of rounds 11, 21, 31 and so on, the order of the remaining players is randomly shuffled.

3. Exchange phase. Players may swap 1 chip for 1 extra slot (up to a maximum of 5 slots), or turn a slot back into 1 chip (never below 1 slot).

4. Deal. Each player receives one card per slot. Players may look only at their own cards.

Making claims

• A claim names a colour and a minimum quantity, for example “at least 5 red”.

• Rainbow cards count as every colour. You can also claim “rainbow”, which counts only rainbow cards.

• The first player opens the round with a claim.

• Every claim comes with a stake of at least 1 chip or slot chip. Stakes are only taken from players when a bet is settled.

• A claim cannot exceed the total number of cards in play.

Responding to a claim

On your turn, after someone else’s claim, you must choose one of two actions:

Accept and raise. The previous player’s stake is returned and the bet is not settled. You then make your own claim, and its quantity must be higher than the previous claim’s. You may change the colour. If no higher claim is possible, you must doubt.

Doubt. This starts a showdown between you (the doubter) and the player who made the claim (the bettor).

The showdown

Players alternate turns. The doubter goes first. On each turn a player sets a new total stake and chooses one of these:

• Call. Match the opponent’s stake exactly. If you can’t afford that, you may go all-in, and the opponent’s excess is returned. A call ends the showdown, and all cards are revealed.

• Raise. Set a stake higher than the opponent’s. The opponent now decides how to respond.

• Fold. Give up. You lose your most recent committed stake, and your opponent wins. The cards are not revealed. The doubter cannot fold on their first action because they have no stake yet.

Revealing the cards

Count every card of the claimed colour, plus rainbows. If the count is at least the claimed quantity, the claim is true and the bettor wins. Otherwise the doubter wins.

Payouts

• The loser loses their stake. Chips are gone, and any slot chips cost them those card slots.

• The winner keeps their own stake and gains chips equal to the total value of the loser’s stake.

Next round

• The player who lost the bet goes first in the next round.

• A player who reaches 0 chips with only 1 slot left is out of the game. If the loser is out, the player before them starts.

• The game ends when one player remains.

Tips

• Slot chips make a bet bigger, but losing them also shrinks your hand and your view of the table.

• Your own cards are your only hard information, but you can work together and form alliances with other players.

• Check the exchange phase each round. Buying a slot gives you another card and another slot chip to wager.