🤔 How to play I Doubt It

Easy rules, to read aloud 🔊

1. Deal out all the cards.
2. The first player puts down aces, face down, and says how many: two aces!
3. The next player puts down twos, then threes, all the way to kings and round again.
4. You may fib and put down other cards. It is a pretend game.
5. If you think someone fibbed, shout: I doubt it!
6. Turn their cards over. Whoever was wrong picks up the whole pile.
7. Get rid of all your cards first to win.

The full rules

1. Shuffle and deal out every card. Some players may get one more than others. With five or six players, shuffle two decks together.
2. Pick who goes first. Play goes clockwise, to the left.
3. On your turn, put one or more cards face down on the pile and say how many and which number: "three fives." The first player says aces, the next says twos, and so on: after ten come jack, queen and king, then aces again.
4. The cards do not have to be what you say. If you have none of the right number you will have to fib. That is the whole game: it is a pretend fib, and getting caught is half the fun.
5. Anyone who thinks the cards are not what was said can call "I doubt it!" They must call it before the next player puts cards down.
6. Turn the doubted cards face up. If any of them is not the number that was said, the player who put them down takes the whole pile into their hand. If they were all true, the player who doubted takes the pile.
7. Then the player to the left of the one who was doubted goes on with the next number.

How to win: The first player to put down their last cards without being caught wins. If you are caught on your last cards, you pick up the pile and play goes on.

Tips

• Count what you hold: if you have three sevens and someone says "two sevens", at least one is a fib.
• Mix a true card in with a fib when you can, and keep a calm face either way.
• Doubt sometimes, not always: a wrong doubt hands you the whole pile.

What it practises

counting in order, keeping a straight face, remembering cards, being a good sport.

Other ways to play

• Up or down. You may say the number one above or one below the last player's number.
• Counting down. The numbers go down instead of up: aces, kings, queens, jacks, tens and so on.
• Passing allowed. You may pass instead of putting cards down, if you would rather not fib.