You're Bluffing!
You're Bluffing! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 40 "animal" cards (10 families of 4)
- 55 "money" cards (10 cards worth 0, 20 cards worth 10, 10 cards worth 50, 5 cards worth 100, 5 cards worth 200, 5 cards worth 500)
Goal of the Game
Each player tries to buy the animals that earn the most points. To do this, there are auctions or bargaining ("Kuhhandel"), which lets you bluff like a real cattle dealer. The player who has the most points at the end of the game wins.
Setup
The "animal" cards are carefully shuffled and stacked face down in the middle of the table. The "money" cards are sorted by value: 0, 10, 50, 100, 200, 500.
Each player receives two cards worth 0 (bluff cards), 4 cards worth 10, and one card worth 50, which make up their starting funds. The rest of the "money" cards are set aside in a second pile. The players choose who will be the leader for the first round. For tactical reasons, players should always keep their money hidden in hand, or even completely out of the other players' sight.
The Game Begins
On each turn, the leader chooses between two actions:
- put the top card of the "animal" pile up for auction, or
- propose a cattle trade ("Kuhhandel") to an opponent.
As soon as a player has completed one of these two actions, the player to their left becomes the new leader. At the start of the game, there are only auctions, because cattle trades are not yet possible. However, as soon as two players each own cards from the same family, cattle trades also become possible.
The Auctions
The leader turns over the top card of the "animal" pile and thereby opens the auction. From that moment on, all the other players have the right to make whatever bid they choose, which must always be higher than the previously announced bid. The leader may not take part in the bidding. When there are no more bidders, the leader closes the auction by saying, for example: "30 once, 30 twice, 30 three times, sold!"
A lucky player may get an animal worth a great many points for the ridiculous price of 10, but another player may just as easily pay far more than an animal's point value. Once the auction is closed, the leader hands the purchased card to the highest bidder.
It is the leader who receives the auction money! If the leader does not exercise their "right of preemption" on the card sold at auction, the turn is over.
The Leader's Right of Preemption
The leader has the right to buy the auctioned animal themselves. To do so, they must announce to the highest bidder, at the end of the auction, that they wish to buy the card put up for sale. In this case, it is the leader who pays the highest bidder the sum that the bidder had verbally offered to pay, and then takes the card put up for sale.
Not the Exact Amount? Not Enough Money?
It is forbidden to make change. A player who cannot give the exact sum must give more. This also applies to the leader when exercising their "right of preemption." A player who realizes they cannot pay the sum they bid at auction must show all their money to the other players. The auction then starts over.
If no bidder comes forward, the leader must offer the card to the other players three times, saying for example: "One goose, once; one goose, twice; one goose, three times!" If, during that time, no bid has been made, the leader gets the offered card without paying anything.
If, on the other hand, a player makes a bid, however small, the leader hands them the card and receives the money, unless the leader has exercised their "right of preemption." As a rule, players place all their "animal" cards face up in front of them, well spread out on the table.
The Golden Donkey Brings Fresh Money into the Game
If a player turns over a "donkey" card, the auction is momentarily interrupted: the leader distributes an extra "money" card to everyone (including themselves). The first time a donkey is turned over, each player receives 50; the second time, 100; the third time, 200; and the fourth time, 500. Once the money has been distributed, the donkey is put up for auction like any other animal.
The Cattle Trade ("Kuhhandel")
When two players each own animals from the same family, one of the two, once they are the leader, may propose a cattle trade to the other. The cattle trade begins as follows: player A makes a secret offer to player B by placing, face down, the sum of money of their choice on the table and telling the other player which animal they wish to buy. Bluffing is allowed during the cattle trade. For example, it is permitted to place an empty hand on the table, with no money at all. It is also permitted to include in one's offer only bluff cards, or nothing but bluff cards.
The more cleverly player A bluffs, the less player B will be able to deduce the amount of the offer from the number of cards placed.
Once player A's offer is placed on the table, player B may react in one of two ways:
First possibility:
Player B makes a secret counter-offer, which they place on the table. In this case, the two sums of money are exchanged and the exchanged cards are counted in secret. The player who receives more money from their opponent than they themselves offered must give up their animal. However, each player keeps the money offered by their opponent. The cattle trade is then over. If, by chance, the offer and the counter-offer are the same amount, the player who proposed the cattle trade must make a new offer for the same animal. They are of course free to make an offer different from the first. Player B must decide again. If they make another counter-offer and the two offers happen to be equal again, player B must give their animal to player A for free.
Second possibility:
Player B accepts the offer without making a counter-offer and gives the requested animal to the player who proposed the cattle trade. This is another way of ending the cattle trade.
The Special Cattle Trade
If players A and B each own two cards from the same family, the cattle trade will cover both cards at the same time. One of the two players will win both of the opponent's cards and thereby complete their family.
If one of the two players owns only a single card from that family, the cattle trade covers only that one animal.
Animal Cards Exhausted
Once there are no more "animal" cards to auction, cattle trades become mandatory. Players who, at that point in the game, own only complete families can no longer take part in cattle trades and must pass their turn.
End of the Game
When all the families are complete, the game is over. Each player then totals their points: the number printed on each card indicates the point value of the complete family (for example, 4 cows = 800 points). Money no longer has any value.
If a player owns two families, they double their points; if they own 3, they multiply their points by three; and so on.
An example:
A player owns 4 pigs, 4 dogs, and 4 roosters. Their total is: 650 + 160 + 10 = 820 points. Since they own 3 families, they multiply the previous number by 3, giving them 2460 points.
The player who has the most points at the end wins.
Well done!
Quick Game
If you want a faster game, you can put two "animal" cards up for auction at the same time.