"Russian Bullshit" and its variant card games

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Posted on 2024-09-16 in games .

"Russian Bullshit" is a variation of the standard card game "Bullshit" that virtually everybody that grew up casually playing card games in the United States is familiar with. It is, in my opinion, a more interesting game to play. Most variants can be played with any number of players except one.

The purpose of this document is to establish a "base" variant of the game and describe all other variants in terms of this. This choice is arbitrary and a matter of preference. As I learn about more variants, I'll add them here.

The primary distinction between Russian Bullshit and Bullshit are as follows:

  1. Each player must (claim to) play cards of the same rank as the first set of cards
  2. When "Bullshit" is called, the caller must select a single card played by the previous player. Only this card must match the rank for the call to not be successful.
  3. Only the next player can call "Bullshit"

Sources

There are some writings on the Internet about this card game, but none of them agree on rules. Therefore, I am writing this to collect all of them and maintain a standard.

Base:

Variants:

  1. https://www.pagat.com/beating/doubt.html (has some notes on strategy)
  2. http://www.gamblers007.com/how-to-play-i-doubt-it-card-game-rules-with-amazing-variants/ (has some variants, disorganized)
  3. https://www.pagat.com/beating/verish.html

These will be cited as, for example, "(source 1)".

Rules

I consider the following the "base" rules of the card game Russian Bullshit. The base rules are described in the link under "Base" above. It is very short and precise, so I don't see the need to rewrite it. I have copied them below from everything2:

A card game for roughly four to eight players, a superior variant of the game Bullshit. Like Bullshit, all the cards are dealt out, and the object is to get rid of all your cards. There are four rule changes from regular Bullshit to Russian Bullshit. 1) A player may discard a four of a kind at any time. 2) The person leading may play cards of any alleged value, and play continues on that value until someone calls bullshit. 3) Only the person on the left of the current player may call bullshit. 4) When a person calls bullshit, they turn over one and only one of the cards played. If this card is of the correct denomination, they pick up the stack and lose their turn. So, play might go as follows:

John: (putting two cards face down in the middle of the table) "Two fives."

Mark: (playing one card) "One five."

Luke is next to play. He thinks Mark is lying, but isn't sure and would prefer to play. He plays three cards face down.

Luke: "Three fives."

Matt looks at his cards, doesn't see any fives, and knows John will call him if he plays.

Matt: "Bullshit."

Matt runs his fingers over the three cards Luke put down. He turns one of them face up. It's the five of hearts. Matt picks up the pile of cards. John had played two fives, Mark a three, and Luke two fives and a queen. Matt elects to discard the four fives face up out of play, and puts the three and queen in his hand. It is now John's turn. John puts down three cards and says "Three jacks."

Play continues until only one player has any cards. This person has lost, and can now be referred to as the "durak." On the next hand, the person to the right of the durak leads. This is known as "teaching the durak."

Russian Bullshit can be played with more than one deck and many people. This of course means that you need all the cards of a particular number before you can discard them.

And naturally, it makes a fine drinking game, in which the loser must drink a shot of vodka, and anyone discarding a set of cards must drink a swig of beer.

The following rules deserve emphasis:

  • Play centers around the first player in the hand's claim. There is no procession of ranks from A to K. The hand resets when somebody takes all the cards in the center.
  • Only the person whose turn it is may call Bullshit.

Variants

  1. Instead of only being able to call Bullshit or play cards, a player may also pass a turn. The hand ends when either everyone's passed or a challenge is raised. If the former occurs, the cards are discarded. (source 1)
  2. Same as above, but the additional action is calling "Believe." This is basically the inverse of a Bullshit call. Now, the three actions are Play, Bullshit, or Believe. This is a rare variant for which I am still searching for a source.
  3. A play can only contain one card (source 1)
  4. Jokers are wild cards (source 2)
  5. All cards revealed instead of just one random card upon a "Bullshit" call (source 3)

More TBA

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