Cockroach Poker
The players attempt to “palm off“ as many cards as possible on the other players. You must be able to bluff and size up the other players. The player who collected too many cards loses
Setup
Shuffle cards, then make a facedown pile of 12 cards. The rest are dealt evenly to the other players. If there are leftover cards, one is given to the starting player then the rest are added to the facedown pile.
Play
The starting player tries to give a card facedown to another, saying what suit it is or that it’s a royal. The receiving player has 2 options:
- Call out the other player
- Pass the card on
Call Out
If the receiving player believes they can guess if the other is lying or telling the truth, they say so, then reveal the card. If they are right, then the giver takes the card faceup. If they are wrong, the receiving player has to take it faceup.
Pass On
The receiving player can instead look at the card privately, then pass try to pass it on to someone else.
Royals
The player who gets stuck with royal has to also grab a card from the center pile to add to their faceup stack.
Special Cards
- Red Joker - Joker for all suits. Claim is always right except for royal.
- Black Joker - Claim is always wrong.
Loser who receives a special card puts it in their hand, then lays down a card of the claimed suit from their hand. If they cannot or will not place the proper suit, they lay down two cards of their choice.
Endgame
Player who gets 6 cards of the same suit faceup is the loser.
(Optional) As a Drinking Game
Failed bluff or call out takes a sip. Loser of the hand takes a shot.