The Lie

• Designers: Eloi Pujadas, Eugeni Castaňo
• Publisher: Devir
• Players: 2-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In The Lie, all the cards lie! The cards show numbers from 1 to 4, and they are in four different colors. However, when you turn each card over, you will find something has changed: either its color or number. You must be clever in choosing your combinations in order to play a higher number of the same color. Whoever is able to play all of their cards first wins the match, and whoever has the most points after a certain number of matches wins the game.

To start the game, shuffle the 96 cards (black side up) and then splay them on the table.  The game will be played in three rounds, each with the same two phases.

First, players construct their hands. Simultaneously, players use one hand to draw a card from the center of the table, and then they flip it over and transfer it to their other hand.  When a player adds a card to their hand, it must be placed to the far right or far left of the cards in the non-drawing hand.  You may not reorganize your hand, you may not put a card back once you have picked it up, you may not insert a card between cards in your hand, you may not pass go, you may not collect $200.  As mentioned in the introduction, the colored side of the card will have one change from what you see on the black side – either the number or the color will be different!  As soon as someone has 12 cards in their hand, they announce this and that player will be the start player in the next phase.  Continue until all players have 12 cards in their hand.

In the second phase, cards are played beginning with the start player.  Without rearranging the cards in your hand, you may play 1, 2 or 3 adjacent cards which are all of the same color.  If multiple cards are played, they form a 2-digit or 3-digit number when read left to right.  The next player clockwise can either play a group of cards of the lead color, but they must be higher in value than the previous combination OR the player can pass.  All played cards are left in front of their owner. When everyone has had an opportunity to play once, they player who played the highest combination of cards wins the trick.   That player leads the next trick.

The card playing phase continues until a player is out of cards in their hand. That player is considered the winner of the round.  They are allowed to choose any three cards from the splay in the center of the table, and these cards are set aside in their scoring pile – (I suggest you mark this with something to sit on top of them).  Their victory point value is the number seen on the back side of the card.  The player with the next fewest cards in their hand takes 2 prize cards, and the person with the third fewest takes 1 prize card.  

Now, all the player cards are returned to the center (remember not to throw in your prize cards!) and shuffled and another round is played.  This is repeated until three rounds have been played,  At the end of the third round, all players reveal their prize cards and sum the numbers on the colored side.  The player with the highest total wins. Ties broken in favor of the player with the most prize cards collected.

My thoughts on the game

The Lie gives you a really interesting combination of push-your-luck/speculation/shedding.  At first I felt that the hand construction phase was a random-fest; but after a few plays, I have definitely found that there is some skill to doing it well.  You are essentially plotting out your plays in the second phase as you draw cards.  Sure, you’d love to have four 3-card combinations in your hand to make it easy to go out… but trust me, that’s probably not going to happen.  

You can try your best to draw cards with the desired color on them, but then there is only a 50% chance that you’ll get the color you want – though as long as you have different colors on each end of your hand, you have a 50% chance that you’ll get a card that matches the color on one end or the other…

As you play, you will look for opportunities to play cards from the center of your hand that will then bring desired cards together – this is very similar to Scout or Krass Kariert.  It can be difficult to get single cards played (as you always have to play something larger in value than the previous play), so you may need to wait until you win a trick to then be able to lead a single 1 or a single 2.  Alternatively, you might need to place your cards in a way to prevent having a single 1 or a single 2 – even if this shortens your combinations on the other side of your hand!

There are times when your hand works out great and you have three 3-digit combinations in your hand and you can quickly play everything out.  When you’re not as lucky, you have a hand of disconnected cards that prohibit you from even playing a single card!

 The rounds can end quite quickly if one player has a really nice hand; and I almost wish the game let the players simply play out the hand to determine placement.  Sure, maybe you didn’t have a great hand, but if the round continued on, maybe you could at least enjoy trying to play cards to improve your hand as the cards mushed together.  With the rules as written, if you have a bum starting hand, the best you can do is hope to play a card or two to improve from last place… and unlike Scout (which is a game that feels similar), unless you are able to play cards, there is no mechanism available to improve your hand.  You simply have to wait until someone plays a combination lower than what you have.

When it comes to the prize cards, I can’t see a better choice than simply drawing a 4 every time and hoping you get the 4.  If there were some bonus or scoring option for color matches, it might make it different, but drawing a card that gives you a 50% chance of the max value is pretty much the best option at all times.  (And, I’ll admit that I kinda wish the 4’s were 7’s as that would have made the cover pun in the art that much better)

While the scoring system does mean that the end result is determined by luck of the draw, it does do a decent job of keeping players involved in the game as a max score of 12 points is possible in each round.  In the end, as it is just a random draw, having the most prize cards gives you the best chance of winning – so that’s still a viable goal in each round.  (Of course it is possible that by as early as the second round, all the 4s are already claimed as prize cards or have been picked to be in player hands). 

The Lie is a small game which slots in as a filler/closer.  The construction of the hand and playing of the cards involves more skill than I thought, and it’s a fine little puzzle to play three times.  The scoring relies upon a random draw, which is not my favorite system, but at the same time – it’s a little light game that lasts about 15 minutes, and it works fine for a game of this length.  The game might even go a lot shorter than that because of the immediate end when one player goes out.

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor