Depending on your gameplay, Deception can be played anywhere from 15 minutes to hours and hours. Players can range from 3 to 8 for ideal gameplay. Players shuffle identity cards and deal them anonymously amongst themselves. All players are then Confessors, Deceivers, or a Judge. |
Cards are shuffled and dealt. Those dealt a "Confessor" or "Deceiver" card keep their identity to themselves. The Judge reveals himself to the group and draws a Tell Us A Tale card. These are category cards which act as story prompts. From the left of the Judge, each player takes turns telling a story from their own lives based on the subject or prompt of the Tell Us A Tale card. |
If you are holding a "Confessor" card, then it's your job to tell a true story that actually happened to you. If you are holding a "Deceiver" card, you must fabricate a false story and lie. Points are awarded by the judge to the best story, which encourages all players to tell the most interesting, outrageous, hilarious, or crazy stories they can think of. |
Once all stories have been heard and the judge has awarded points to the best story, interrogation begins. Each player is allocated one minute to ask questions to any other story teller about their story. This is an opportunity to find cracks in their story and help figure out who is lying and who is telling the truth. Once all players have been interrogated, the judge makes an educated guess as to who the Deceiver is. |
If the Judge chooses correctly he is awarded 3x points. If he choses incorrectly and the Deceiver fools all with his lie, he is awarded 5x points. The best story is awarded 2x points and the scores are tallied. The judge hands his identity card to the player on his left and another round begins.
The game ends when all players have been the Judge once and the highest score wins. The winner will come down to the person who can tell the best stories, who can spot a liar, and who can deceive everyone in the room.