Quack Bluff
Drop pond animals face down, call out the bluffs, and pump your own water balloon when you're wrong.
2-4 players5-20 min
Best with a TV
A bluffing card game for 2 to 4. Every round has an animal: Duck, Frog or Carp. In turn, drop 1 to 3 cards face down and claim they are all that animal, or call “Bluff!” on the last play. The cards are turned up: a bluff makes the player who dropped them pump their own water balloon, and honest cards make the caller pump. Every balloon bursts on a secret pump from 1 to 6, and the odds climb with each one. The last player still dry wins.
How to play Quack Bluff
Goal
- Be the last player whose water balloon hasn't burst.
How it works
- The deck has 20 cards: 6 Ducks, 6 Frogs, 6 Carp and 2 Dragons. Every round, everyone still dry gets 5 new cards. Only you see yours.
- Each round has an animal: Duck, Frog or Carp. That animal and the Dragons are real; the rest are bluffs.
- On your turn, drop 1 to 3 cards face down. You claim they are all the round animal, true or not.
- Or call “Bluff!” on the play just before yours. Nobody can call on the first turn of a round.
- The called cards are turned up. One bluff among them and the player who dropped them pumps; all real and the caller pumps. Then a new round starts.
The balloons
- Everyone has one water balloon for the whole game. It bursts on a secret pump from 1 to 6, set by the server at the start.
- The more pumps a balloon has had, the likelier the next one bursts it: 1/6, then 1/5, up to 1/1. Everyone sees the odds.
- A burst balloon soaks its owner, who is out. The last one dry wins.
- The player who pumped starts the next round, or the next player if they got soaked.
Good to know
- Players with no cards left are skipped. If only you still have cards, you must call.
- With a timer, a player who runs out of time drops one random card.
Learn to play: How to play Quack Bluff (Vịt Xạo): bluff, call and keep your balloon dry
Questions and answers
How many people can play?
2 to 4. It is tensest with 3 or 4, when more people can call you.
Who decides when a balloon bursts?
The server, at the start of the game: each balloon bursts on one secret pump from 1 to 6. No phone and no screen knows which until the game ends, so nobody can cheat it.
Can anyone see which cards I dropped?
Only if someone calls Bluff on that play. Cards that are never called stay face down for good, even after the game.
Do we need the shared screen?
No. Every phone shows the pond and the balloons too. A shared screen makes every call and every pump big for the room, and phones can then show just your cards and your buttons.