How to play Quack Bluff (Vịt Xạo): bluff, call and keep your balloon dry

The deck, a round, calling Bluff, the water balloons, the odds and tips, for 2 to 4 players.

Updated 18 October 2026

Quack Bluff is a bluffing card game for 2 to 4 players. You drop pond animals face down and swear they are all the animal of the round. Anyone can be lying, and calling a lie is a gamble too: whoever gets it wrong pumps their own water balloon, and one of those pumps will soak them. Its Vietnamese name, Vịt Xạo, means the fibbing duck.

In GatherPlay's Quack Bluff your cards are on your phone, where only you see them, and the pond, the balloons and every call are on the shared screen. The server keeps every card secret and decides each balloon's bursting pump at the start, so nobody can peek or cheat.

The goal

Be the last player whose water balloon hasn't burst.

The deck

• 

  Duck

  6 cards. Real in a Duck round.

• 

  Frog

  6 cards. Real in a Frog round.

• 

  Carp

  6 cards. Real in a Carp round.

• 

  Dragon

  2 cards. Wild: real in every round.

A round, step by step

1. The shared screen shows the round animal: Duck, Frog or Carp. That animal and the Dragons are real this round; every other card is a bluff.
2. Everyone still dry gets 5 new cards. Your phone marks each one Real or Bluff for this round, and only you see it.
3. On your turn, drop 1 to 3 cards face down. You claim they are all the round animal, whether it's true or not.
4. Or, instead of dropping, call “Bluff!” on the play just before yours. Nobody can call on the first turn of a round.
5. The called cards are turned up. If even one is a bluff, the player who dropped them pumps their balloon. If they are all real, the caller pumps.
6. Then a new round starts with a new animal and a fresh deal.

The water balloons

• Everyone has one water balloon for the whole game. It is never refilled or replaced.
• At the start, the server secretly picks the pump that bursts each balloon: one of the first six, each equally likely.
• The more a balloon has been pumped, the likelier the next pump bursts it: 1 in 6, then 1 in 5, and so on, up to 1 in 1. Everyone sees the odds under each balloon.
• A burst balloon soaks its owner, who is out. The player who pumped starts the next round, or the next player if they got soaked.

Running out of cards

Players with no cards left are skipped for the rest of the round. If you are the only player who still has cards, you must call Bluff on the last play.

Tips

• Watch the odds. A player at 1 in 2 will think twice before calling, so that is a good moment to bluff at them.
• Dropping 3 cards empties your hand fast, but it is the play most likely to be called, and the most likely to hold a bluff.
• Dragons are real every round. Keep one for when you are sure to be called.
• Count the round animal: there are only 6 of each and 2 Dragons. If many have been claimed already, the next claim is suspicious.
• With a full hand of bluffs, drop one card at a time and hope the next player calls someone else.

Playing apart

Start a Discord or Google Meet call and share the shared screen's browser tab. Everyone plays from their own phone with the code. Every phone also shows the pond and the balloons, so a laggy stream never stops the game.

Start a game

1. Open GatherPlay on the TV and host a Quack Bluff game.
2. 2 to 4 players join with the QR code on the screen.
3. Pick the time per turn and start.