How to play
The deck has 64 cards: eight each of toads, mosquitoes, snails, spiders, rats, flies, caterpillars and worms. They’re all dealt out.
Passing. On your turn, pick a card from your hand and pass it face down to another player, saying what it is: “It’s a toad.” You can tell the truth or lie.
Answering. The player who gets it has two choices:
- Call it. Say “true” or “a lie”. If they’re right, the passer takes the card face up in front of them. If they’re wrong, they take it themselves.
- Look and pass it on. Look at the card, then pass it to someone who hasn’t seen it yet, with your own claim (the same pest or a different one). When everyone has seen it, the last player must call.
Whoever takes the card passes next.
Losing
The game ends as soon as one player has four of the same pest in front of them, or has to pass with no cards left. That player loses; everyone else wins.
Tips
Count what’s face up and in your hand: if all eight snails are accounted for, a “snail” is a lie. Players with three of a pest are nervous about that pest; pass it to them. When a call is risky for you, look and pass it on instead.