Cheat!: A Thinking Neopian's Game by xyvandar |  |
Hello! I am here to discuss one of the best card games on any side of Neopia
Central. Yes, it's Cheat!,
and it's a great game. In Neopia, the word "Cheat" has been synonymous with
"easy trophy". But what people generally fail to realise is the potential of
this innovative, fun card game.
First of all, the rewards. Obviously the trophy is one reward, but there are
others too! For one thing, after each round you get a decent amount of Neopoints,
and after some rounds you get a Battlecard. These Battlecards, which contain
the ugly mugs of the Cheat! cast, can be tossed at your enemy in the Battledome
to score damage. They come in three coloured versions; one is the normal red
one, one is silver, and the best one is gold. Gold Battlecards are revered as
powerful single use items. And some battle cards, like the Gold Spectre Battlecards,
are worth a good deal of NP too! So the rewards are definitely worthwhile.
Now, I'd like to talk about accusation strategies. These skills are the backbone
of my overall Cheat! strategy. The art and strategy or accusation is often forgotten.
First of all, I'll explain what I like to call Normal Accusation. That
is basically when the opponent plays a number of a certain card that you prove
to be wrong by the cards in your hand. For example, say Brucey B plays 3 fours.
Looks legit, right? Well, you look in your hand to see you have 2 fours in your
hand! Now, there are only 4 of each number card in a deck, (including Jack,
Queen, King, and Ace) so Brucey B has to be cheating. Accuse! Sometimes it's
harder to figure out. Say Brucey B plays 2 Jacks and you have 2 Jacks in your
hand. That makes four jacks. But then the other two players cannot have any
Jacks! If they do happen to have a Jack, (there's no way to figure out if they
do) then Brucey B is cheating. In a situation like that, I'd suggest accusing,
but it's up to you. This is also related to the second strategy.
The second strategy is what I like to call Low Card Accusation. An example
of this: Brucey B, Chuffer Bob, Kalora, and you are playing. Let's say Kalora
and Chuffer have 20 cards each, you have 7, and Brucey B has 5. Brucey B plays
3 Kings. You look to your hand and you see you have no Kings. Legit, right?
Don't be so sure. If Brucey B was playing a legit hand, then out of the 47 cards
you, Kalora, and Chuffer Bob have, then there has to be only one King among
you. Otherwise, Brucey B is cheating. I personally would accuse in a situation
like that. Another more blatant example of cheating: Brucey has 4 cards and
he plays 4 Jacks. It's almost guaranteed he is cheating. This is similar to
another type of accusation, the Last Ditch Accusation.
I dare you...
This is when an opponent plays all of his remaining cards, whether it be 1,
2, 3, or 4 cards. For example, Brucey B plays 2 twos and gets him down to 0
cards. Now, the strategy behind the Last Ditch Accusation is to accuse no matter
what once they reach 0 cards. If you are right, they are set back a turn or
more in winning. If they are not cheating, you don't really lose anything, they'd
win anyway. I ALWAYS take advantage of the Last Ditch Accusation.
Speaking of last, that brings me to my final and favourite accusation strategy,
which I simply call the Strategic Accusation. The Strategic Accusation
goes like this: say that Brucey B plays his card(s) right before you do. He
happens to play 1 or more Jacks. Your last card... is a 5. Now, you could let
Brucey B slide, and cheat that 5, but the computer has the uncanny ability of
seeing through your cheating, no matter what sly poker face you put on. You
might escape... but probably not. So what I like to do is if you won't be able
to play your last card, like in the example above, then accuse! If you are right,
then you get to choose any card, and put your last card in the pile to win the
game. You may be asking "What if the pile is big and Brucey B is not cheating?"
Well, even if you don't accuse, you'd be stuck having to cheat, and if you are
caught, (which you probably will be) then you'll have to take the pile anyway,
and miss that opportunity to get rid of one card or more. It is a double-edged
sword indeed, but I prefer accusing over not.
Those are my accusation techniques I use to catch the cheaters. I follow that
up by slowly but steadily getting my cards in the pile, and I emerge victorious.
These accusation strategies have got me through a lot of heated matches of Cheat!.
I hope these strategies will help you play a better game of Cheat!, and maybe
even help you to dethrone Spectre yourself, just as I did, and become the reigning
champion of Cheat!. Use these strategies wisely, and nothing can stop you! Good
Luck, and Happy Cheating! |
