The Game of Lies

Back in my freshmen year, my first all-nighter was playing poker with my college mates. The innocent soul that I was, it took me a while to understand the game as I was constantly outclassed for the first few rounds. Also known as “Liar”, the game requires you to discard your hand quicker than the others – but only according to the rules of each round. You see, only one particular type of card can be discarded each round, either hearts, or fives, or knaves or aces. It became impossible to discard all your cards in time – unless you lie. How well you lie, with your body language and poker face setup, will mean the difference between victory and defeat. We experimented much with different variations for 3 players up to 8 player setups, each set-up being different from the rest.

Now in my final year, I look back at the games we played, and sitting in a bus heading north to my campus, I find myself thinking about the game and its similarity to life – how both work, how individuals approach the game, and the possible end they each face.

Take for example, Isabel the ‘Indomitable’. She plays each hand with confidence, and backs it up with good measure. Most of us who challenged her found ourselves up against an impenetrable fortress, mostly due to her partners Felicia, Ray and Prisca, who basically bodyblocked the opposing liar calls by playing quick follow-up turns. At the end of a flush at her hand, we turn the cards around to find – a pack of liar cards thrown in with only a few true hands; even her own partners suffered at her expense. She used their trust to further her own winnings, and thus got away with much before being revealed – too late. These people lead others on a wild goose chase, ending with nothing but small freebies for them to take, while they take the lion’s share of the win.

And then we have Rozalyn, the Revolutionary. Having seen Isabel play as such, she determines to outplay her with matching charm but not with the same ruthless methods. However, the allies she chose were volatile to the stoic advisors of Isabel. A few deceptive hands and riling up of her party caused Rosalyn to lose courage and hope. She stormed out of the game midway, giving up her second place in the winnings for easy sweeping to Isabel. How fitting – that good people, when surrounded with weak counsellors, falter so easily to defeat against cunning foes.

At the other end of the ring, sits Facetious Freya. At each end of other people’s turn, she cries “Liar!” only to have it revealed as not being so – while playing a liar hand each step of the way. Isabel, seeing through her strategy, had but to egg others to call her out at the pinnacle of her victory – and Freya was brought to the dust. We would later hear that she faced the same fate in many other games, including global and regional Poker tournaments, all because she refused to change her two-faced style. However, Freya was not to be underestimated – she herself had sharp allies, and as she was brought down, she punished Isabel’s greedy play by a final show hand, ensuring the death of two villains. These people are a prototype of Isabel, however, they lack the polish and conservation – often to their own detriment.

And the rest? Well, let’s just group the vast majority into Honest Hilda. These people play an honest game and believe everything others say, until someone better sounding (and better looking) says so. They believed Isabel’s tricks against Rosalyn, and inadvertedly threw out one of the best hopefuls who could stand up to Isabel. When Freya also tried to influence them, they listened – but were it for the intervention of some others, she nearly succeeded. They are the sheep of the flock – winning a little at the end, never losing too much; content to just ‘play the game’ and nothing more.

However, the game is not always as it seems. In a 3-way liar, a certain number of cards may be missing from the pack, and you cannot be certain that the person is really lying or telling the truth. On the other hand, a six-person Liar would involve two full decks of cards, allowing each player to discard more cards without the risk of getting caught. The entire game would depend on the ability of the players to remember the number of cards played in addition to the type of players they are up against. Information becomes the key to rat out the liar.

So what kind of player wins a game of Liar? I like to model this group of people the Versatile Veras. They are content to play an honest hand; at the same time not being afraid of risking it all to gain a suitable advantage. Identifying the other type of players on the field and the cards in play, they play each player in order to keep the game honest as possible. They encourage the Rozalyns to keep fighting against the Isabels, and cull Freyas before they can get enough support to pull off their schemes. All at once, they also keep track of the cards they want to discard and the cards to keep – and in a few rounds, they flush their hand and call it a game. What makes them different from Isabel and Freya? The final goal - Isabel and Freya want to win in as dirty a game as possible, casting doubt and fear on Hilda to continuously attack each other while they get head. Vera focuses on winning a game in a veritable manner. While having a little lack of scruples from time to time, she clears the doubts and lies brought about by the former and helps Hilda make the right decisions.