Lie, Cheat & Steal


Reiss Games, 1971, 2-6 players, no age range specified so let's say 10 and up. In LC&S, players take on the role of politicians in search of votes. Turns consist of rolling dice and moving around the very Monopoly-like board. Depending on the space you land on you might get some money, or get some votes or draw a card ("$" cards, "Black Eye" cards and "Feather" cards). "$" cards instruct you to either pay or collect money. Now you can be honest and do what the card says, or you can be a politician and cheat (IE, say "I get to collect $100,000", when the card actually says "pay $50,000"). "Black Eye" cards are used to accuse your opponents of various crimes (attending a pot party, deserting from the army, escaping from a chain gang, etc). "Feather" cards are used as a defense against "Black Eye" cards. If you land on a "Press Box" space, you can accuse another player of fraud and demand to see a recently played "$" card, or you can accuse them of a crime using one of your Black Eye cards. If the accused player has the appropriate defense card, you're in trouble, otherwise they have to buy you off with some votes. There are various other specialty spaces, but since strategy really isn't the point of all this, I won't bother with all the details. This game is very simple to play and one hell of a lot of fun. It's pretty much the only mainstream sort of family/party game that we've ever spent any significant time playing. It's also the game we always pulled out back in our bachelor days when we wanted to do some gaming and had actually managed to attract some girls to the festivities. It's light, it's surprisingly entertaining, and it definitely has crossover appeal- IE, fun for serious gamers and casual gamers alike. A true classic.


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