Valepaska
The page is based on contributions from Ola Rinta-Koski and Mikko Jutila.
Introduction
Valepaska is a Finnish game of bluff, a variation of Paskahousu. The word valepaska means "lying shit". The game is also sometimes know as Kusetuspaskahousu. On pagat.com, Valepaska was previously listed, slightly inaccurately, under the name Paskahousu.
In Valepaska, all cards are played face down, and the players announce what they are playing. They can tell the truth or lie, but if you lie you risk having to pick up the pile of played cards if challenged.
Players and Cards
An standard deck of 52 cards is used, cards ranking from high to low 2, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3.
The game is for three or more players, and is probably best with four or five.
Deal
In the beginning the dealer deals everybody five cards, and puts the remaining stock of cards face down in a pile.
Play
As soon as the deal is finished, if someone has (or claims to have) one or more threes, he starts by putting a card or cards on the table face down and declaring them as threes. If several people claim to have 3's, whoever puts their card down first starts. From then on the players take turns clockwise. If at the beginning nobody claims to have a 3, then whoever claims to have the next lowest card plays first.
At your turn, you can put on the table as many cards as you wish, provided they are all of the same rank, which is equal to or higher than the rank played by the previous player. You play your cards face down, but must always tell the others what your cards were (e.g. "three eights").
You can't play jacks, queens or kings if the previous play was seven or lower, and you can't play aces unless the previous play was a jack, queen or king or the table is empty.
If the table is empty (other than at the start of the hand) you may play any set of equal ranked cards.
At your turn, as an alternative to playing from your hand, you can draw the top card of the stock and add it to your hand. The turn then passes to the next player. Another possibility is to draw the top card from the stock and play it face down, without having looked at it, and tell the other players what rank you claim it is (as always the rank you claim must be in accordance with the rules of play).
You may also start the game by drawing the top card of the stock, and playing it face down without looking at it, claiming that it is a three.
Some cards have special effects. The special cards are:
- Tens
- If one or more 10s are played on a lower card, all the cards played so far, including the 10(s) are discarded. The person who played the 10 then continues by playing another set of cards, of any rank. If a 10 is played on an empty table, the next player must pick it up and the following player continues play.
- Ace
- Aces behave like tens, but can only be played on a jack, queen or king, or when the table is empty.
- Twos
- You can play a 2 on top of any card or when the table is empty. If the previous play was a 2, the only legal play is another 2.
Since all cards are played face down on the table, there doesn't have to be any correlation between the cards actually played and what people say they are. Thus, if you don't have a suitable card to put on the table, you can lie. The other players can doubt your integrity and any of them can turn your cards face up. If the cards are what you said they would be, the challenger has to pick up all played cards and then you play again. If they weren't, you have to pick up the play pile and the next player plays to the empty table. This can have quite dramatic consequences when there are lots of cards on the table.
The last player to have cards in hand loses and is called the paskahousu (person with shitty pants).
Variations
Some play that four twos do not clear the pile. So if there are claimed to be four twos on top of the pile, the next player could pick it up or play another card and say it was also a two - after all some of the previous twos might not be genuine.
Some play that only black 2’s, 10’s and Aces have a special role. Red tens and aces are just ordinary cards that do not clear the pile, and red twos are the lowest cards, below the threes.
Some include jokers (or other types of spare card) in the deck. These jokers or extra cards have no rank, so it is only possible to get rid of them by lying about what they are.
Many of the other variants on the Paskahousu page can also be used in Valepaska.
Other pages
The Wikipedia page on Paskahousu contains a section about Valepaska, and Cristian Seres' Paskahousu page has rules in Finnish.