The Card Game B.S

[Michael_Anthony]

Is there an issue with the card game BS? The game functions with the deliberate “lying” sometimes claiming a card to be something it isn’t, but usually you reveal that fact shortly there after with a given phrase (often something like “peanut butter”), and since the point of the game is to win by getting rid of your cards, in part by bluffing your way through (particularly if you lack the next card in the sequence, at which point you have to). It is an explicit rule that you pretty much have to lie (you could try to not do so, but sometimes it is unavoidable), I am unsure, given that you are deliberately stating a falsehood it seems wrong, but you do the same thing in acting where you claim to be someone else, and everyone knows it, so that could mitigate that???

 

[Wesrock]

Is there an issue with the card game BS? The game functions with the deliberate “lying” sometimes claiming a card to be something it isn’t, but usually you reveal that fact shortly there after with a given phrase (often something like “peanut butter”), and since the point of the game is to win by getting rid of your cards, in part by bluffing your way through (particularly if you lack the next card in the sequence, at which point you have to). It is an explicit rule that you pretty much have to lie (you could try to not do so, but sometimes it is unavoidable), I am unsure, given that you are deliberately stating a falsehood it seems wrong, but you do the same thing in acting where you claim to be someone else, and everyone knows it, so that could mitigate that???

It’s a short game, and everyone understands the rules going in. It doesn’t seem like this really fits the bill of really lying.

 

[LawyersGunsAndMoney]

You’re bordering on scrupulosity here. This isn’t lying; everyone involved knows it’s part of a game they’ve agreed to play. This is no more lying than an actor pretending to be someone else.

 

[HopkinsReb]

Is there an issue with the card game BS? The game functions with the deliberate “lying” sometimes claiming a card to be something it isn’t, but usually you reveal that fact shortly there after with a given phrase (often something like “peanut butter”), and since the point of the game is to win by getting rid of your cards, in part by bluffing your way through (particularly if you lack the next card in the sequence, at which point you have to). It is an explicit rule that you pretty much have to lie (you could try to not do so, but sometimes it is unavoidable), I am unsure, given that you are deliberately stating a falsehood it seems wrong, but you do the same thing in acting where you claim to be someone else, and everyone knows it, so that could mitigate that???

By this logic, football would be sinful because the quarterback says “hut” several times before the ball is snapped. Basketball would be sinful because people fake shots. Baseball would be sinful because pitchers try to trick the batter into swinging at a different pitch. Hockey would be sinful because…ok, actually, hockey is played on ice so it actually is sinful.

 

[Beryllos]

No issue, no sin, but good question.

Allow me to repost my old answers (from 2014 and 2016):

Is the card game Liar liar a sin? Moral Theology

I don’t think that actually constitutes lying or deception. Everyone who plays the game understands the truth, which is that a player is likely to make false assertions. If that doesn’t make sense, consider a trivial modification to the game: Each player, in his turn, could say, for example, “Do you believe (or will you accept) that these are two tens?” He told no lie. The other players can accept his assertion or not. If his assertion is false, the other players cannot truly be deceived since t…

Lying to people expecting you to lie? Moral Theology

I would argue that the game does not involve lying at all, because there is neither assertion nor deception. The first player makes a proposition (“Accept or reject my statement, which may be either true or false”), not an assertion (“My statement is true”). Both he and the other player understand that the statement may be either true or false, and they understand that the veracity of statements is intended to be unpredictable. Those are the underlying truths of the game, which neither player ca…

 

[Sbee0]

Is there an issue with the card game BS? The game functions with the deliberate “lying” sometimes claiming a card to be something it isn’t, but usually you reveal that fact shortly there after with a given phrase (often something like “peanut butter”), and since the point of the game is to win by getting rid of your cards, in part by bluffing your way through (particularly if you lack the next card in the sequence, at which point you have to). It is an explicit rule that you pretty much have to lie (you could try to not do so, but sometimes it is unavoidable), I am unsure, given that you are deliberately stating a falsehood it seems wrong, but you do the same thing in acting where you claim to be someone else, and everyone knows it, so that could mitigate that???

Yeah I’d say it’s more acting than anything. The bluff is like a poker player pretending he or she has a stronger hand than they really do.

 

[Michael_Anthony]

Ok thank y’all that’s kind of what I was thinking I just wanted to check, (admittedly the name leaves something to be desired, but c’est la vie). I think now would be a good time for the moderators to close this before we get a bunch of answers saying the same thing/starting a divulging argument.

 

[TULIPed]

Lacrosse however, given that it is the “Creator’s Game” (literal translation from the Iroquois) is clearly not sinful. I would argue that lacrosse is, in fact, the perfect game

 

[HopkinsReb]

Lacrosse however, given that it is the “Creator’s Game” (literal translation from the Iroquois) is clearly not sinful. I would argue that lacrosse is, in fact, the perfect game

It was good when Hopkins was great, but now it’s meh.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

It’s not a sin because you’ve already established you’re playing a bluffing game.
Sort of the way fiction writing is not a sin, because everybody already knows it’s just a story.