Spoof

Information supplied by kind permission of Matthew Turner of Warwick University:

Spoof is a game of chance (but not without strategy) often played in a pub to establish who buys the next round. It has the quirky character that it is a game without a winner, just a loser. Basically it is a guessing game involving coins. Each player draws some number of coins between zero and three from their pocket and holds them concealed within a clenched hand. If more than three are held this is deemed to count as three. The denomination of the coin is irrelevant, its just the number that counts. The idea is then to take turns to guess the combined total number contained in all the players' hands. Its that easy ! One player starts by making a guess ('call' or 'shout') and then the guesses proceed clockwise until all have guessed a number that hasn't previously been taken. This is a single round of the game. All players then reveal their coins, a total is calculated (and checked!) and someone may be 'out' if they chose the exact number (there are no prizes for nearly). If this happens the not-loser will then sit out the remaining rounds of this particular game and the others will play more rounds in the same way until only two players are left. The player who loses this last round buys the drinks. If nobody guessed the correct number in any given round then the round is played again. Every time a round is played the first person to call rotates clockwise to the next available player.