2023 · Bluffing
That's Not a Hat
Players pass around small items and try to remember which player gave each object and which item sits in front of them. On a turn, a player gives a gift, announces its identity (truthfully or not), and other players must recall or bluff about previous gifts to avoid taking a penalty token. Memory, deduction, and occasional bluffing determine who accumulates penalty points; the game ends when a player reaches the losing threshold.
- Players
- 3–8 best 5
- Playing time
- 15 min
- Age
- 8+
- Complexity
- 1.1 / 5
About the game
- Design
- Publisher
Plays with
See them in Ludoya
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Where to buy it
Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.
On Ludoya's tables
Full stats in Ludoya- 1,156
- Plays logged
- 1,116
- Players
- 10m 10s
- Average play
- 207
- In collections
- 13
- On wishlists
7.0/10
from 70 Ludoya reviews
Rules questions
Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.
If I accept a gift, do I keep the new card or do I have to give it away?
You keep the new gift in front of you and must give away your "old" gift (the card closest to you) following the arrow on the back; if it’s your first time giving a gift you flip your old card face down before passing it (page 4).
Can I look at a card once someone has flipped it face‑down and passed it?
No — once a gift card has been flipped face down, no player may take a peek at it (page 4).
If I refuse a gift, do I have to correctly name what’s under the card?
No — when you refuse by saying “That’s not a ___,” you do not have to correctly identify the gift; you simply flip it over to check (page 5).
Who takes the penalty when a gift is refused, and what happens next?
Whichever player was wrong (the giver or the receiver) takes the revealed card face up into their personal discard pile as a penalty point; that penalised player then draws a new gift and must give that new gift away immediately following the arrow (pages 5 and 9).
When does the game end and how do we decide the winner?
The game ends when one player reaches 3 penalty cards in their personal discard pile; players total their penalty cards (each counts as 1 point) and the player with the fewest penalty points wins (page 10).
Free, on web, Android and iOS
Play That's Not a Hat with Ludoya
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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.