CHEAT!

I literally have no idea where this picture is from.

Hello, hello, hello and welcome to CHEAT!, the only game show where you're rewarded for cheating!

I tried doing a gameshow host impression but since I don't watch any TV, I have no idea how gameshow hosts act.

Okay so yeah. Not really a game show, but I did come up with an idea for a verbal game.

Before I get into the specifics on how the game is played, it's better to define some terms first.

Host - This is kinda self-explanatory. The host is the one who'll be asking questions. Except for this time, the host isn't permanent. Every round the host changes.

Players - Players. Nothing else to it.

Candidate - The player who is being questioned by the host.

The way the game works is that a player is selected to be the host. This can be completely random, or it can be turn-based, that part's up to you. 

Once the host is selected, he/she now has to think of a topic or an activity in which it would be difficult and/or pointless to cheat. 

He/she tells this activity out loud. For the purposes of our demonstration, let's consider golf.

Bob (our imaginary host) announces golf as the activity of this round. Now it's up to the rest of the players to come up with ways or methods to cheat in golf. Whoever raises their hands first (or if you want to be fancy, presses the buzzer first) becomes the first candidate. 

For our demonstration, Patricia has raised her hand first, and so now, she gets to be our candidate.

Patricia is then asked to explain her 'PATHWAY'. That's what we're calling them. Pathways. 

Pathways are basically any method that a player comes up with to cheat in the given activity. These pathways have to be made in the real world with the technology of today. So no fairy magical stuff. You are allowed to create new inventions in your pathways, but they have to be feasible by today's standards in technology. 

You can include an additional rule to ensure that each pathway has to be something that is accessible to an average person, otherwise, you'll end up with some answers that only the richest of the rich can afford. Again, this part is totally up to you.

So Patricia explains her pathway. After her pathway has been clearly established with all necessary details, Bob now has to grill her on the specifics of the pathway.

You see, the point of this game is for Bob to go through all available pathways created by each player and negate them one by one. His goal is to ensure that people don't cheat in golf. So he can ask any question he wants to make sure the candidate doesn't establish her pathway as legit.

The goal for Patricia however, is to make sure she answers all of Bob's questions properly and firmly establishes her pathway as a concrete and irrefutable method to cheat in the given activity. 

To make matters fair, Bob only gets 5 minutes to grill Patricia and her pathway. Once five minutes are up, he is no longer allowed to ask any questions. 

After five minutes are up, there is a one-minute time gap where any of the other players get to ask her questions each. This gives them an opportunity to ensure she doesn't get a point. 

After that one minute, Patricia now has to appeal to the Mod. You see, as I was writing this post, it occurred to me that there should be a person present to make sure no one makes nonsensical claims or simply wastes time conjuring troglodyte-esque responses. So we're adding another character to the mix. The Mod is a separate entity that governs the game. He must be unbiased and make sure the game is fair.  

So Patricia appeals to the Mod to accept her pathway. If the Mod feels that there were some legitimate questions that were not adequately answered by the candidate, he has the ability to declare her pathway unacceptable. But if he/she feels that the candidate was able to accurately express and map out her pathway, then he can declare the pathway acceptable and end the round there.

So in our particular case, because Bob is a bit of an idiot, he isn't able to accurately grill her on her pathway. The chance goes to the rest of the players, who all have the chance to ask her one question each, in order to point out flaws in her pathway which cannot be addressed easily. James is able to ask her a question to which she has no answer, and because of this, the Mod is able to declare the pathway illegitimate and we move on to the next person in line: the second person to have raised their hands after Patricia.

The round ends when either a pathway is declared legitimate and the concerning player is given a point or when all the existing pathways are negated and the host gets a point.

When a new round begins, a new host is selected and the process is repeated again.

I haven't really outlined a point-system here because I want it to be kept open-ended. You guys can define your own point-systems. You can even include negative points to discourage certain behavior or something.

Honestly, I thought the idea sounded cool and fun, so I just had it typed out here. If you guys have any suggestions or any proposed changes to the game, feel free to let me know.