Lying while playing a game

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Accepted answer

Lying is deception for worldly gain.

“He speaks falsehood. If he is summoned to a council, to an assembly, to his relatives’ presence, to his guild, or to the court, and questioned as a witness thus: ‘So, good man, tell what you know,’ then, not knowing, he says, ‘I know,’ or knowing, he says, ‘I do not know’; not seeing, he says, ‘I see,’ or seeing, he says, ‘I do not see.’ Thus he consciously speaks falsehood for his own ends, or for another’s ends, or for some trifling worldly end.

AN 10.211

Lying is also something than can diminish one's trustworthiness & safeness in the eyes of others; even if the lie or exaggerated speech is merely a lighthearted joke.

In the same way, when someone is not ashamed to tell a deliberate lie, there is no bad deed they would not do, I say. So you should train like this: ‘I will not tell a lie, even for a joke.’

MN 61

But if lying is part of an actual recreational game of lying, such as when people bluff when they play poker, then, "no", it does not break the 4th precept because no one is being deceived or potentially upset. The purpose of the precepts is to not hurt oneself & to not hurt others.

When you want to act with speech, you should check on that same deed: ‘Does this act with speech that I want to do lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both? Is it unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result?’ If, while checking in this way, you know: ‘This act with speech that I want to do leads to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both. It’s unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result.’ To the best of your ability, Rāhula, you should not do such a deed. But if, while checking in this way, you know: ‘This act with speech that I want to do doesn’t lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both. It’s skillful, with happiness as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should do such a deed.

MN 61

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