oh wait a second literally the minute I posted this something very interesting happened.
I played 5 aces, got called out and opposing cat got them
next turn is theirs, they play 5 aces, get called out by another NPC and their play shows as [blank][A][A][A][A],which counts as cheating
are the blank cards something that happens when an NPC has more than 4 of the same rank? Or something along those lines at least