GuardiansWorlds.com - Gambling Guide

Liar's dice (liar dice) is a name for a class of dice games for two or more players. A common feature of all Liar's Dice games is that each player in turn must either make a higher bid (or claim) than the previous player, or challenge the previous players' bid as too high.

Poker Dice are often used in Liar's Dice

While many variations exist, they generally fall into one of two major categories: "common hand" games, where all players are bidding on the group's collection of dice while only seeing their own portion of it, and "individual hand" games, where each player makes claims only about their own dice. These major variants are different enough to be considered separate games but unfortunately both have come to be known as "Liar's Dice".

It is easy to learn, requires minimal equipment, and can be played as a gambling or drinking game. Playing this game well requires the ability to deceive and to detect an opponent's deception. Liar's dice is known as Dudo or Perudo in South America. The game has also been marketed under the name, Call My Bluff, winning the 1993 Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis awards. In Germany, Liar's Dice as a gambling game is called "Mäxchen"; the equivalent drinking game is sometimes called "Mexicali" or "Mexican" in the United States (see below). Given the similar pronunciations of these two German and English words, it is likely that the name of the one game derives from the name of the other. Whether the German or English version was the original, however, is less clear.

Rules (common hand)

Five six-sided dice per player are generally used for play. Generally play includes dice cups for concealment as well.

Each round, the players roll their dice, keeping them concealed from the other players. One player begins bidding, picking a number 2 through 6. He then tenders a number which he guesses to be equal to or less than the cardinality of the set of dice displaying this number on their top surface.

For example, the player might bid "three 4s". For the purposes of bidding, a 1 is wild and can count for any number 2 through 6.

After the first player has made his or her bid, the next player to the left can raise the bid or challenge the previous bid. Raising the bid means either raising the number chosen, or raising the quantity, in which case any number is allowed.

In the above example, the bid is "three 4s". The next player could bid "three 5s" or "four 2s", but not "three 2s" or "two 6s".

A player may challenge a bid. In some variants the player may only challenge when it is his turn to bid, in other variants the player may challenge at any time.

A challenge is generally indicated by revealing one's dice. All players then reveal their dice as well. The number chosen as well as the quantity is compared to the cardinality of the set of dice showing the number on their upper face. Most common variants also add 1s showing to this set for calculation purposes. A challenge is judged to be successful when the quantity guessed is greater than the cardinality of the set. A challenge is deemed to have failed if the quantity guessed is equal to or less than the cardinality of the set.

For example, if the bid of "seven 2s" is challenged, the quantity of 2s is counted. Say there are five 2s and three 1s showing; this is a total of eight 2s (assuming that a variant is played where 1 is wild). There are seven or more 2s, so the challenging player loses the challenge. If there are instead five 2s and only one 1, there are only six 2s and the bidding player loses the challenge.

Variants

A player that loses a challenge loses a die, and the next round begins. If there are three players and on the first round, Player 1 loses a die, then in the second round Player 1 has only four dice, whereas Players 2 and 3 still have five. This puts Player 1 at a disadvantage as he has less information than the other players about the dice.

It is possible to call 1. For example, "Three 1s". In such a bid, there are no wild dice. When switching the bid to 1, the bid must respect the minimum of previous bid, divided by 2, rounded up. To switch back, respect the minimum of previous bid, multiplied by 2, plus 1. For example, a bid of four 6s could be followed by a bid of two 1s, which could in turn be followed by three 1s or five of any number.

6 is wild instead of 1

When one player has distinct dice, he can pass once. If he does so, the bid raises automatically, and the next player cannot challenge the bid. Next player can raise using standard rules, challenge the passed status or pass as well. If more than one player pass simultaneously, next player's pass challenge can target any of them.

Instead of raising or calling ('dudo'), the player can bet that the bid from the previous player is exactly correct. If the number is higher or lower, they lose a die, however if they are correct, they get to gain a discarded die.

Gambling

There are a number of different ways to gamble with liar's dice. The simplest and probably most popular is for each game to be winner take all.

Drinking Game

A few possible alternatives exist here:

A successful challenge leads to the last bidder before the challenge to drink.
Sometimes the drinking above is based upon the difference between the quantity guessed and the set of dice used in comparison.
A failed challenge requires the challenger to drink.
A failed challenge requires the challenger to drink in a much greater quantity if it were not the turn of the challenger to bid at the time of challenge.

Rules (individual hand)

A closely related game, known as Liar dice, is played with a set of 5 poker dice. Each die is marked with Ace (A), King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J), ten (T) and nine (9); the faces, as listed here, are in order of value with Ace being the best.

Summary

A player is slid the dice cup with dice concelaed under it, along with a claim as to what poker hand is shown on the dice. The player must either challenge the claim or roll the dice and make his or her own claim, which must always be higher than the previous claim. If a claim is challenged, the dice are revealed. If the dice show a poker hand at least as high as the claim, the challenger loses a "life" (a point). If the dice show a lowerpoker hand than claimed, the claimant loses a life. When a player has lost a number of lives (often 3), that player is out of the game. The last player remaining wins.

Play

Any number of players sit round a convenient table so that a set of poker dice can be passed clockwise from player to player without disturbing the rolls. The game is best with 5-8 players.

The starting player is determined by highest die roll. Matching highest players re-roll to tie-break.

In turn, each player roles all / some / none of the dice at his discretion, usually hiding them from the other players' view. The starting player must roll all 5 dice. A player must state accurately how many dice he is rolling.

He then offers the (usually hidden) dice to the player on his left stating that they are some poker bid (excluding runs). This bid must be better than the offer made when he accepted the dice. (The starting player may name any bid).

The next player may either accept the dice and have his turn, or he may challenge. If challenging, the dice are exposed. If the hand equals or betters the stated bid, the recipient loses a life and the dice pass to the player on the recipient's left who starts again. If the hand is worse than the bid then the offerer loses a life and the recipient becomes the starting player.

The above procedure is often done in a confusing manner in order to make other players play harder.

Each bid need not be fully specified, in which case it is deemed to be the weakest possible bid meeting constraints stated. Better is a valid bid, as is Way better meaning Better than better, etc.

Should a player make an undercall, it is treated as Better. The undercall can be pointed out by any player at any point in the future of this hand, up to and including the exposure of a challenged set of dice.

When the bid reaches five aces (AAAAA), the player who needs to improve the bid must roll all and then may roll all / some / none of the dice twice more to achieve another five aces. If he achieves this then no-one loses a life and the next player starts a new hand, otherwise he loses a life.

Each player has three lives and is out of the game when he has lost them all. The winner is the final player with a life. As a concession to the first player to lose all three lives, he may get an extra life by standing and "barking like a dog" (a decent howl, not just saying 'woof'). Should a player decline the dog's life, it remains available for a subsequent player to claim on losing his last life.

If a player is absent when his turn comes, perhaps buying a round of drinks, he is deemed to have accepted the bid and to be passing the dice, unrolled, on as "Better". This is the Königswinter rule.

Bids

There are no runs in liar dice. Getting progressively stronger, the types of bids are:

Singleton
A pair
Two pairs
Three of a kind
Full house (3 of a kind plus 2 of a kind, the 3 being more valuable)
Four of a kind
Five of a kind.

Here follows an example, stating what was said and the least it can mean:

A pair: 99QJT
A better pair: 99KJT
A pair of Jacks: JJQT9
A pair of Jacks with no ten: JJKQ9

A bid is often just "better". You have to pay attention since after 3 or 4 "betters" in a row, it is easy to lose track of what level the bid has reached.

There is no obligation for a player to repeat his bid to clarify a situation for any player once the dice have been accepted by the recipient.

You must be truthful about the number of dice that you roll. You do not have to be truthful about which dice you are rolling. For example, if you accept a bid of "four of a kind" (implying 9999T) and it happens to be JJJJQ, then you can roll 1 die - stating "rolling one die - a singleton Queen" and actually roll one of the Jacks to trash the hand for the next player.

Techniques

You do not have to look at the dice on your turn, though it is wise to do so.

Certain confusions are in standard usage, for example "three pairs of Jacks" actually means "three jacks" as the 3 pairs are J1+J2, J2+J3 and J3+J1! Similarly six pairs means four of a kind.

It is necessary to remember what the most recent bid is - even if this is determined by analysing "betters". It is advisable to remember exactly what dice you passed on to your left and how many dice each player has thrown since you saw them.

Cooperation with the players to your left and right is a good strategy, ganging up on the players on the far side of the table.

Mistakenly claiming a lower hand than is required. For example, if the previous player called "three threes" and your roll included four fives, you may mistakenly state that you have "three twos". Players will quickly remind you that you need to roll better than the "three threes", to which you respond, "Ok then, four fives". The next player will almost certainly call you on this "mistake".

An example hand

In a four player ( [a], [b], [c] and [d] ) game.

[a] rolls TTAQ9 and offers "a pair" meaning 99QJT.
[b] rolls 3 dice (AQ9) to get KKTTJ and offers "two pairs" meaning TT99J.
[c] rolls one die (J) to get KKTT9 and offers "better" meaning TT99Q.
[d] rolls 3 dice (TT9) and gets KKKAJ and offers "two pairs, jacks on top" meaning JJ99T.
[a] rolls no dice and offers "three queens". [b] challenges and loses a life as the dice are "three kings" which betters the bid of three queens.
[b] thus misses a turn and [c] starts the next hand.

The above may not be good quality play, but it is a valid hand.

Rules (Mexican)

The game starts by one person rolling 3 dice under a cup to keep the results hidden from the next player. (Some variations play with 2 dice). The roller then places the cup over his dice tells the next player what he rolled (but he may bluff). The next player may do one of two things:

If he believes the roller, he simply takes the dice, and tries to roll something higher than the roller claimed. If he does not roll something higher, he must attempt to bluff the following player into thinking that he did or take a drink for another roll.
If he does not believe the roller, the cup is lifted, revealing his hand:
- If the roller was bluffing, he must take two drinks. Play is started over with no previous roll value to beat.
- If the roller was telling the truth, the other player must take two drinks.

Play continues as the roll results (or the claims of those results) get higher and higher until someone finally rolls a "Mexican" or a bluff is called.

The value of the roll is determined by forming a 3-digit number from the dice in order from highest to lowest. Thus a 3, 4, and a 5, has a value of 543. In order to beat that roll, the next player would have to roll a 544 or better.
Three-of-a-kind is higher than all other rolls, except for the "Mexican" (read below). Three 5's can be said to have a value of 5550. Three ones can be said to have a value of 1110, making it higher than a 665.
If you roll a 1 ,2 , and 3 , this is considered a Mexican. It beats all other rolls. A Mexican is handled differently than the other rolls. When you roll a Mexican :
- You must take the "1" out from under the cup, and place it in front of you. This means that you must have rolled at least one 1 in order to even bluff having a Mexican.
- Now it is up to the next player to believe him or not :
  - If he believes him, he must Place the dice on top of the rolling cup, flip the dice up in the air, flip the cup over, and catch the dice in the cup. If he succeeds in catching the dice in the cup, he rolls 1 dice and drinks that many... if he missed, he must roll 2 dice and drink the result.
  - If he doesn't believe him, the roller must lift the cup and show if he was bluffing or not :
    - a .If he was bluffing, the roller must catch the dice as described above, and drink accordingly.
    - b. If he actually did roll a 1,2, & 3, the other player must catch the dice and drink as described above, except that the drinks are doubled. This means that he could possibly have to take 24 drinks!!! (if he misses the cup, and then rolls two 6s)

Note: The next player is not required to beat a Mexican on his next roll, even if he does not call bullshit. (But that should be obvious, since a Mexican is the highest roll possible)

Adding to the fun, the value of the dice is read through code, like this:

1 = Eye
2 = Train (as in "choo-choo train"... the "choo" phonetically similar to "Two")
3 = Half-Schmitty
4 = Pane (The 4 dots look like a Window pane)
5 = Titty (The 5 dots look like....well...)
6 = Devil (as in the Number of the Beast)

So:

A 543 is read as "Titty, Pane, Half-Schmitty"
A 654 is read as "Devil, Titty, Pane" , or as "Devil with a Titty Pane"
A 655 is read as "Devil, Titty, Titty", or as "Devil with a pair of Tits"
A 533 is read as "Titty, Half-Schmity, Half-Schmitty", or simply as "Titty, Schmitty" (Two Half-Schmitties make a whole)

Two-dice variations

In the two-dice version, only doubles are referred to by their code name:

Two 1's = Tits
Two 2's = Ducks
Two 3's = Lines (as in lines of cocaine)
Two 4's = Windows
Two 5's = Tits in the windows
Two 6's = Boxcars

In addition, there is a caveat that a "54" is called a "Betty Ford" (a reference to the former First Lady's mastectomy). One is not allowed to bluff when they roll a Betty Ford. If they are caught bluffing on such a roll, the penalty is usually 10 drinks. A Mexican becomes a roll of 2 and 1.

External links

http://www.stocton.org/liardice.htm

Categories: Dice games

Gambling Guide

Liar's dice

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