Liar’s dice is a very old dice game dating to the Latin American Inca Empire during the 15th century and spread to Europe by way of the Spanish Conquistadors.
Number of Players
The game may be played with two or more players.
Set Up
- 5 six-sided dice
- 1 opaque cup per player.
Determine play order using whatever method works best for the players.
Wild Cards
Before play begins, if players want to have wild faces, all players agree on which one(s) are wild. Historically, Aces, or 1 pipped faces, are wild.
Game Play
The game is simple. Each player rolls their dice in the cup and flips the cup onto the surface while not revealing the dice. Then, the first player peeks at their dice and bids what they think all players have. For example, a player may bid “2 fives” if they believe that amongst all players there are two fives rolled. The next player will go. If they think there are higher results among the players, they may say that will raise the bid or call out “Liar!”, at which time all players reveal their dice. If the bid made by the previous player is correct, or at least minimally, the last player to bid wins. Otherwise, the player who called out “Liar!” wins and the last player loses one die. For example, the last player bids “2 twos” and there are 1 twos or anything else, the last player loses. Another example, the last player bids “2 twos” and there are 5 twos, the last player wins.
Raising the bid is simple. A player may add more dice to the bid, up to 5 dice. For example, raising the bid from “2 twos” to “5 twos” is possible. A player may also increase the face value. For example, a bid might be “2 twos”, but another player may raise the bid to “1 three”.
The loser of the last round starts bidding for the next round unless they’re eliminated. A player is only eliminated if they do not have any remaining dice. In which case, the next player starts the bidding.
Betting
Players place bets using some sort of mechanism (e.g. anteing or blinds) into the pool called a “kitty” before the game begins. This can be done through any mechanism, but tokens placed in the kitty, such as poker chips or money, are preferred.
Once all bets are placed, the game proceeds as defined. The winning player gets the kitty. In case of ties, the kitty stands in the next round.