Too many versions of Liar's Dice!

June 29, 2009 10:34 AM

When you play Liar's Dice, how do you play?

Do you play that

1) each player gets five dice and makes calls on his own hand (this version)

2) that each player gets five dice and makes calls on the number of times a certain number appears on the whole table (this version) or

3) that there are five dice total--the caller (player 1) makes a call on what he has, player 2 chooses to accept or challenge, and if he accepts, those same five dice are slid to him under the cup to him to re-roll and try to better the hand (and bluff the player to his left).

In any case, how does the caller change from game to game? Do you roll a die and the highest number goes first each time, or does the role of the caller just pass to the left each time, like in cards?

Also, in version 1 (and maybe 2 and 3): What if no one challenges? Who wins then? Do all expose their hands and the highest hand takes the pot? Is there an ante each game/is there a bet with each call?

Thanks in advance. If you don't know the answers to all of these questions, don't let that stop you from answering some of them!

posted by pipti to sports, hobbies, & recreation (21 comments total)

Years ago when I played it in the Uni bar we played a version of 3... where you could take dice in and out from under the cup and re-roll (or not) inside and out as you wanted to beat the score past on to you. And you always had to declare something higher before you passed it on. We just used to play for drink penalties so whoever failed a challenge drank.

I think the person who lost started again next time.

And if you wanted to get someone drunk you could cheat by turning the dice with your thumb when you are looking under the cup, as long as you weren't ham-fisted.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:44 AM on June 29

Like the rules in the link in #2, except only the highest bidding person (or the one calling them a liar) can lose. If you lose a round, you discard one of your dice. The person who lost the last round starts the next one. The last player with dice remaining wins.
posted by dreadpiratesully at 10:54 AM on June 29

We played a game called Mier (or Mia or something that sounded like that), that used the rules of version #3, except we only had two dice.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 10:57 AM on June 29

Here's lots of information about Liar's Dice.

Check the Forum > Rules section and the Files section. Make sure you click the Hot link so the most useful information is sorted to the top.
posted by diogenes at 11:04 AM on June 29 [1 favorite has favorites]

The couple times I've played, it's been along the lines of the second version you've listed.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:12 AM on June 29

I play like in the second version, but with a twist. Everyone starts with 5 dice. If you lose the round, you lose a die. Once you get down to two players, you bid on the total number of dots showing, rather than on the number of dice of a given rank.
posted by philosophygeek at 11:31 AM on June 29

Also, the caller in the games I've played has been the first person to call something, without any sort of order involved.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:33 AM on June 29

We play a version that's marketed in the UK as "Perudo" (yes, aside from faux-Mexican plastic dice-rolling cups, you are basically buying a big box containing dice and a rules sheet).

The rules are similar to your second link but, as other people have mentioned above, if you get caught lying or make a bad call about someone else lying, you lose a die. If you lose all your dice, you're out of the game. Last man standing wins. Ones are wild, but cease to be when it's down to two players. Loser of the previous hand always starts the bidding.

Many happy hours wasted...
posted by him at 11:44 AM on June 29

The game called "Liar's Dice" is #2. I don't know what #1 and #3 are, but they're a different game.
posted by majick at 11:56 AM on June 29

It has to be #2. If you're only betting on what YOU have, with five dice, the bidding would end at around 2 or 3 which would get really boring.
posted by hamsterdam at 12:08 PM on June 29

Disney is marketing a boxed set called "Pirate's Dice" from the Pirates of the Caribbean line that is close to #2, as featured in the second movie. Instead of faux-Mexican cups, you get faux-Undead-Pirate cups, complete with barnacles and skulls-n-bones instead of Ones on the dice.
posted by GJSchaller at 12:09 PM on June 29

Majick and Hamsterdam: If it's #2, isn't it essentially the same as Liar's Poker, then? (the game with the one-dollar bills).
posted by pipti at 12:18 PM on June 29

#3 sounds like how I've played, except we keep two or three (the "passer" can choose) dice outside the cup which you can roll or not roll based on your choice. So when you pass a hand, you're passing two dice outside the cup which everyone can see and three dice under the cup which are hidden. When you get up to a true five of a kind and cannot pass a better hand to the next person, the rule is that you get five rolls of any combination of the five dice to get another five of a kind. So let's say your #1 roll = 6,6,6,4,4 you can just roll the two fours to try and two more 6's. Roll #2 = 6,6,6 (not rolled) and 4,6 (rolled). Roll #3 = 6,6,6,6 (not rolled) and 5 (rolled). Roll 4 = 6,6,6,6 (not rolled) and 6 (rolled). You got five 6's in four rolls so you win the hand and the person who originally passed you the true five of a kind loses.

The loser of the previous hand is the first roller of the next hand; you lose hands by incorrectly calling passers' bluffs and you also get a letter which keeps track of the overall winner (sort of like h-o-r-s-e). We play m-e-n-t-i-r-o-s-o because I usually play with Spaniards. The first person to get all the letters is the first loser, last person to get all the letters (or I guess when the second to last person gets all the letters) is the winner. Sheesh that's hard to explain -- I hope it makes sense!

Also, because we're super cool we play with Poker Dice.
posted by lazywhinerkid at 12:39 PM on June 29

"isn't it essentially the same as Liar's Poker, then?"

That's a possibility, but since I've never heard of something called "Liar's Poker" I won't try to confirm that. Pure Liar's Dice, though, is #2. (Although the ruleset you link to is wrong in multiple places.)

You lose a die when your bluff is called, you leave the game when you have no dice. Successive bids must escalate either the count of dice or the pip number, or both. Nothing is wild.

Someone will always challenge because of the bid escalation rule. Eventually the bid will be "fifty-seven sixes" or whatever and someone will call it.

The "bid total number of pips on the board during the shootout" thing sounds like someone's house rule. I've never seen it played that way, and I'd probably decline to play more than one novelty round like that.
posted by majick at 12:52 PM on June 29

majick: I've played that version as well and have heard it called "Liar's Dice" but never really understood who is "lying" or "bluffing". Aren't you really just "guessing"? When someone thinks a guess is too "outlandish" they call BS but as far as I can tell -- based on my understanding of "lying" which implies that you know "the truth" and are trying to fool someone -- it's not really "lying" at all is it? Maybe I'm missing something... Also, just to be clear -- I'm not second guessing you that this version is called "Liar's Dice" I'm just trying to figure out why it's called that!
posted by lazywhinerkid at 1:52 PM on June 29

The version I play is #2, although I play 1s as wild. My version of the rules is described on my website.
posted by Paragon at 2:00 PM on June 29

Also, because we're super cool we play with Poker Dice.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, it was always with Poker Dice
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:57 PM on June 29

The bidder is the liar or bluffer:

My roll may contain dice: 1 1 2 2 6. Let's call those values "the truth" since I know them to be factual. I may bid "two fives," bluffing the table into believing my hand has fives. That bid would be lying, and if bidding fives comes around to me again I can call it to my advantage.

"Liar's Dice," like other bid and bluff games is less about the dice and more about the bids on the table.

#3 -- and the variations I'm seeing on it -- sound like an interesting game and I'd enjoy trying it out, but it's not Liar's Dice as I've ever seen it.
posted by majick at 3:01 PM on June 29

Interesting. I think my confusion is because I've always played #2 with like eight people, so it just seemed like as the bids got higher ("fifteen fours") the real bluffing went away and you were just sort of pushing the numbers higher on your next pass. Seemed like no real bluffing occurred but I see how it would occur in the first couple hands with few people...

Perhaps the next meetup should involve some Liar's Dice, Mentiroso, or whatever!
posted by lazywhinerkid at 3:27 PM on June 29

Yes, my understanding is that it's basically the same game, except with dice instead of dollar bills.
posted by hamsterdam at 4:45 PM on June 29

Seconding Paragon's version -- but when I played the 1s were wild, except when called ('five ones'), etc.
posted by suedehead at 10:41 PM on June 29