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Liar's dice is a bluffing game for two to six players. Everyone hides their own dice under a cup, and everyone bids on what is on the whole table. You can see only your own dice, so every bid is part information and part bluff. Last player with a die left wins.
The setup
- Each player starts with five dice and a cup.
- At the start of every round everyone shakes their dice under the cup and looks at them in secret.
- A bid is a claim about all the dice on the table, yours and everyone else's together.
Making a bid
A bid has two numbers: a quantity and a face. “Four 3s” means: there are at least four dice showing 3 on the table.
The first player of the round makes any bid. After that, each player has two choices on their turn.
Raise, or call liar
- Raise the bid. Bid a higher quantity of any face, or the same quantity of a higher face. After “four 3s” you can say “four 4s” or “five 2s”, but not “four 2s” or “three 6s”. You cannot bid more dice than there are on the table.
- Call liar. You think the last bid is too high. All cups are lifted and the dice are counted.
Who loses a die
- If there are at least as many of the bid face as the bid claimed, the bid was good and the caller loses a die.
- If there are fewer, the bluff was caught and the bidder loses a die.
- The player who lost the die starts the next round. A player with no dice left is out.
Wild ones and straight ones
Every table plays with one of two rule sets, and it changes how the counting works. The wild ones page compares them in detail.
| Rule | What a 1 is worth | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Wild ones | A 1 counts as any face you bid on. | Bids on 2 to 6 count their own face plus all the 1s. An unseen die is worth more, so bids run higher. |
| Straight ones | A 1 is an ordinary face. | Only dice showing the bid face count. Bids are lower and every die is worth less. |
Under wild ones, a bid on 1s counts only the 1s. In both rule sets, a 1 is the lowest face when you raise at the same quantity.
An example round
Three players, wild ones. Ana opens with “two 4s”. Ben has a 4 and a 1 in his hand and raises to “four 4s”. Cleo has no 4s and no 1s, and does not believe it.
“Liar!” The cups come up. Counting the 4s and the wild 1s on the whole table gives three. Three is fewer than four, so Ben's bluff was caught and he loses a die. Ben starts the next round.
Tips for a first game
- Start by reading your own hand. Whatever you hold is certain, and the rest is a guess.
- Do the maths (the odds tables help). Under wild ones about a third of the dice on the table count for any given face, under straight ones about a sixth. A bid well above that is a gamble.
- Watch what players bid (more in the strategy guide). A player who jumps to a face they are holding may be telling the truth, or building a bluff.