What does it mean that ones are wild in Liar's Dice?

A 1 counts as any face you are bidding on. If the bid is "four 5s", every 5 and every 1 under the cups counts towards the four.

In our game you bid on faces 2 to 6, and ones are always wild. Some house rules let you bid on ones directly, so agree it before you start if you play with real dice.

How many dice do you need for Liar's Dice?

Five per player, and a cup each. With real dice you can use cups, mugs or a shaker. With our game you need only a phone.

Is Liar's Dice a gambling game?

It is often played for money, but it does not need to be. In our game nothing is staked: you lose brass keys, and the keys are only your lives at the table.

Who starts the next round?

The player who lost the challenge. They shake first and make the first bid.

How many people can play Liar's Dice?

Two to eight in ours. Four or five is the sweet spot: enough dice to hide in, few enough that you can keep track of the bids.

Liar's Dice: How to Play, Rules and Strategy

Liar's Dice is a game of nerve. Everyone rolls five dice under a cup and looks at their own, and nobody else sees them. Then you take turns making bids about every die on the table, yours and everyone else's. Each bid has to be higher than the last, until someone decides the bidder is lying and says so. The game is old, with many names and house rules, and dudo is one of its oldest forms. It needs no board, no cards and no scorepad.

How to play Liar's Dice

What you need

Five dice and a cup for each player, and two to eight players. Everyone starts with three keys, which are their lives. Lose all three and you are out. Nothing is staked: the keys only keep count.

Each round

Roll and peek. Everyone shakes their five dice under their cup, then lifts a corner to look at their own. Keep them hidden.
Make a bid. A bid names a number and a face: "four 3s" means there are at least four 3s under all the cups together. You can bid on any face from 2 to 6. Ones are wild: a 1 counts as whatever face is being bid.
Beat the last bid. Each player in turn must either raise or call. A raise means more dice (any face) or the same number of dice on a higher face. After "three 4s", you can say "three 5s" or "four 2s", but not "three 3s".
Or call "Liar!" Instead of raising, you can challenge the last bid. Every cup lifts and the dice are counted, ones included.

Settling a challenge

If the bid was short, the bidder was lying and loses a key. If the bid holds, with at least that many on the table, the caller was wrong and loses a key. Whoever lost the key starts the next round with a new roll.

The last two

When two players are left, the Locksmith lends each of them a hidden sixth die for one round. It makes the final duel harder to read.

Winning

The last player with a key left wins.

How many dice to expect

Ones are wild, so any face from 2 to 6 matches a third of the time: each die shows that face or a 1 in two outcomes out of six. That gives you the rule every good bidder uses: on the dice you cannot see, expect one third of them to match the face. Add what you hold yourself.

Dice you can expect on any one face, ones wild
Dice on the table	Expected matches
10 (two players)	about 3 and a third
15 (three players)	5
20 (four players)	about 6 and two thirds

A worked example: four players, 20 dice. You hold two 3s and a 1, which is three matches for a bid on 3s. The other 15 dice should add about five more. That is eight in all, so "seven 3s" is a fair bid and "ten 3s" is a bluff.

Liar's Dice strategy

Count your own, then add a third. Your dice that match the face, plus your ones, plus a third of the dice you cannot see. If the bid is well above that, call.
Bid up slowly. Raise by one die or one face at a time. A big jump tells everyone what you are holding, or that you are bluffing.
Read the player before you. Someone who keeps bidding fives probably holds fives. Raise on a different face, or call if the numbers do not add up.
Bluff at a steady rate. If you only bluff when you are desperate, the table learns to call you. A bluff now and then, on a bid that could be true, keeps them guessing.
Ones are your best friends. Every 1 you hold backs every face you might bid. A hand with two or three ones lets you bid higher than the odds suggest.

Our Liar's Dice, coming soon

The dice are brass tumblers in a leather cup, and the table is the Locksmith's back room. Solo, you bid against up to three regulars, and each one bluffs in their own way. Clem rarely bluffs, and calls "Liar!" once a bid has less than a 45 percent chance of being true. Rook bluffs big and calls late. Aunt Vera reads your bids and remembers them, and the Locksmith bluffs at a steady rate and loves a big moment. Choose easy, normal or sharp.

With friends, the dice stay hidden for real. Each phone is your cup: shake it to roll, peek at your own dice, place a bid on the dial and slam the cup down to call. The TV shows the bid ladder and, on a challenge, every cup lifting at once. Free to play, no app.

Free to play, and coming soon

Liar's Dice is free, solo or with friends, and there is no app to download. Put your email in the box and we will send one email the day it opens, and nothing else unless you tick the box.

Liar's Dice