How to play
Liar’s Dice is the bluffing game from pirate taverns and the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Each player hides five dice under a cup and the table argues about how many dice of a kind are out there in total. This version is for two players.
Choose Computer or Friend in the menu. In friend mode you share the device: the screen covers your dice and asks you to pass the phone whenever the turn changes, so nobody peeks.
A round. Both players roll their dice in secret. You see your own dice at the bottom; the opponent’s cups at the top only show how many dice they have left.
The first player opens with a bid: a number of dice and a face, meaning “across all the dice on the table, at least this many show this face”. Use the − and + buttons for the count and tap a face from 2 to 6. Then the other player must either:
- Raise the bid. A raise is a higher count, or the same count with a higher face. 3 × 4 can be followed by 3 × 5 or by 4 × 2, but not by 3 × 3 or 2 × 6.
- Call Liar! Both cups are lifted and the dice are counted.
Ones are wild. Every 1 counts as whatever face was bid. That is why you cannot bid on 1s themselves. The label under your dice shows how many of the bid face you already hold, wilds included.
The showdown. If the table holds at least as many dice as the bid, the bid stood and the challenger loses a die. If it falls short, the bidder loses a die. The player who lost the die opens the next round. Lose your last die and you lose the game.
Strategy
Count what you can see. With your own five dice known, only the opponent’s dice are uncertain. Each of those shows the bid face or a 1 about one time in three. Expect roughly one third of the hidden dice to help any bid.
Bid what you hold. Opening with a face you hold two or three of, counting wilds, lets you raise again later with real support. A bid of 3 × 5 when you hold two 5s and a 1 is already true on your side alone.
Raise small. Moving from 3 × 4 to 3 × 5 gives away little; jumping to 5 × 4 invites a call. Make the opponent take the risky step.
Watch the total. With ten dice on the table a bid of four is ordinary. When players are down to three dice each, a bid of three is already brave.
Bluff when the maths say so. If the current bid is improbable and every raise would be worse, call it. If a raise of one face is still likely enough, make it and pass the pressure back.
About the computer player
The computer knows only its own dice, the number of dice you hold and the bid. It works out the probability that a bid is true using the one-in-three chance for each hidden die, calls Liar when the standing bid drops below roughly one chance in three, prefers the smallest raise that is still likely, and bluffs with a face it does not hold about one time in eight. In 100 simulated games against a player who bids and calls at random it won more than 70, and against a copy of itself either seat wins about as often.
If you enjoy Liar’s Dice, try Lines of Action or Mahbusa next.
