Overview

Liar’s Dice is a classic bluffing and deduction dice game. Each player has a set of dice hidden under a cup. Players make increasingly bold claims about the total dice showing a particular face value across ALL players’ dice. When a claim is challenged, dice are revealed and the loser forfeits a die. The last player with any dice remaining wins.

Components

• 5 six-sided dice per player
• 1 dice cup per player (recommended)
• Optional: chips or counters for Common Hand variant

Setup

1. Each player receives 5 dice and a cup.
2. Determine the first player by mutual agreement or by each rolling two dice (highest goes first).
3. Play proceeds clockwise.

Turn Structure

Round Start

All players simultaneously shake their dice in their cups and slam them face-down on the table. Each player secretly looks at their own dice without revealing them to others.

Bidding

1. The starting player makes a bid consisting of a face value (1-6) and a quantity (e.g., “three 4s” means at least three dice showing 4 exist among all players’ dice combined).
2. The next player clockwise must either:
   • Raise the bid — increase the quantity, increase the face value (same or higher quantity), or both.
   • Challenge — call “Liar!” to dispute the previous bid.

Challenge Resolution

When challenged, ALL players reveal their dice.

• Count the total number of dice showing the bid face value across all players.
• If the actual count meets or exceeds the bid quantity, the challenger loses one die.
• If the actual count is less than the bid quantity, the bidder loses one die.
• The loser of the challenge starts the next round.

Elimination

A player who loses all 5 dice is eliminated from the game.

Actions

On your turn, you must do one of the following:

1. Bid: State a quantity and face value that is higher than the previous bid.
   • Higher quantity of any face value is always valid.
   • Same quantity with a higher face value is valid.
2. Challenge: Declare “Liar!” — all dice are revealed and counted.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The winner is the last player with any dice remaining. There is no point scoring — it is a pure elimination game.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

Wild Ones Variant

• Dice showing 1 (ones) count as wild — they match any face value for bid purposes.
• Example: A bid of “four 5s” is met by any combination of 5s and 1s totaling at least 4.
• When bidding on 1s specifically, wild rules do not apply; only actual 1s count.

Exact Bid Variant

• A player may declare “Exact!” instead of raising or challenging, claiming the previous bid is exactly correct (not more, not less).
• If correct, all other players lose one die each.
• If incorrect, the caller loses two dice.

Build Up Variant

• Players start with 1 die each.
• Instead of losing dice, losers gain an additional die.
• The first player to accumulate a set number of dice (e.g., 6) is eliminated.

Common Hand Variant

Uses poker hand rankings instead of face/quantity bids:

1. First player rolls all 5 dice, announces a poker hand (truthfully or bluffing).
2. Next player accepts or challenges.
3. If accepted, next player may reroll some dice but must declare a higher-ranking hand.
4. Last player with counters wins.

Poker Hand Rankings (highest to lowest):

• Five of a kind
• Four of a kind
• Full house
• High straight (2-3-4-5-6)
• Low straight (1-2-3-4-5)
• Three of a kind
• Two pair
• One pair
• High card

Player Reference

Valid Bid Raises: | Current Bid | Valid Raises | |————-|————-| | Three 4s | Four of anything, Three 5s, Three 6s | | Five 2s | Six of anything, Five 3s through Five 6s | | Two 6s | Three of anything |

Quick Reference:

• Start: 5 dice per player
• Lose a challenge = lose 1 die
• 0 dice = eliminated
• Last player standing wins