Each player has a cup with five dice. There is only one roll per hand. Roll one dice to see who goes first, Boss decides. The game is played for two out of three hands.
RULES
1. Aces are wild unless called at the start of the hand. A player making an ace call (i.e. one ace, a pair of aces, etc.) on the first call kills the aces and they are not wild for that hand, Aces are then played as ones.
2. In any hand with aces wild, there must be at least one natural number for a call to win. For example, there are a total of five aces in both hands but no fours. Any call of fours would lose if challenged. There must be at least one natural number.
3. Straights and full houses do not count.
4. The players alternate their calls. Each call must be higher than the last one or the hand is challenged. A challenge can be made at any time.
5. If a player's dice are stacked or cocked, he must show his hand to his opponent and then reroll the dice until he gets a valid roll. All dice must be flat on the playing surface. If a player makes his first call without looking at his dice, he must check his dice before his second call to insure that he has a valid roll. If a player makes more than one call with an invalid roll (stacked or cocked dice), he automatically loses that hand.
The objective of Liars is to guess the highest poker hand that has been rolled using the combined dice of all players. In a two player game, the highest possible hand would be ten 6's. The calls alternate between the players. Each call must be higher than the prior call. The hand continues until one of the players doubts the call. At the time he says "come up" or "bullshit" or many other sayings :) Both players raise their dice cups and reveal their hands.
The person called up wins if there is an equal or higher number of dice of the same denomination he called in the total of both hands. For example, if a player was called up on five 6's and he ahs three and his opponent has two, he wins. However, if there had been four 6's he would have lost.
Remember, aces are wild unless called on the very first call of the hand; and, the total of all dice in the game are used in deciding the hand.
There are two basic ways to play liars when there are more than two players in the game.
One Player Challenges One-The hand is played until one player challenges another. Only the challenger or challengee would lose a hand. This is the most popular version of Liars Dice.
All Players Challenge One-the hand is played until all players challenge the call of one player. It is possible for a player to challenge on one round and raise the call on the next. However, when each player in turn challenges one player's call the hand ends. In this method, the challengee either loses a hand or each of the challengers loses a hand.
Remember, when more than two players are in the game, the calls rotate in a clockwise fashion. Each player must call in turn. Therefore, in an All Challenge game, the challenges must be made in consecutive order to end the hand.
With either method, a player drops out once he loses two hands. If playing for drinks, the first player to lose two hands buys the drinks. If playing for money, a player drops out when he loses two hands and puts his money in the pot. The last player to remain in the game wins the pot.
Here's how it works. Player A loses two hands before player B or C has lost one. Player A has an option to buy back into the game by paying another ante. The next player who loses two hands before another player loses one also has the option to buy back. The buy backs will continue until two players lose one hand each. After this happens, players are eliminated upon losing two hands.
A player has a chance to get paid double if he wins the game and has not lost a hand. Note, this would occur even if the player had previously bought back into the game. Any player is eligible to win double as long as he has no lost a game when he eliminates the last player.
Buy Backs and Doubles add more excitement to the game. However, you should set a reasonable limit to the number of buy backs each player can make to keep the game from slowing down. A three buy back limit is sufficient to keep the game going at a fast enough pace.
Here's a good tip. When you lose a hand, don't show your opponent you dice! Just say you lost the hand and put your dice in the cup. If he can't see your dice, it's much harder for him to learn your strategy. On the other hand, there may be times when you want to show your dice to further disguise your method of play.
Also remember that when Aces are not wild, there's a tremendous change in the odds of a player having rolled a high poker hand. Here are the odds against getting any four of a kind in one roll.
With Aces Wild 5 to 1 against
Without Aces Wild 51 to 1 Against
Whatever you do, keep your opponent guessing. If he discovers your style, he'll beat you consistently. In Liars, it's not the hand that you roll, as much as it is how you call your hand and read into your opponent's hand. You can only win one hand at a time, so whether you "make" your own call or whether you catch your "opponent" in a lie shouldn't make any difference.
Have fun, here's some more variations...........
This game is normally played with from five to ten players. The more the merrier, however, you could play with just two.
The next player must accept or reject the call before looking at the dice. If he rejects the call, then the hand ends. If the caller was lying then he loses a hand, if the challenger is wrong, then HE loses a hand. A player is eliminated when he loses two hands.
If the player accepts the call, he then looks at the dice under the cup and decides whether to keep the same dice or roll all five again and conceal them. He then must make a higher call and pass the dice to the next player. This continues until a challenge is reveived.
Before the second, and any succeeding calls, each player has the option to re-roll his concealed dice. Another die must be shown with each call, however, this can be done before or after the concealed dice are re-rolled. The calls alternate until there's a challenge. A challenge can be made at anytime, before or after the dice are re-rolled. The last die is not shown. Stud Liars is usually played for 3 of 5 hands to win.
The first player has rolled 1,1,3,4,6
The second player has rolled 1,2,5,5,6
First player calls three 4's and slides the 3 out into view. The second player calls three fives and pushes a 5 out into the open.
Now each player is free to re-roll his remaining dice before or after showing his next die. He's also free to challenge before or after he re-rolls the dice.
The first player elects not to re-roll, slides a 4 into view and calls three 6's. The second player also elects not to re-roll and slides a 2 out and calls four 5's. Here's what the situation looks like now...
1st Player has 1,1,6 concealed and showing 3,4. His last call was three 6's
2nd Player has 1,5,6 concealed and showing 5,2. His last call was four 5's.
Now the first player calls four 6's and slide a 6 out. The second player senses that there are probably five 6's. He can call five 6's, try five 5's or re-roll his dice. He decides to call five 6's and slides the 1 (wild) into the open. He hopes to get challenged because he believes that he has his opponent in a box and can win. However, here's where the "undo" can help. The first player rolls his two concealed dice (two aces) and comes up with a 2 and a 4. Having successfully undone his hand, the first player can now safely challenge since it's impossible to make five 6's.
Six-Six-Six is a bluff game similar to Beat This. The first player rolls concealing the dice under the cup. He makes a call that must be accepted or challenged by the second player. If accepted, the second player will have to make a higher call. The second player looks at the dice and decides what to keep and what to roll. Any number of the dice can be kept or rolled. The dice that are kept remain concealed under the first cup. The dice that are re-rolled are kept concealed under the second cup. The player then looks at the concealed dice under the second cup. The player then looks at the concealed dice under both cups and makes a higher call than the call he accepted. both cups are pass to the next player. The next player can accept or challenge. This continues until a challenge occurs. A player is eliminated after losing two hands, last player in wins.
This is a bluff game played like Pass the Trash. High roll starts the game. The starter rolls both dice and conceals them. he peeks at the dice and makes a call. The next player can challenge or accep the call. If he accepts the call he looks at the dice and decides to re-roll them or to play them. In either case, he must make a higher call and pass the cup to the next player. This continues until there is a challenge. If the dice count is equal or higher than the call, the challenger loses. If the count is lower, the challenger wins.
Don't be afraid to challenge any call that gets above 6,2. The odds are in favor of your winning. If you accept the call, you will have placed yourself in an even higher unfavorable odds situation because you will have to roll a better hand or make a bluff call and risk being challenged.
Only one hand can be played per dollar bill. If there are more than two players, the game is played as All Challenge One. One player either wins a dollar from each opponent or lose a dollar to each opponent.
It's best to keep playing with fresh dollar bills, so you need to be able to exchange your money as the game goes on.