Liar's Dice rules

Three minutes to learn. The whole game is one loop: bid higher, or call the liar — and the revolver settles whoever gets it wrong.

The setup

Each player gets 5 dice and a cup. Everyone rolls at once and looks only at their own dice. What's under the other cups is the whole mystery of the game — at a full table of six that's 30 dice, and you can see just 5 of them.

Who speaks first

The first round opens on the first seat, and the turn walks round the table clockwise. After that the opener is earned: whoever won the last challenge speaks first in the next round — the bidder, if the call was wrong; the caller, if the bid was a lie; and after a spot-on that landed, the player who called it. If that chair is empty by then, the round opens on the next living player clockwise. Every round starts with every cup shaken again: nobody keeps a roll.

Bidding

The first player names a quantity and a face: “three fours” means “across every cup on this table there are at least three dice showing four.” The next player must raise — either more dice, or the same number of dice on a higher face — or stop the music and call. There is no passing. Each turn has a clock (60 seconds by default) — and letting it run out is fatal: the house loads every chamber you have left and fires for you.

What counts as a raise

There are two ways up, and only two. Name more dice, on any face you like — or name the same number of dice on a higher face. The number never goes down within a round. You may jump as far as you dare, but no further than the dice in play: at a table of 20 dice, “twenty-one” of anything is not a bid.

Ones are wild

By default, every die showing 1 counts toward whatever face the current bid names. That's why you can't bid on ones themselves while they're wild — the bid would count them twice. Hosts can switch the rule off, and ones become ordinary pips; the odds tables show both worlds side by side.

Calling the liar

When a bid strains belief, call. The round freezes, every cup comes up, and the house counts the named face — wilds included — in front of everyone.

Spot on — the exact call

On your turn you have a third road: declare the standing bid exactly right — not one die more, not one less. Nail it, and the whole table pays: every other player loads their cylinder as if they had lost the round — the table's own penalty, permanent — and pulls the trigger, one after another, while you watch. Miss in either direction and the revolver is yours, same as a failed call. The house prices the exact call honestly on the odds page; hosts can switch the rule off.

The reveal

If the count meets the bid, the bid was honest and the caller loses the round. If it falls short, the bidder was caught and they lose. Either way exactly one player is holding the round's bill.

One reveal, counted

3 players, 15 dice. Iris opens with “three fives”, Marlow raises to “four fives”, and Nox — holding no five and no one — raises to “five fives”. Iris sees two fives and a one under the cup, needs the 10 hidden dice to hold two more, does not believe it, and calls the liar.

The table holds 3 fives and 2 ones, and the ones are wild: the count is 5. The bid asked for 5, so it stands — a bluff that turned out true without one die of Nox's own in it. Iris called and Iris takes the revolver. Had the call been “spot on” instead, it would have been exactly right, and the other two would be the ones loading. Nox won the challenge, so Nox opens the next round.

The revolver

The loser takes the revolver — and losing loads it. Your first lost round puts the table's setting into your cylinder (one round, unless the host runs it hotter); every lost round after that adds one more, and no round ever comes back out. The house loads them in the open, the cylinder spins fresh, one pull: with the bullets you carry, the chance is exactly bullets-in-six — 1-in-6, then 2-in-6, then 3-in-6. Six bullets is certain death. A player whose luck runs out leaves the game.

When a player is shot

A player the revolver takes leaves the game, and their dice leave with them: the next round is played with 5 dice fewer, and every bid is worth less than it was a minute ago. Those who survive keep every bullet they carry. By default nobody gives up a die for losing a round — dice leave the table only with their owner. A host who wants the older economy can turn on lose a die on a lost round; it is one of the house rules a table can set.

Winning the table

Last player alive wins. Rated tables move your nerve — the rating that decides your rank at the house — and every result lands in your history. The exact bid-legality rules, timers and the dice economy the server enforces are the same ones described here: the page and the game are built from the same code.

Rules people ask about

Can I bid on ones?

Not while they are wild. With the wild rule off, a one is a face like any other — the lowest.

Can I name a higher face and fewer dice?

No. A higher face is a raise only when the number of dice stays the same or grows.

Who may call?

Only the player whose turn it is, and only the bid on the table — the one the player before them made.

Can the opener call?

No. A round's first turn has nothing to call and nothing to be exact about; the opener bids.

The bid was exactly right and I called liar. Who loses?

You do. A bid says “at least”, so a count that lands on the bid keeps it honest.

Is there a highest bid?

Every die in play, all of them sixes. The player after that one can only call, or say spot on.

With real dice

Everything above works at a kitchen table: five dice and a cup for each player, and someone to count. Only the revolver stays here. At a wooden table the loser of a round gives up a die instead, and the last player holding dice wins — the rule Dudo and Perudo are played by.