Liar's Dice variants

One old game, many houses. These are the versions you'll meet — and the knobs this house lets you turn.

Dudo

The Peruvian original, centuries old. Aces are wild, bids climb, and “¡dudo!” — “I doubt” — forces the count. Losing costs a die, and a player with no dice left is out. Most modern versions, ours included, descend from it.

Perudo

The boxed, trademarked retelling of Dudo. It adds the palifico round — when a player drops to one die, aces briefly stop being wild — and tighter rules on bidding aces. If you've played Perudo, you know Liar's Dice; only the table dressing differs.

Red Dead Redemption's liar's dice

Rockstar's saloons play the classic dice-loss game: five dice each, ones wild, lose a die per lost round. The Back Room's lose a die house rule reproduces it exactly — turn it on and you're playing the frontier version, minus the cheating NPCs.

Pirates of the Caribbean

The film's tense three-way aboard the Flying Dutchman is straight Liar's Dice — each crewman bidding on all the dice at the table, stakes rather higher than a die. The scene is why half the world knows the game; the rules it plays by are the ones on our rules page.

The Back Room's house rules

Every table here is dealt from the same deck of options, set by the host:

Dice per player: 3, 4 or 5

Shorter or longer evenings; 5 is the classic.

Ones wild: on or off

On is traditional; off makes every face honest and thins the bids.

Chambers loaded: 1 to 6

How hot the revolver runs. One round is the gentleman's game; six is a statement.

Lose a die on a lost round: on or off

The Red Dead economy — survival gets harder as you bleed.

Spot-on calls: on or off

Perudo's calza, paid in lead: name the count exactly and everyone else adds a round and pulls; miss and you do.

Turn timer: 10 to 60 seconds

How long the table waits before bidding for you.

House bots: any empty seats

Two players and four bots is still a six-way game.