Liar’s Dice Game Rules: How to Play Liar’s Dice

These liar's dice game rules cover the most common way to play the classic bluffing game. Every player rolls secretly, then players take turns making bolder and bolder claims about all the dice on the table until someone calls "liar". It mixes simple odds with poker-face bluffing and works brilliantly for family game nights and teens. It is also a fun companion to our other dice games.

Quick rules

• Each player has 5 dice and a cup. Everyone rolls secretly and peeks at their own dice.
• Players take turns bidding on the total number of a face showing among all dice, such as "four 3s".
• Each bid must be higher: more dice, or the same number of dice with a higher face.
• Instead of raising, a player may call "liar" on the previous bid.
• All dice are revealed. If the bid was met, the challenger loses a die; if not, the bidder loses a die.
• Ones are usually wild and count as any face.
• The last player with dice wins.

What you need

• Five standard six-sided dice per player.
• One opaque cup per player for hiding rolls. Paper cups work fine.
• No dice? Use our dice roller on each player's phone, or try it here:

Setup

1. Give each player five dice and a cup.
2. Decide who starts, for example by each rolling one die with the highest roll going first.
3. Agree whether ones are wild before the first round.

How to play

Rolling

1. All players shake their dice in their cups and slam them upside down on the table at the same time.
2. Each player lifts their cup just enough to see their own dice, keeping them hidden from everyone else.

Bidding

1. The first player makes a bid about all the dice on the table, not just their own. For example, "five 4s" means at least five dice showing a 4 among everyone's dice.
2. Going clockwise, the next player must either raise the bid or call liar.
3. To raise, increase the quantity (any face), or keep the quantity and choose a higher face. After "five 4s", legal raises include "five 5s", "five 6s", "six 2s" or "seven 4s".
4. Bids continue around the table until someone calls liar.

Calling liar

1. When a player calls liar, everyone lifts their cups.
2. Count the dice showing the bid face, plus any ones if ones are wild.
3. If the count is equal to or more than the bid, the bid stands and the challenger loses one die.
4. If the count is less than the bid, the bidder loses one die.
5. The player who lost a die starts the next round. Everyone rolls again with their remaining dice.

Wild ones

In the most common rules, ones count as any face. Because of this, you usually cannot bid on ones directly, or if you do, the quantity is halved (rounded up): "three 1s" can be raised over "six 4s". Some groups play with no wild dice at all, which makes counting simpler for beginners.

Scoring

There are no points. Each lost challenge costs one die, and a player with no dice left is out. If you prefer a longer session, award points for finishing order across several games using our scoreboard.

How to win

Be the last player with at least one die. When only two players remain, the game becomes a tense duel of reading each other's bids.

Variations

• Spot on (exact): instead of raising or calling liar, a player can claim the bid is exactly right. If correct, every other player loses a die (or the caller gains one back); if wrong, the caller loses a die.
• Palifico: when a player first drops to one die, ones are not wild for that round and the face cannot be changed, only the quantity.
• Common hand: everyone rolls one shared set of dice that is passed around, each player rerolling some dice before passing it on with a claim about the hand.
• Bigger losses: the loser loses as many dice as the difference between the bid and the actual count.

Tips and strategy

• Expect about one third of all dice to show any given face when ones are wild (one sixth for the face plus one sixth for ones). With 20 dice on the table, about six or seven of each face is a safe guess.
• Bid on faces you actually hold to keep your claims believable.
• Occasionally bid on a face you do not have to mislead the table.
• Watch which faces other players keep raising; they often hold those faces.
• When you are low on dice, bid conservatively and let others take the risks.

House rules to agree first

• Whether ones are wild and how bids on ones work.
• Whether spot on calls are allowed.
• Who starts each round: the player who lost a die, or the next player clockwise.

More bluffing fun: try bluff with cards or the dice favorite farkle.