Liar's Dice

Liar’s Dice, Played Right in Your Browser

Liar’s Dice is the classic bluffing game with five dice and a cup. Everyone rolls in secret, then takes turns guessing how many dice of one face are hidden under all the cups together. Each guess has to top the last one, until somebody thinks the bid has gone too far and calls “Liar!”. The cups come up, the dice are counted, and whoever was wrong loses a die. The last player with dice left wins.

Here you play Liar’s Dice online against 2 to 5 computer players in a cosy cartoon tavern. Bramble the bear, Pepper the fox, Lily the frog, Hoot the owl and Tansy the cat each sit behind their own cup, shake it, slam it down and react when they get caught. The dice are real 3D dice, and your own dice always stay in view in front of you. Pick Easy, Normal or Hard, turn wild ones and Spot On on or off, and keep the odds help on while you learn.

How to Play Liar’s Dice

1. Roll. Press Play. Every cup shakes and slams down on the table. Yours lifts so you can see your five dice. Nobody else can see them.
2. Bid. A bid names a quantity and a face, like “four fives”. It means you think there are at least four fives among all the dice on the table, not just yours.
3. Raise or call. On your turn, either make a higher bid or challenge the last one. To raise, bid more dice of any face (“five twos” after “four fives”) or the same number of a higher face (“four sixes” after “four fives”).
4. Call Liar. If you think the bid is too high, press Liar!. Every cup lifts and the matching dice light up one by one.
5. Lose a die. If the count is short of the bid, the bidder loses a die. If the bid holds, the caller loses one. The player who lost a die starts the next round.
6. Win. Lose all five dice and you’re out. Be the last player with dice to win the game.

Liar’s Dice Rules in Detail

Wild Ones

With wild ones on (the usual rule), every one counts as the face being bid. If the bid is “five fours” and the table shows three fours and two ones, the bid is good. Ones are drawn with a red pip so they stand out.

Bidding on ones themselves follows the halving rule:

• You can’t open a round on ones.
• To switch to ones, take half the quantity and round up. After “seven fours” the lowest ones bid is “four ones”.
• To switch back off ones, double the quantity and add one. After “three ones” you need at least “seven” of another face.

Turn wild ones off and every face counts only as itself, with ones as the lowest face.

Spot On

Spot On is an optional call you can switch on in the menu. Instead of calling Liar, you say the bid is exactly right. If the count matches exactly, you win back a die you lost. If you still have all five, the bidder loses one instead. If the count is anything else, you lose a die. It’s a risky call, so save it for when the numbers line up.

Who Starts Each Round

Whoever lost a die starts the next round. If that player is out, the next player round the table starts. After a correct Spot On, the caller starts.

Liar’s Dice Strategy

• Start from what you know. The dice in your hand are certain. Count how many match a face, including ones when they’re wild.
• Estimate the rest. Each unseen die shows a given face about one time in six. With wild ones it’s about one time in three, because a one also counts. With 15 unseen dice and wild ones, expect about five of any face before adding your own.
• Bid on your strong faces. A bid on a face you hold three of is far safer than a bid on a face you don’t have.
• Climb slowly. Small raises keep the bid believable and push the risk onto the next player.
• Use the faces, not just the numbers. Raising the face instead of the quantity (“four sixes” after “four fives”) is the cheapest raise there is.
• Read the table. A player who bids a face probably holds some of it. Two players bidding the same face is a strong hint.
• Bluff now and then. Bidding a face you don’t hold can lead others into a bad raise. Just don’t do it when the bid is already near the expected count.
• Call when the numbers say so. If a bid is well above the expected count and you hold none of that face, Liar is usually the right call.

Probability Tips for Liar’s Dice

Turn on Odds Help and the bid panel shows the numbers for you. It shows how many of the bid face you’d expect on the table, how many you hold, and the chance that the current bid is true. It also shows the chance that your own bid would hold before you place it. These are the same sums a careful player does in their head:

• Expected count = your matching dice + unseen dice × 1/3 (wild ones) or × 1/6 (no wild ones).
• A bid at the expected count is true roughly half the time. Each die above it makes the bid much less likely.
• With wild ones on, bidding on ones is risky, since only ones count. That’s why the quantity halves.
• An exact Spot On is rarely better than about one in four, unless you hold a lot of the face and few dice are left.

Difficulty Levels

• Easy: the computer players make loose bids, sometimes forget that ones are wild and call Liar a bit too often. A good place to learn the rules.
• Normal: the players work out the odds from their own dice, read the bids at the table a little and bluff from time to time.
• Hard: sharper odds, fewer mistakes and better-timed bluffs. Still beatable, because they never see your dice.

Your wins, games played and best win streak are saved, so you can come back and push for a longer streak.