How to play Liar's Dice
The goal
Everyone hides their dice under a cup. Bid on what’s under all the cups together, catch other players bluffing, and be the last player with dice left.
A round
- Everyone shakes their cup. You see your own dice and nobody else’s.
- Players bid in turn, clockwise. You open the first round of a match; after that, whoever lost a die opens.
- On your turn, either raise the bid, call Liar!, or call Spot on!.
- Calling ends the round: every cup lifts, and the dice that count toward the last bid light up.
- Liar! says the last bid is too high. If the table has at least that many, the caller loses a die; if not, the player who bid it loses one.
- Spot on! says the last bid is exactly right. If it is, the caller wins a die back (never more than they started with). If not, the caller loses a die.
- A player with no dice left is out. The last player with dice wins the match.
Classic bids
A bid is a quantity and a face: “four fives” means there are at least four fives across every cup on the table, yours included.
- A raise must bid more dice, or the same number of dice on a higher face. “Four fives” can become “four sixes” or “five twos”, but not “four threes”.
- Ones are wild (house rule, on by default): a 1 counts as every face. You can also bid on ones themselves, which count only as ones.
- To switch from another face to ones, bid at least half as many (rounded up): “five fours” can become “three ones”.
- To switch from ones back to another face, bid at least double plus one: “three ones” can become “seven fours”.
Sum it up bids
A bid is a total: “a total of 47” means every pip on the table adds up to at least 47. Each raise must be higher. Nothing is wild, and the same Liar! and Spot on! calls apply to the total. Each die averages 3.5 pips.
House rules
Find these under Settings. They take effect from your next match.
- Ones are wild (Classic only): on by default.
- Spot on: on by default. When off, only Liar! ends a round.
- Last die (Classic only): off by default. The first time a player drops to one die, the next round has nothing wild, and every bid must stay on the opening bid’s face. It needs at least three players still in.
- Starting dice: 3, 4, or 5 each.
The Scienceboos
Choose one to four Scienceboos and a difficulty in New match. Easy misjudges the odds and sometimes forgets that ones are wild; Medium counts the odds; Hard also reads what everyone’s bids give away. Each Scienceboo has a style of its own: Beep bids boldly, Euro is quick to call, Inko loves a bluff, Shylo plays it close. The difficulty decides how sharp they are.
With Tells on Easy (on by default), a bluffing Scienceboo on Easy sometimes looks surprised at its own bid. Table talk sets how often they speak up: Chatty, Some (the big moments), or Off. The message under the bid always says exactly what happened.
Controls
Set the quantity with − and +, pick a face, then press Bid. The suggested bid is the smallest legal raise on the face you hold the most of. The Bid button says why when a bid isn’t allowed. Hide dice covers your cup until you tap Peek.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Tab | Move between the controls |
| Up / Down on − or + | Change the quantity |
| Left / Right on the dice | Pick a face |
| Enter or Space | Press the focused button |
| L | Call Liar! |
| S | Call Spot on! |
| N | Next round, once the cups are lifted |
Tips
- With ones wild, each die you can’t see shows any one face about a third of the time; without wilds, about a sixth. With 15 hidden dice and ones wild, expect about five of any face, plus whatever you hold.
- A bid on a face you hold is safer to raise. A bid on a face you hold none of is a bluff worth making now and then.
- When nobody can sensibly raise, the bid in front of you is probably too high.
- Turn on the Odds helper in Settings to see how many of your chosen face to expect on the table.
Questions
Do the Scienceboos see my dice? No. They decide from their own dice and the bids on the table, exactly as you do.
Is the roll fair? Yes. Every die is rolled at random when the round starts, and nothing changes them before the reveal.
What counts as a game played? A match counts once its first round is called. A win is being the last player with dice. Starting a new match, or restarting this one, while it is still in play ends your win streak.
Do I need an account? No. Your game saves on this device automatically. An optional account adds cloud saves across devices.
