Liars Dice

Thanks to the Pirates of the Caribbean I’ve been introduced to this game that uses dice and a wager component, with the movie using “years of service” as it was the only thing the pirates aboard the Flying Dutchmen had as currency. As a young 20-something I used to Play 7’s and 11’s, where if you rolled 7, 11, or a pair you’d get to tell someone to drink. A simple game that I don’t want to pass to my youth just yet, and I feel a simple gambling game is better to pass along.

Liars dice is easy:

  • You are playing the table.
  • Everyone states their wage.
  • Everyone rolls their 5 dice and keeps what they rolled to themselves
  • Last player to drop dice goes first, play passes to the right.

At this point comes the actual game. You state a quantity and a dice face that exists on the table. If nobody calls you a liar, play passes on to the next person who has to state some “improvement” to the previous bid. That improvement can come in one of three ways:

  • You can up the bid with the same face, such as 3 5s to 4 5s,
  • You can up the bid and change the face, such as 3 5s to 4 2s,
  • You can keep the same bid but provide a higher face, such as 4 2s to 4 3s. This cannot happen if the previous bid was with 6s.

So, a series of rounds between 3 players can run the following

  • Player B: 3 2s
  • Player D: 4 4s
  • Player W: 4 5s
  • Player B: 6 3s
  • Player D: 7 5s
  • Player W: 8 5s
  • Player B: 12 5s, of which Player D would call Player B a liar

This post is thanks to Well, Someone Had to Explain the Liar’s Dice Scene In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Leave a Reply