Liar's Dice

How To Play Liar's Dice

Liar's Dice is also known as Dudo and Perudo.

Everyone rolls 5 dice under a cup and sees only their own. Bid on how many of a face are on the table across all the dice — then either raise, or call the last player a liar. Guess wrong and you lose a die. Last player with dice left wins.

The table

You see your own 5 dice; everyone else's are hidden cups. The bidding is about the total of a face across all dice — yours and theirs — so you're always reasoning about what's under those cups.

Chimp 1?????

Chimp 2?????

You

A turn: raise or call

A bid is a quantity and a face — "four 5s" means at least four 5s across the whole table. On your turn you must either make a higher bid or call "liar."

Raise the quantity (any face), e.g. three 4s → four 2s.
Or keep the quantity and raise the face, e.g. three 4s → three 5s.
Or call "liar" if you think the last bid can't be true.

3 × → raise to 3 × higher face or 4 × higher quantity

You bid on faces 2–6. A bid at the same quantity and a lower or equal face isn't a raise — the game won't let you.

Aces are wild

The 1s are wild — they count as whatever face is being bid. So this hand counts as three 5s toward a bid on 5s: two real 5s plus the wild ace.

You

That makes the 1s valuable and every face a little more common than it looks — worth remembering before you call.

Calling "liar"

Call and every cup lifts at once. Count the bid's face across the table (wild aces included):

Chimp 1

Chimp 2

You

Here there are five 5s (highlighted). Against a bid of four 5s, the bid held up — so the caller was wrong and loses a die. If the count had fallen short of the bid, the bidder would lose one instead.

Winning

Every wrong guess costs a die. Lose your last one and you're out; the challenge loser leads the next round. The last player with dice wins.

One tip

Bid on faces you actually hold, and keep an eye on the total dice left — as players get knocked out there are fewer dice, so high bids get much easier to call. A believable bluff sits just above what's likely; a greedy one gets you caught.

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Release Date: August 24, 2026

History

Liar's Dice is a family of dice games based on deception, probability, and the ability to judge an opponent's claims. Players roll dice secretly, usually beneath a cup, and take turns announcing how many dice of a particular face value they believe are present among all the players' dice. The next player must either make a higher bid or challenge the previous claim.

The origins of Liar's Dice are difficult to establish with certainty. Dice games involving hidden rolls and bluffing have been played for centuries, and similar games were known in Europe long before the modern name "Liar's Dice" became common. One important ancestor is the Spanish game Dudo, meaning roughly "I doubt," which has long been associated with South America, particularly Chile and Peru.

The game spread through different regions and developed numerous local variations. In some versions, players use special rules for Aces or other face values; in others, a player who challenges a bid loses a die when the bid proves to be accurate, while the bidder loses a die when the claim was too high. Players gradually drop out as they lose their dice, with the last player remaining declared the winner.

Liar's Dice also became associated with sailors, soldiers, and gambling traditions. Its equipment is minimal—a set of dice and cups—making it easy to play almost anywhere. The combination of hidden information and bluffing gives the game a different character from ordinary dice games, since players must consider both the actual probabilities and what their opponents might be pretending to know.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, Liar's Dice appeared in books, games, and popular culture, helping introduce the basic concept to wider audiences. A prominent modern appearance came in the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which featured a version of the game played by characters aboard the Flying Dutchman.

Today, Liar's Dice encompasses many related games rather than a single standardized ruleset. Despite its uncertain ancient origins and numerous regional variations, its fundamental idea remains remarkably simple: roll dice in secret, make increasingly bold claims, and decide when to call another player's bluff.

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