Liar's Dice

Liar's Dice is a real-world game of skill and chance for two or more players. It can be played in PULSAR either in the High Rollers Casino or in the ship's Lounge. Both players and bots can join in.

Rules
All players roll five dice secretly and take note of the results. Players place bets on how many dice of a certain face are amongst the total pool of dice on the table (even though they can only see their own five dice). The objective is to be the first to three points to win the game.

On a player's turn they can place a bet of how many dice of a face are on the table. This bet can be any whole number one or greater. The next player must either raise the bet by one or more or challenge the previous player's bet. If the bet is raised then the turn order proceeds, but if the bet is challenged then all dice on the table are revealed.

For a challenge to be successful there must be less than the bet number of dice on the table. For example: if a player has bet five fives, there must be four or less fives on the table for the challenge to be successful. If there are five or more fives, then the challenge is unsuccessful. A successful challenge nets the challenger one point, and an unsuccessful challenge nets the challenged player one point.

Turn order proceeds counter-clockwise around the table. The player who initiates the game by default goes first. Once a game has concluded, one of the players at random is selected to go first on the new game. If a player challenges, no matter the results the turn proceeds to the next player to start bidding (the challenger does not place the new round's first bid).

If a game is already in-progress and a new player joins, they take one of the available seats and follow the turn order. If a round is currently in-progress they do not roll until the next round. Players may leave their seat at any time and anyone taking over their seat starts as a new player with zero points.

Strategy
Typically you may want to bet based on the dice you have. For instance, if you have three fives, you might bet between one and three fives. This will convey the impression to other players that you have at least that many dice, especially if it is five or less. You may however want to bet not on the actual number of dice you have to avoid unnecessarily providing useful information to other players. Betting on dice you don't have does pose a risk of failure but this is where the odds come to your aid.

Rule of Thumb: For a two-player game you can assume with moderate certainty that the player has at least one additional die of any particular face. Because this is a game of chance this is not guaranteed (it is possible to roll five fives) but the odds are at least moderately favorable. For every two other players you can assume with a high certainty they have at least one additional die of any particular face. This means that in a three-person game you can normally safely assume one die, for a five-person game two dice, etc.

You can bet aggressively or conservatively. Conservative betting may only raise the bet by one, based on what dice you are certain of are on the table. Aggressive betting (starting high or rapidly increasing) can be used to force the following player to challenge, lest they risk being challenged themselves on raising their own bet.

You must determine for yourself whether the bets made by other players are credible or not when making your own bet - remember that everyone before in the round is trying to bluff you as well!

Trivia

 * In popular media, the game appears in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006). In a scene cut from the release, the rules were explained to Will before playing against Davy Jones. Because the rules weren't clearly explained, audiences generally couldn't understand the scene clearly.