02-012 Liar’s Dice

02-012
Liar’s Dice

Previously, I have introduced the traditional “street game” of Mexico, the Lotería. I've also written another post for the traditional “street game” of my place, the Hoo-Hey-How (Fish Prawn Crab). Today, I am going to talk about a third one, the Liar’s Dice.

Liar’s Dice is a public domain game that has a long history. The game is also called Dudo, Perudo, Cacho, Pico, Cachito or Dadinho, depends on where you live. In Hong Kong, people simply call it Liar’s Dice. Board Game Geek said it was originated from South America, dated back to 1800 or even earlier.

The game became popular (again) after the release of Hollywood movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006. Since then, we saw many manufacturers start selling sets of Liar’s Dice or Pirate Dice game set. Some of those are nicely made. But Liar’s Dice was already a popular game in Hong Kong long before Jack Sparrow.

I remember when I was in my teenage, I got a part time job in a pub and I already saw people playing Liar’s Dice. The time was around early 90s. Liar’s Dice at least has a history in my city that can trace back to that time at least.

Although many game manufacturers advertise Liar’s Dice as a fun family game, it is more a drinking game here. There are dice cups and dice in almost any pubs. You do not need to bring anything. The pubs provide the equipment. Just grab some dice and cups from the bar table and you can start playing. Don’t worry. They won’t charge you extra for that.

Same as other traditional games like Yacht or Farkle, some people gave it a twist, rebranded it and claimed it under themselves. Game designer Richard Borg rebranded this game in 1986 and claimed as his own. His game, “Call My Bluff”, won the 1993 Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis awards. Though, Borg said his game was developed from Liar’s Poker rather than Liar’s Dice and it provides some unique gameplays that the original Liar’s Dice does not give.

Liar's Dice

The Liar’s Dice pack I got is called “Gambling set”. Liar’s Dice is only one of the games included in the pack. As what I said, pubs provide dice and dice cups. People buy this pack is for playing the game at home.

The backside of the "Gambling set" tells you how the betting mats look like.

Same as “Fish Prawn Crab”, you cannot find this in Toy’s “Я” us or any board game stores. You can find this in some stationary shops here. But mainly, “gambling set” is sold at houseware stores. Yes, the place where you can find dishes, light bulbs, USB cables and saucers etc. I don’t know. Don’t ask me why. I just know where to find them.

2 dice cups, 10 standard Chinese dice and 3 Hoo-Hey-How dice.

But one of the die is wrong!

Compositions are very basic. It got 10 standard d6 Chinese dice, 3 specialty marked Hoo-Hey-How dice, 2 dice cups, a pack of playing cards in bridge size and 2 double sided betting mats. Betting mats are for Hoo-Hey-How, Sic Bo, Baccarat and Blackjack.

A standard deck of playing cards is included

The pack is very local and traditional. Quality is not good though. As you can see from the photo, they have even given me a wrong die for Hoo-Hey-How. And the pack is only enough for 2 players. If you got a big party, buy more packs. Also, there are no instructions for any of the games. They assume everyone knows how to play! But what can you expect for a pack that just costs 40 HKD, which is just a bit more than 5 USD? The components inside the pack are enough for playing many games and able to give you hours of (gambling) fun.

Betting mats for Baccarat and Blackjack

If you want to play some dice games with friends but do not have any dice on hand, buying a dedicated Liar’s Dice set is worth considering. A Liar’s Dice set selling on Amazon normally comes with at least 20 dice. Those would be also enough for playing many other traditional dice games, such as Farkle, Yacht, or Yahtzee.

Some Liar’s Dice sets also come with a mat and an additional die in other colour for keeping track of the bid. In some versions of Liar’s Dice, one or six stands for wild. And the corresponding face of the dice are also marked differently, normally a star is replacing the number. But buying a dedicated Liar’s Dice set is not a must. As you can see, the pack I got only comes with standard dice, and no mat. And we are happy with this.

Do I play Liar’s dice with my kids?

Not really. Although it is a fun game and suitable for both adults and kids, Liar’s dice is a popular pub game here. Maybe it is okay to play with your kids in your country. But I would better not mentioning this game in front of my kids. They will learn this from someone else when they grow up, I am sure. A 7 years old kid is just too young to learn any “adult” games.

General Information

Player	2 to 6
Playing Time	15 – 30 mins
Age	8+
Year Released	1800
Designer	(Public Domain)
Publisher	Sun Hing Toys
Family	Dice Rolling, Betting and Bluffing, Player Elimination
Score	6.9 (Board Game Geek)

Specifications

Dice size	13.5 mm
# of dice	10
Faces	6
Details	The game contains 10 standard 13.5mm d6 Chinese dice.  It also contains 2 dice cups, three 16mm d6 Hoo-Hey-How dice, a standard deck of playing cards in bridge size and betting mats for Hoo-Hey-How, Sic Bo, Baccarat and Blackjack.

The game play

Like many traditional games, there are many variances of rules. The version we played in Hong Kong pubs uses 1 as wild.

Where to buy?

Amazon.

Hacking

You can play this game without buying if you already have a handful of d6 dice on hand. Just grab some paper cups to cover up your dice while playing.

Go back to the Lobby ...