Liar's Dice

Liar, liar

What is Liar's Dice?

Liar's Dice is a game with simple rules that may be played with 2-6 players (depending on the number of dice available). The game plays out based on a player's ability to lie or hide the truth and to make smart calls and possible bluffs. The rules are simple but gameplay is fun and never fails to entertain and amuse. The game is usually more fun when played in a large group of friends, especially when behavioural patterns are easily identifiable and poker faces aren't the greatest. The basic premise of liar's dice revolves around placing 5 dice in a cup, shaking the cup and laying the dice out so that they are only visible to you. Now the other players must do the same and call dice hands appropriately based on what they may or may not have. If that seems convoluted, let me break it down a little further.

Rules:

A player places five dice in his/her cup and rattles them vigorously till satisfied placing the cup face down with the dice underneath. 

Slowly lift the cup so that the dice are only visible to you.

Once all player have done as much, the last player to place down their cup call a dice hand: 1 - 5 face, 2 - 6 faces, 4 - 3 faces, etc.

The objective of the game is for each player to attempt to call a higher dice hand without being wrong and while playing his/her own hand as well as everyone else's.

If a player's bluff is called, he must reveal his dice as should every other player. 

If the player's call checks out (he/she attains the number of faces they have called) then the person who called his/her bluff loses a die. Otherwise, if the player's call doesn't check out (he doe NOT attain the number of faces declared) he/she loses a dice themselves. 

If a player at any point calls 'SPOT ON' (claiming that the number of dice faces announced is exactly how many there are among all players) which is found to be true - the number of faces doesn't go over or under the number of faces declared - all players, except the one who made the call, loses a dice. 

The winner, then, is the player left standing with the most dice after all other players have successfully been eliminated. 

Game Time

An average game of Liar's Dice - with basic rules and without any modifications - lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour based on the number of people and playing as well as the number of dice being played with.


Contents

• 5 dice per person.
• 1 cup per person.

Positive Feedback Loop

The positive feedback loop my group identified while playing the game was quite clear and obvious. As players call bluffs and spot-on's effectively, they are rewarded by not losing any dice. On the other hand, if a player lies or is unlucky enough not to have the hand declared among all players, then they lose a dice and as such, the game becomes harder on them. The way this feedback loop works is not necessarily by awarding players who are good at predicting hands or at reading players, rather, it punishes players who might not necessarily be good at such things by further taking away their amount of control in the game. The player with more dice clearly holds an advantage while the player with less dice is less likely to make a risky call. Even if they do, it becomes increasingly easier to call a player's bluff if they have less dice simply due to their lack of power in the game (the highest hand a player with one dice can call is 1 - 6 face).

Modifications

While playing Liar's Dice we came across many issues with the positive feedback loop and how effective it was in having fun during gameplay. As a result, we created a few modifications to change the way the game is played as well as the winning conditions in some cases. Here are the modification we tried and how they turned out. 

Mod 1: Pity Mod

The pity mod allows players with 1 dice to go down on their call by one tier. For example, if a player calls 4 sixes, should the next player be left with only one dice the may say 3 sixes or 4 fives instead of 5 sixes or higher. This mod may be in effect until only 2 players remain in which case the modification is negated.

The result of implementing this mod is that it allowed weaker players to remain in the game longer bringer other players down to their level and not necessarily rewarding players with more die. It reduces the positive feedback loop by a reasonable amount. 

Mod 2: The Flop Mod

For this mod, the game is played as per usual, except that the lost die get placed in the center of the table and are rolled on each turn for everyone to see (almost like turning over the flop in poker for everyone to see). The dice count toward the total number of dice faces. 

After implementing this mod, we realized quickly that the modification doesn't really do much to affect gameplay. Every call is made keeping in mind the dice in the middle being rolled and since all players can see all the dice, there really isn't much of a challenge or change in having them rolled and considered to be part of the total number of faces on each turn. Players who were good at counting dice had an advantage and did even better. It may be considered to be reinforcing the feedback loop in certain ways, but in my opinion it really doesn't do much to change gameplay or the feedback loop much. 

Mod 3: Loser Wins Mod

Through this modification, the loser is the person with the least dice by the end of the game. Should a player accurately call a bluff or make a correct call, they lose a dice while everyone else holds on to their dice. Calling a bluff incorrectly loses the person the bluff was called on a dice. A precise 'SPOT ON' call loses a dice to the player making the call, while all other players hold on to the number of dice they currently have. Calling a 'SPOT ON' incorrectly gains the player making the call a die. 

This mod worked particularly well in reversing/removing the feedback loop specifically due to the fact that losing a dice makes it more difficult to play the game. Therefore, players who are particularly good at making calls will find it more difficult as they progress since less dice equates to a loss in power within the game. This also gives all other players a fair advantage over the player doing particularly well. This mod institutes the idea of difficulty in progression, causing the positive feedback loop to be replace by a negative feedback loop instead.

Mod 4: Handicap Mod

This mod causes every player who has not lost a die in any particular round (except the first, of course) to reveal one of their dice in the next round. This is only held true should the player have 2 or more dice. A player with one die does not have to reveal this die to keep things fair. 

We particularly enjoyed implementing this rule due to the fact that it doesn't matter whether or not a player is good at making calls or calling bluffs, the advantage in the next round goes to players who have lost dice in the previous round. As a result, players who prefer to remain silent during gameplay or refuse to make calls are punished by almost losing a die. This, in turn, hinders the positive feedback loop but does NOT remove it completely. 

Mod 5: Lucky Charms Mod

With this mod implemented, players who have call a successful 'SPOT-ON' may reacquire a lost die up to a maximum of 5 dice to play with (the amount you began with). Other players will still lose one die if the call is successful and other rules are applied as per normal. 

Our initial idea behind the implementation of this rule was to encourage players to take the risk of calling 'SPOT-ON' which is harder than expected. If a player with a low number of dice manages to call it successfully, they will be rewarded for their accuracy. However, we soon also realized that this rule further enhances the positive feedback loop by rewarding players for doing well in the game. While this rule does do a good job of balancing out the positive feedback loop by giving equal reward to someone with a low number of dice, it gives players with greater numbers of dice a further advantage over everyone else. 

Mod 6: Blind Mod

By far the most fun mod to play with, the Blind Mod states that a player may see everyone's dice but their own. This makes the game far more interesting and strategic on another level. When the dice are rattled and laid down, the player must point his/her own dice away from themselves and block it entirely from their view while making sure their own dice are clearly visible to everyone else. They must then take a look at all other players' dice and make calls based on what they see. 

We learned quickly that playing the game with a small number of people greatly increases the challenge in playing Liar's Dice with the Blind Mod. The less dice a player has, the harder it is for someone with more dice to make a call. On the other hand, players with more dice find it more of a challenge to call hands based on less dice. This rule entirely reverses the positive feedback loop as the winner gains no reward for a successful call. This is by far the most fun mod to implement and leads to hours upon hours of good family fun!

Conclusion

Liar's Dice is a lot of fun to play with several modifications if implemented well. The premise of the game is straight-forward and the winning condition is quite simple. The only real thing to keep in mind when playing with the above modification is that some games may be played with one or more modifications but no game, in essence, may be played with all modifications. The reason for this is that some mods simply negate others and on attempting to play with all modifications implemented in one game, we quickly lost interest in the game and decided to play with 2 or less mod implemented in one game. This game was played with 6 people during playtesting and it was determined to be a hoot! 

Liar's Dice + modifications = Innovative Innovators Seal of Approval!