Mexico is an elimination dice game. It can be played by any number of players but it is ideal to have three or more. Mexico requires the use of two dice and players must agree on a fixed number of rounds before starting the game. The goal of the game is to be the only player left standing; players are eliminated when they run out of turns to participate in the next rounds. As the game is fairly simple and easy-to-follow, it is often used for gambling. There are also several variations of this popular dice game, although most variants follow different mechanics. I have Greek friends who often play this game, though they refer to it as “acey-deucey”.

  1. I love dice games, so in the course of collecting other types of poker dice I thought these might be an interesting variation. My understanding of 'Spanish Poker' was that it's close to Hold'em in play, but the game instructions that came with the dice don't read like this game is anything like that.
  2. The classic poker dice game is played with 5 dice and two or more players. Each player has a total of 3 rolls and the ability to hold dice in between rolls. After the three rolls, the best hand wins. In most variations, a straight only counts as a Bust (high-card).

Mexico is a pretty straightforward game with simple mechanics, which is why it has gained popularity as a gambling game. Before the game, players must agree on the number of rounds. Each player rolls one die and whoever rolls the highest gets the first turn followed by the player to his left or right. The goal of the game is to get the highest roll or at least, avoid getting the lowest roll.

Everybody plays poker these days. It's the thing to do. It's almost become a bit too expected and a bit trendy. If you're looking for an alternative game to play with a larger group of people, Mexican poker is it. This rummy based game is easy to learn, easy to play, and can provide hours of fun for.

In a regular game of Mexico where money is not involved, every player is given an extra die (apart from the two dice used for rolling). The die marks the number of lives the player has in every turn. At the beginning of the game, the die is placed with the “6” symbol facing up. The lowest roller loses the round and therefore, loses a life. Every time a player loses a round, the die is rotated to the next lower number to show how many lives he or she has left.

In a game of Mexico where money is involved, the amount is agreed on beforehand. Each player starts with a certain amount of money, which is then split into the number of rounds. The lowest roller must put a portion of his money in the pot. The losing player in the last round gets to take the first turn on the next round, regardless of whether he or she rolled last. When a player no longer has lives or no longer has money left to add to the pot, he or she is eliminated from the game.

Spanish Poker Dice Rules

Whoever takes the lead spot gets the privilege of rolling the dice up to three times, which then determines how many times the next players are allowed to roll. It is worth noting, however, that only the last roll counts as a turn. The values of the two dice are combined to determine the score. However, the face value is not used but rather, the two values are combined to create a two-digit number. For example, a player rolls 3 and 6, the score that player receives is 63. This is because the higher value is designated the tens column spot and the lower value is designated the ones column spot. This rule applies to all number combinations provided that it is a mixed roll (i.e. two different values). When a player rolls a double (e.g. 6-6, 5-5, 4-4), the player is given a higher score. A double, therefore, ranks higher than a mixed roll even if its face value is lower. The highest roll a player can get is a 2-1, which is higher than any double or mixed roll. A 2-1 roll or twenty-one is the highest possible roll in the game and is called “Mexico”. The lowest possible roll is 3-1.

Additional Rules:

In the event that the lead roller manages to roll a 2-1, the turn is passed unto the next player even if the lead roller still has rolls left. In effect, the second player becomes the first player by default and is allowed to determine how many rolls the subsequent players can take. This is because the lead roller is automatically out of danger because his last roll was already a Mexico and is the highest possible score in that round. In the off chance that the next player also rolls a Mexico, the turn is passed on to the next player and so on. If a player manages to roll a 2-1 but the lead roller fails to do so, the roll is not considered a Mexico but the scoring remains the same. Therefore, a player who manages to roll a 2-1 still has a high chance of winning the round even if he does not assume the role of lead roller.

If money is involved in the game, every time a player in one round rolls a Mexico, the stakes are doubled. This means that whoever loses the round will have to double the amount of money he puts in the pot for that round. If more than one player rolls a Mexico in one round, it is up to the group to decide whether they would want to add another unit to the stakes to match the number of players who manages to roll a Mexico (i.e. if two players roll a 2-1 in one round, the stakes are tripled and so on). This should be determined before the game starts so that the rules are clear. In some versions, if two players get rolls that are equally low, both lose a life each and if several players roll a Mexico, the loser loses two lives.

The best way to play Mexico is live with friends sitting around a table with a pair of dice. There is no actual digital version of the dice game Mexico online or on mobile platforms that I’m aware of but there are digital versions of dice that you can use for playing Mexico. Just set up the rules of the game yourself. http://www.roll-dice-online.com/ offers a venue for players to roll digital dice. You can set the number of sides, the number of dice to roll, and the number of rolls on the site. There are also various mobile applications downloadable via the Google Play store and Apple App Store that allow you to use digital dice in lieu of actual dice. Although, nothing will still beat physically rolling actual dice, as it makes the game much more fun and exciting.

Strategizing in a game of Mexico can be very technical and involves having to calculate the odds of the results. Fortunately, you can find a table of median rolls on this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_(game). It can be rather stressful to have to calculate the odds for each round especially since rolling dice involves mostly luck than strategy. Although, knowing the odds and median results can be helpful in determining whether you should roll again in cases where you get up to three rolls.

The first player or lead roller has a bit of advantage as he or she determines how many rolls each player can get, which can increase the odds of getting a lower roll. The table of Strategies and Odds shows that there is a higher chance of getting a low roll if the dice is rolled up to three times. This is why it is recommended to stick to a roll even if it isn’t your ideal result, as the objective of the game is simply to avoid getting the lowest roll, not necessarily always the highest roll in the round. Therefore, an average roll is better than risking getting a much lower result by re-rolling the dice. The more rolls a player takes, the higher his risk of getting a low result. You can choose to only roll once even if the lead player rolls twice or thrice if you are already satisfied with the results. In fact, unless your first roll is really bad, it is recommended that you do not risk rolling again, as you can possibly end up with an even lower result.

Mexico is a pretty fun game and since it only requires dice to play, it can be played anywhere. Since the mechanics are fairly simple, it’s quite easy to teach the game to new players provided that some of the additional rules are properly determined before starting the game.

Resources

For additional information about Mexico, you can visit the following links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_(game)
http://www.tactic.net/site/rules/UK/02480.pdf

Home > Steve > Go > Liar dice Bid list

Spanish Poker Dice Rules Card Game

The rules of the game commonly played at Go events.

The BGA Rules

Liar dice is a game for any number of players using a set of five poker dice. Each die is marked with Ace (A), King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J), ten (T) and nine (9); the faces, as listed here, are in order of value with Ace being the best.

(Inaccurate) Summary

The dice are rolled and offered to the next player along with a claimed poker style bid better than the previous bid. When a bid is challenged the offerer or recipient lose a life depending upon whether the bid was genuine or a lie. Each player has three lives.

Play

Any number of players sit round a convenient table so that a set of poker dice can be passed clockwise from player to player without disturbing the rolls. The game is best with 5-8 players.

The starting player is determined by highest die roll. Matching highest players re-roll to tie-break.

In turn, each player roles all / some / none of the dice at his discretion, usually hiding them from the other players' view. The starting player must roll all 5 dice. A player must state accurately how many dice he is rolling. This last sentence was queried when these rules were discussed. The conclusion was that the rule stands.
Apparently there is a Dutch / EGF rule variant which only permits rolling none if you have not looked at what was passed.

He then offers the (usually hidden) dice to the player on his left stating that they are some poker bid (excluding runs). This bid must be better than the offer made when he accepted the dice. (The starting player may name any bid).

The next player may either accept the dice and have his turn, or he may challenge. If challenging, the dice are exposed. If the hand equals or betters the stated bid, the recipient loses a life and the dice pass to the player on the recipient's left who starts again. If the hand is worse than the bid then the offerer loses a life and the recipient becomes the starting player.

The above procedure is often done in a confusing manner in order to make other players play harder.

Each bid need not be fully specified, in which case it is deemed to be the weakest possible bid meeting constraints stated. Better is a valid bid, as is Way better meaning Better than better, etc.

Should a player make an undercall, it is treated as Better. The undercall can be pointed out by any player at any point in the future of this hand, up to and including the exposure of a challenged set of dice.

When the bid reaches five aces (AAAAA), the player who needs to improve the bid must roll all and then may roll all / some / none of the dice twice more to achieve another five aces. If he achieves this then no-one loses a life and the next player starts a new hand, otherwise he loses a life.

Each player has three lives and is out of the game when he has lost them all. The winner is the final player with a life. As a concession to the first player to lose all three lives, he may get an extra life by standing and 'barking like a dog' (a decent howl, not just saying 'woof'). Should a player decline the dog's life, it remains available for a subsequent player to claim on losing his last life.

If a player is absent when his turn comes, perhaps buying a round of drinks, he is deemed to have accepted the bid and to be passing the dice, unrolled, on as 'Better'. This is the Königswinter rule.

Bids

There are no runs in liar dice. Getting progressively stronger, the types of bids are:

  • Singleton
  • A pair
  • Two pairs
  • Three of a kind
  • Full house (3 of a kind plus 2 of a kind, the 3 being more valuable)
  • Four of a kind
  • Five of a kind.

Liardice.txt is a list, in sequence, of all the 252 possible bids, along with their frequency and category.

Here follows an example, stating what was said and what it means:

Spanish Poker Dice Rules Dice Game

    A pair
    99QJT
    A better pair
    99KJT
    A pair of Jacks
    JJQT9
    A pair of Jacks with no ten
    JJKQ9

A bid is often just 'better'. You have to pay attention since after 3 or 4 'betters' in a row, it is easy to lose track of what level the bid has reached.

There is no obligation for a player to repeat his bid to clarify a situation for any player once the dice have been accepted by the recipient.

You must be truthful about the number of dice that you roll. You do not have to be truthful about which dice you are rolling. For example, if you accept a bid of 'four of a kind' (implying 9999T) and it happens to be JJJJQ, then you can roll 1 die - stating 'rolling one die - a singleton Queen' and actually roll one of the Jacks to trash the hand for the next player.

Techniques

You do not have to look at the dice on your turn, though it is wise to do so.

Certain confusions are in standard usage, for example 'three pairs of Jacks' actually means 'three jacks' as the 3 pairs are J1+J2, J2+J3 and J3+J1! Similarly six pairs means four of a kind.

It is necessary to remember what the most recent bid is - even if this is determined by analysing 'betters'. It is advisable to remember exactly what dice you passed on to your left and how many dice each player has thrown since you saw them.

Cooperation with the players to your left and right is a good strategy, ganging up on the players on the far side of the table.

An example hand

In a four player ( [a], [b], [c] and [d] ) game.

[a] rolls TTAQ9 and offers 'a pair' meaning 99QJT.

[b] rolls 3 dice (AQ9) to get KKTTJ and offers 'two pairs' meaning TT99J.

[c] rolls one die (J) to get KKTT9 and offers 'better' meaning TT99Q.

[d] rolls 3 dice (TT9) and gets KKKAJ and offers 'two pairs, jacks on top' meaning JJ99T.

[a] rolls no dice and offers 'three queens'. [b] challenges and loses a life as the dice are 'three kings' which betters the bid of three queens.

Dice

[b] thus misses a turn and [c] starts the next hand.

Dice Rules

The above may not be good quality play, but it is a valid hand.

Spanish Poker Dice Rules How To Play

Specialist Terminology

Prial
Three of a kind. From pair-royal.
Königswinter
See paragraph above.

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Last updated 2017-08-26
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Spanish Poker Dice Rules