How to Play Pirates Dice

Pirate Dice is a "Pirates of the Caribbean" themed bluffing game that you can buy in most popular retail stores. It is based on the game Liars Dice and was seen played in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." With its skulled dice and barnacle-encrusted dice cups, it's a great game for some piratical fun with friends.

Give each player five dice and a dice cup. Have each player roll one die; the person who rolled the highest number goes first. Each player then puts their five dice into their own cup, shakes the cup and puts the cup upside down on the table with their dice hidden underneath. Players may look at their own dice.

Begin bidding with the player who won the dice roll. She should look at her dice and determine a bid that consists of all the dice on the table. For example, she may say, "Five twos." With that bid, she is guessing that there are five or more twos displayed on all the dice within play. The skull and crossbones side of the die is wild, so the bid would include those as well.

Bidding continues around the table with players raising the bid. Players may raise the bid of the quantity of dice or the value on the dice. Players may not lower the bid. For example, if the starting bid was five twos, a player can raise it by saying, "Six twos," "Five threes," or even "Seven fives."

Continue bidding until a player is ready to challenge the bid. If a player reaches his turn and doesn't think the bid is accurate, he may challenge by saying, "Never trust a pirate." All players must then reveal their dice, and count up the number of dice containing the value of the bid. The skull and crossbones dice should be included in this count. If the actual number is equal to or greater than the bid, the challenging player loses one die. If the number is less than the bid, the person who was challenged loses one die.

Keep playing rounds until nobody has dice except for one player. That player is declared the winner.