Bluff

Bluff is a game I learned from a friend at school. I taught it to my family and we've played a round or two almost every night this week. It's really easy to learn and all you need to play is some dice!

Here's how it works:
-Everyone gets the same number of dice. The dice should total between 20-30 among everyone. Usually I use these numbers: (However, you can modify this. More dice per person = longer game).

• 3 players: 7 dice each
• 4 players: 6 dice each
• 5 players: 5 dice each
• 6 players: 4 dice each

-Everyone rolls their dice without letting anyone else see the numbers they rolled.

-The first player bids on how many total dice there are of a certain number. For instance if he has four 6's and there are 24 dice total, he might bid "Seven 6's", counting on there being at least three more among the remaining dice.

-The second player has two choices: She can either raise the bid or challenge. If she raises, she has to bid at least one more in quantity than player #1. However, she can bid the same number or a different one. If player #1 bids "Seven 6's", she has to bid eight of something. She can bid eight sixes or eight of any other number. The other choice is to challenge player #1. If player 2 challenges, everyone shows their dice and you count up how many sixes everyone has.

-Here's the catch: Ones are wild and they count towards the number of the current bid. After a challenge, everyone puts forward all their ones and all of the number being bid on.

-Play continues around the table with each successive person raising the bid until someone challenges. If a challenge is successfully met (ie there ARE actually seven 6's or more), then the challenger loses a die. If the challenge is lost (ie there are only six 6's or less), then the bidder loses a die. As the total number of dice decreases, the bidding gets tricky.

-The game continues until only one person is left with any dice. The bidding (and bluffing!) gets really interesting when the game gets down to two players.

Helpful tip: My friend who taught me the game told me that on average about 1/3 of the dice are any particular number. I've found this to be true, although sometimes surprising things do happen! But usually if you bid under 1/3 of the total dice number it's a pretty safe bet; too much over 1/3 and you're in dangerous territory. I usually tell people about the 1/3 rule. It doesn't ruin any of the fun of the game, and it helps new players find a reasonable bid.

Long explanation, but it's actually a really simple and easy game! Everyone in my family enjoys it, including my brother who hates games. Good one to try for a quick and simple family game.