A game that surprisingly actually has nothing to do with
poker. Liar's poker is played using only
dollar bills; they don't need to be
American, but they do need to have some sort of
serial number on them. Ideally, each player should have a few.
Game Setup: The players stand in a circle. Each player
shuffles his or her
bills and fans them face down (so the
serial number is hidden). Someone else picks one of the
dollars at random, and then hands it back to the owner without looking at it. Thus, each player gets one randomly selected
dollar.
How To Play: The point of the game is to guess how many times a particular number is present in the
serial numbers of all the bills, combined. Determine who
goes first in whatever manner you wish. That person then names a number of numbers, such as "One 3" or "Two 2s"; he or she is asserting that the
serial numbers of all the bills
collectively contain that many instances of the named number.
Play moves to the left. The next player may either
raise the bid or
pass. If the player chooses to
raise the bid, they must call out the same number of
instances of a higher number, or a higher number of
instances of any number. For example, if the previous call was "Two 3s", the next player could say "Two 4s" or "Three 2s", but could not say "Two 2s." Zeroes are counted as ten for this purpose. Once the player has chosen to
raise the bid or
pass, play continues on to the left.
Winning And Losing: Once someone has made a
bid, and everyone else has
passed, so that play comes back to the
bidder with the
bid unchanged, it is time to check the
serial numbers on all the bills. If the
bidder is correct -- that is, if there are at least as many instances of the specified number as claimed -- the
bidder wins each
dollar used. If the
bidder is wrong -- that is, if there are not as many instances of the specified number as claimed -- the
bidder owes each player a
dollar. The game repeats as desired.
The game is easy to learn, and can be played just about anywhere; nearly everyone has a few
dollars on them. A game is typically over with in less than a minute.
Bluffing is of utmost importance in this game, which is why it's called Liar's
Poker. Even if you're lucky enough to have a
bill that has three of a specific number,
bidding that number early or strongly gives information to other players that they may be able to use against you.
Conversely,
bidding a number you have none of may trick an opponent into
overestimating how many instances of that number exist, causing them to
bid too high.