Bluff!

The board/dice game is by Richard Borg and published by Paul Lamond Games.

Each player starts with 5 dice which he rolls secretly and conceals under a black pot. The first player makes a bid such as "six threes", and places the red dice on the appropriate square (in this case the 6, with the number 3 showing on the dice). The bidder is claiming that at least 6 of all the dice (his own dice which he can see, plus the other players' dice which he can't) are a three or a star. The star is a "joker" which replaces the 6 on each dice. Note that a player can bid stars (see board).

The next player may either challenge the current bidder, or make a new bid which must be higher than the previous one (n.b. six fours is higher than six threes). A player may also change the odds by exposing one or more dice, and re-rolling the remainder in his pot (must bid first). At least one die must remain concealed. Play continues until a challenge is made, when all dice are revealed.

If the bidder is short then he loses the number of dice he is short by. For example if the bid was ten fours, and only 8 (including stars) were present, he loses two.

If the bid is spot on, all players lose one dice except the bidder.

If the bid is over, then the challenger loses the number of dice in excess.

Remaining dice are then rerolled and bidding then resumes with the successful bidder or challenger. The last player to have any dice left wins.

Postal Rules

The postal version is played with exactly 5 players, and there are 5 mini-games (one challenge only) taking place simultaneously. The players are numbered 1 to 5 by random determination.

Mini-game 1: Each player has 5 dice and player 1 bids first.

Mini-game 2: Each player has 4 dice and player 2 bids first.

Mini-game 3: Each player has 3 dice and player 3 bids first.

Mini-game 4: Each player has 2 dice and player 4 bids first.

Mini-game 5: Each player has 1 dice and player 5 bids first.

Players are emailed or posted details of their holdings in each mini-game every turn.

At the conclusion of each mini-game, "virtual" dice are removed (i.e. for scoring purposes only). The winner is the player with the highest number of virtual dice remaining (all players start with 5) when all mini-games are complete.

Postal adaptation by Richard Smith 2000