What is No wild ones?
In the standard game here ones are wild. When the dice are revealed, every one counts as the face that was bid, so a bid of five fours is right if the table shows three fours and two ones. Only a bid on ones counts the ones alone.
With no wild ones, every die counts only for its own face, and a one is just a one. A bid of five fours needs five dice showing four. Ones become an ordinary face, as likely as any other, so you can bid on them like any other number.
The main effect is on the numbers. With wild ones, about a third of the dice in play match a bid on two to six. Without them, about a sixth match any bid, so a reasonable bid is roughly half as high, and your own dice tell you more about what is safe to bid or challenge.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Liar's Dice | No wild ones |
|---|---|---|
| Wild ones | Standard Liar's DiceEach one counts as the face that is bid. | No wild onesNo die is wild: each counts only for its own face. |
| Bids on ones | Standard Liar's DiceCount only the ones, which makes ones the hardest face to bid high. | No wild onesCount only the ones, like any other face. |
| Matching dice | Standard Liar's DiceAbout one die in three matches a bid on two to six; one in six matches a bid on ones. | No wild onesAbout one die in six matches any bid. |
| Other options | Standard Liar's DiceCalza, Palifico and three to six dice each can be chosen. | No wild onesNo wild ones works with all of them. A Palifico round then only fixes the face, since ones are never wild. |
History
Liar's dice is played in many forms, and whether any face is wild is one of the main ways they differ. Wild ones belong to the South American game Dudo and to its commercial edition, and the standard game here follows them.
Other published games use other wilds or none. Bluff, a liar's dice game by Richard Borg that won the German Spiel des Jahres award in 1993, uses dice with a star in place of the six, and the star is the wild face. Playing with no wild face at all keeps the counting simple: every face is equally likely.