Where to buy (in Miami)
How to Play – Mentirosa®
To win, you must mislead your opponents and manipulate each turn to your benefit. Lie, taunt, tease, and remember, he who lies best, wins.
OBJECT: The object of this game is to avoid elimination.
EQUIPMENT: Each player is given a Mentirosa® Player’s Tube and five poker dice*.
The poker dice have six faces. The faces do not represent any numeric values but do have an order, like playing cards. From left to right, these are the faces in descending order:
The set also includes 35 loser chips which can be used to count how many times an individual player has lost a round.
*Note: Traditional Poker hands like “Full House”, “Flush” and others, play no part in the game of Mentirosa®.
THE PLAY:
Note: It is important to know how many total dice are in play. For example, 5 dice per player x 6 players = 30 dice in play.
To begin, each player throws one die in open view. The player with the highest role starts the play. If a tie occurs, only those players in the tie roll again.
The play can go either clockwise, or counterclockwise, but must be decided before the first turn and must not change until the end of the game.
To start a round, each player tosses five poker dice into their own Mentirosa® Player’s Tube, hiding them from view of other players.
Example round: (6 players)
Player #1 calls “three Jacks,” meaning they believe there are at least three Jacks among the 30 dice in play.
Player #2 now has two options:
- Raise:
If Player #2 believes there are at least three Jacks, they must raise with a higher call, such as “three Queens,” “three Kings,” or “four” of any face.
A raise must increase the amount, the face value, or both. - Challenge:
If Player #2 doubts there are three Jacks, they challenge by revealing their dice. All players then reveal their dice consecutively.
If the call is correct (three or more Jacks), Player #2 loses and takes a loser chip. If incorrect (less than three Jacks), Player #1 takes the chip.
Player #2 decides to Raise and now Player #3 must raise or challenge the call.
The game continues this way until a challenge occurs. Only the next player can challenge, and each player must raise or challenge during their turn—there is no passing.
RULES:
- Players cannot reveal their dice to others unless a challenge is made.
- Players may re-roll their dice before a round begins, Once a call is made, the dice must remain as they are until the next round.
- Taunting and “trash-talking” are encouraged!
STRATEGY:
- Don’t base your strategy only on what you’ve rolled. Make calls based on what you haven’t rolled to confuse your opponents.
- Play the room, not your roll.
WINNING: Palo Alto
When a player accumulates four loser chips, they may enact “palo alto” (“high stick”).
This is a sudden-death option that can provide a temporary advantage. In this mode, the face called at the beginning of the turn cannot change.
For example, if the player calls “four Kings,” the only next valid call is “five Kings” or higher, or they can challenge the call.
A player who collects five loser chips is eliminated, and their dice are removed from play.
The last player remaining is the winner.
ADVANCED GAMES:
Dirty Mentirosa®
In this version, Aces are wild. When counting faces, Aces can substitute for any other face. For example, “10 Queens” and “3 Aces” would be counted as “13 Queens.” Players can opt to play Dirty Mentirosa® at the beginning of any round, continuing until the end of that round.
Colombia
In this variation, no loser chips are used. Instead, when a player loses a turn, they must remove one of their dice from play. When a player runs out of dice they are eliminated.
Short Games
To speed up the game, reduce the number of loser chips needed for elimination to three. In this case, palo alto can be called when a player collects two loser chips.