Each player has a cup and five dice.

Put the dice in the cup, cover the cup with your hand, and shake ‘em up. Then each of you puts your cup upside down on the table, keeping all the dice inside and hidden.

Then shake it up some more.

Then, each of you tips the cup slightly towards you. Take a glimpse at the dice you have, but don't let your friend peek.

When you do this, be careful not to shake or bump the dice. Unless you're trying to cheat...

At his point, the game really starts.

One player goes first. Sometimes it's the winner of the previous round. Let's say that you go first.

You call out 2 numbers. Or if it's too loud to hear, you make two successive hand signals. For instance 3 - 5. That means you believe there are 3 or more fives in both cups. Yes, you count your cup and the other players cup.

If you called out 7 - 4, that means you think there are seven or more fours in both cups. Got it?

Then it's your friend's turn. She calls out two more numbers. Note: the first number she calls must be larger than the first number you called out. The second number is anything from 2 to 6.

So if you started with 3 - 5. She could say 4 - 3. She could not say 2 - 6. The stakes must be raised with each turn.

Also, to make it more interesting, the ones are wild. So the 1 (which looks like a big red circle on the special dice used in China) can be anything you want it to be.

Remember that if there are 1's in your friend's cup, they are also wild. And they count for you as well.

At some point, one of you will have to call out something so absurd that the other player calls them on it. Yes, you are allowed to bluff. That's why it's called Liar's Dice!

When either of you calls a bluff - lift up both cups, and reveal all ten dice. If in fact there are 3 fives, or whatever was claimed, the claiming player wins the round. Otherwise the player was bluffing, so the player who called the bluff wins the round.

Pretty good explanation, and a fun game and quick way to get drunk pretty fast too!.

A few further explanations. 

- Always the first of the two numbers you call out will be the number of dices holding on their face up  the figure (or number) you have selected to bet on.  And the second number will be always that figure.

- Do not open your bidding by showing your stron suit.  Experience players will use the first couple of bids to find out what the opponent has, then drop his best bid forward. 

- You must always keep in mind how many players are in the game, and total number of dice involved.  The more players, the higher the bids.

- One way to cut out a good hand from an opponent is when you bid "1's" ( the round red ball on the dice, some call them aces too).  Once you do that, they can not be used to increase the number of other "figures" or numbers, and forcing the other players into a bluff. 

- And even if playing with friends, always keep an eye out on the other fellows' cups, they have mastered the technique of flipping a dice over with the pinkie as they lift the cup to see what they have an improve their chances.  If a guy lifts the whole cup off the table to look at the dice, he is planning some mischief at some time.

It is called Liar's Dice

In Mandarin it is called Da Hua Tou

In Cantonese it is called Dai Wa Sik

It is great to play in noisy places like bars/clubs/KTV because you can use hand signals to play.

Just to add to the great answers above...always watch to see if they shake the dice again after looking at them...usually they will try to get away with doing this a few times until they get the dice they like.

But the rules are you can only do this if you roll all singles...like 1 2 3 5 6...with no pairs or better and you must show the dice to the other players so you can roll again...if they don't show you the dice before they roll again they must drink.

I find the key to success in this game is switching between outright bluffs and the truth...it messes them up.

It's basically a Chinese version of poker but with dice and drinking instead of money.

Mastering this game will give you a lot of face with the locals.