The game begins with the first player rolling the dice under a cup or something similar, so that only the roller can see the value of the dice when the cup is lifted (the roller does not have to look at the dice, by the way). The roller then announces the value of his roll to the rest of the players and passes the cup (with the dice under it) to the player to his left by gently sliding the cup so that the dice are not disturbed.

The next player (receiving the dice from the previous roller) has to either challenge the value of the dice by lifting up the cup (revealing the true value of the dice) or accept the value announced by the previous roller.

If the receiving player challenges the value of the dice, and the true value of the dice is less than what the previous roller announced, then the previous roller loses the round and has to fold over a corner of his dollar bill. If the receiving player challenges the value of the dice, and the true value of the dice is greater than or equal to what the previous roller announced, then the receiving player (the challenger) loses the round and has to fold over a corner of his dollar. Regardless of whether or not the receiving player wins or loses the challenge, it will still be his turn to roll the dice at the beginning of the next round.

If the receiving player accepts the value announced by the previous roller, then he has to announce a higher value to the next player. He can do this in one of two ways: (1) he can roll the dice under the cup and announce a higher value to the next player, or (2) he can simply pass the cup (with the previous player's roll still intact under the cup) to the next player and announce that the value of the dice under the cup is actually higher than what the previous player said it was. See the strategy section below for more detail and examples of this.

A round is over when a player challenges a previous roller and the truth of the dice is revealed. When a player has folded over all four of the corners of his dollar bill, he puts his dollar in the center of the table, and he is out for the rest of the game. The last player holding his dollar bill wins the game and collects all of the dollar bills in the center of the table. At the start of the next game, everyone puts a new dollar bill on the table again, and the winner of the last game is the first roller of the new game.

ORDER OF ROLL VALUES:
2:1 [mexican - the highest possible roll]
6:6 [double six]
5:5 [double five]
4:4 [double four]
3:3 [double three]
2:2 [double two]
1:1 [double one]
6:5 [sixty-five]
6:4 [sixty-four]
6:3 [sixty-three]
6:2 [sixty-two - the middle of the road]
6:1 [sixty-one]
5:4 [fifty-four]
5:3 [fifty-three]
5:2 [fifty-two]
5:1 [fifty-one]
4:3 [forty-three]
4:2 [forty-two]
4:1 [forty-one]
3:2 [thirty-two]
3:1 [thirty-one - the worst possible roll]

Notice that you would not say "Thirty-six" if you rolled a three and a six ... the roller always says the higher of the two dice first. Thus, a three and a six is really a six and a three, or "Sixty-three."

STRATEGY, QUIRKS AND EXCEPTIONS:
If a player rolls and announces "mexican" (the highest possible roll), there is no way for the next player to beat him with a higher roll. Thus, the receiving player of a "mexican" can only either challenge the "mexican" roll by the previous roller, or roll again and announce "mexican" to the next player. The player receiving a "mexican" roll from a previous roller cannot simply pass the dice to the next player without first rolling them again. Example, Sam rolls and announces "mexican" to Fred. Fred believes Sam, rolls the dice again, passes the cup to Greg and announces "mexican." Greg then either has to challenge Fred or roll and announce another "mexican."

When a player rolls the dice, he does not have to look at them in order to announce the value of the dice to the next player. In fact, when a player is trying to beat a high roll, this is often the best strategy. Example, Sam passes the dice to Fred and announces "Double Four." Fred believes Sam has a "double four" and decides not to challenge him. Instead, he rolls the dice again and without looking at the dice passes them to Greg and announces "double five." Since Fred did not look at the dice, Greg has no way to suspect whether or not Fred is lying and now has to guess whether or not Fred rolled a "double five" or higher.

Often times a player will roll a high roll, but announce a lower number in the hopes of getting the next player to pass the dice to the following player. This is done for various reasons, such as: revenge, attempts to eliminate a player from the game, or to nail a player who has not folded any corners yet. Example, Sam rolls a "Sixty-Six" (the second highest roll) but announces "Fifty-Five" as he passes the dice to Fred. Fred has a feeling that Sam rolled higher than "Fifty-five" and trusts the dice under the cup, so he simply passes the cup to Greg and announces "Sixty-Six." Thus, if Greg challenges Fred, he will lose the round.

If in the act of challenging former player's roll, the player yanks up the cup in such a way as to disturb the dice, he automatically loses the round as there is no way for anyone to trust whether or not the former roller had rolled what he announced. Example, Sam rolls the dice and announces "Double Three" to Fred. Fred says "bullshit" and yanks up the cup, knocking the dice enough to cause them to make a sound. Now, no one at the table really knows whether or not the value of the dice is what Sam had really rolled, so Fred automatically loses the round and has to fold a corner of his dollar.

If in the act of passing the dice to the next player, the roller passes the cup too quickly, and the dice make a sound as though they have flipped over, then one of two consequences will occur. If the roller looked at his dice before announcing, and (in the act of passing the dice) disturbs them, then he loses the round. If the roller did not look at his dice before announcing, and (in the act of passing the dice) disturbs them, then he must roll again ...

1. Example One, Sam rolls the dice, lifts the cup enough to look at them, and announces "Sixty-four" to Fred. As Sam passes the dice to Fred a majority of the players at the table agree that they heard the dice get disturbed enough to cause the value of the dice to be unknown. Since Sam looked at his dice before passing them, then the disturbance of the dice in the act of passing them may have been intentional, so Sam loses the round and it is now Fred's turn.
2. Example Two, Sam rolls the dice, does not look at them, and announces "Sixty-Four" to Fred. As Sam passes the dice to Fred a majority of the players at the table agree that they heard the dice get disturbed enough to cause the value of the dice to be unknown. Sam then has to perform a "roll-over" (roll the dice again).

If a player at the table screws up and announces a roll equal to or lower than the previous roll (fails to beat the previous roller), then he forfeits his turn and has to fold a corner of his dollar. Example, Sam passes the dice to Fred and announces "Sixty-two." Fred rolls, passes the dice to Greg and announces "Sixty-two." Fred has failed to beat Sam's roll, and thus loses the round. Greg would then be the next roller.

When a player challenges a former player's roll value, whether or not he successfully reveals that the former player lied about his roll, it is always the challengers turn to roll the dice (after the challenge is revealed), even if he loses the challenge and has to fold a corner of his dollar. However, if the challenger screws up and passes the dice to the next player and the next player rolls the dice, then the former player (the guy who accidentally passed the dice) has lost his rightful turn. Often times this happens when someone unsuccessfully challenges a previous roller, and in frustration passes the dice to the next guy, forgetting that it is really his turn to roll. Example, Sam passes the dice to Fred and announces "Sixty-Five." Fred challenges Sam by lifting up the cup, but the dice have a value of "sixty-five" or higher. Fred has to fold up a corner of his dollar, but it is still his turn to begin a new round by rolling the dice (unless he has just folded all of the corners of his dollar, at which point he is out of the game and the dice would go to the next player to start a new round). If however, Fred forgets to roll and passes the dice to Greg, he will forfeit his rightful turn unless he remembers and tells Greg that it should be his turn before Greg rolls the dice.

It is not uncommon for a player starting a new round (as the first roller) to lie about the value of the dice under the cup, although it is uncommon for the second player of a new round to challenge the first roller. Example, Sam rolls a "Forty-Two" but announces a "Sixty-Two" to Fred. Since Sam is the first roller and does not have a previous roll to beat, Fred has little reason to suspect that Sam has lied about the value of the dice. However, the more and more you play Mexican, the more and more you will notice that first rollers of new rounds seem to announce higher values more often than lower values. It takes balls to challenge someone on the first roll of a round, but sometimes it is necessary to keep people honest.

Does the game have to be called "Mexican?" Good question. The term "mexican" in this game is in no way meant to be derogatory or an insult to Mexicans, which is evident by the fact that the "mexican" is the highest possible roll in the game. If for some reason, a player found this term to be offensive, then it would be a good idea for that player not to play and never be asked to play again. However, in extenuating circumstances, it may be feasible to call the game something else, like "Taliban." `;)