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At the start of the first game each player puts a dollar bill
on the table in front of them. Then everyone rolls the two dice
once in the clear (for everyone to see). The roller with the
highest roll (see ORDER OF ROLL VALUES
below) then starts the game, and the order of play is always
clockwise (you pass the dice to the player on your left).
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 ...
- 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.
- 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."
`;)
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