POKER DICE

game involving five dice specially marked to simulate a playing-card deck's top six cards (ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9); the dice may also be standard ones, one equalling an ace and the rest designated in descending order from 6. The object is to throw a winning Poker hand, with hands ranking as in Poker, (see Poker), except that five of a kind is high and there are no flushes. A player throws up to two times; after each throw, he elects either to stand pat or to draw, as in Draw Poker; in the latter case he separates out his best-showing dice and throws up to three of the dice again. In a version called Horses, a hand of five aces loses. A variant, Liar Dice, as the name suggests, permits bluffing. Each player shields his throws and announces his hand, either truthfully or not. The second player, named the caller, or doubter, may either attempt a better hand or call the bluff. If the caller is correct in his call, he wins; if not, he loses. The Puerto Rican game General is similar, with three throws instead of two. The English game Yacht is similar but with point values for various combinations and a game involving 12 throws. Trademarked variants called Yahtzee and Kismet, featuring other score categories and 13 rounds, are popular.