Perudo is a skilful game of guesswork, bluff and luck that is played with two or more players. This ancient game is based on the classic Peruvian game of Liar’s Dice. It is suitable for aged eight and above.
We have received the travel tin version that either packs away neatly into a tin for full protection or packs into the supplied cloth pouch for portability. It also comes with 6 cups, 1 lid, 30 dice, and instructions. I like that the cups are made from soft plastic which reduces the noise level when you shake it. But I do find it weird that it’s only supplied with one lid for capping the cup while shaking. Maybe the lid is to use it to keep the dices in the cup for storage.
This game has nothing much to set up. Each player starts with a cup and five dice of the same colour. Each round begins by all players rolling their dice around in the cup. After shaking the dice, players turn the cups over on a table top, so that the dice are rolled and remain under the cups. Each player may peek in his own cup but no peeking at others. Each player has to bid and guess at the quantity of a dice number. When a player believes that another player has over-estimated and unable to raise the bidding any further, they say Dudo, which means ‘I doubt’ in Spanish.
All players then uncover their dice, starting with the player who called Dudo first, and count the relevant value and added to the number of aces revealed. If there are enough dice of that number, then the player who called Dudo must place a die in the discard pile. If there are not, then the player who made the last bid must place a die in the middle. In either case, a new round begins. All dice that are removed from the game should be concealed in the pouch so that the total number of dice in play is obscured. The last player left with at least one die wins the game.
It took us a few trial runs before everyone fully understood the nuances of the game. Initially, it was complicated to understand the rules of bidding, but then when you get a better feel of how to estimate and figure how to bluff, the game becomes more interesting and fun. It is available to buy from good toy retailers, John Lewis and Amazon.
Disclosure: We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review however all thoughts and opinions remain our own. We have included an Amazon affiliate link to the product. If you click on this and buy, we may earn a small commission.