Mia dice game rules (Mexico): the two-dice bluffing game

Mia is about daring to lie. You roll hidden under a cup and announce a value, true or bluffed. The next player must bid higher or call you out. Get caught in a lie and it costs you a penalty point (or a drink). Below is a commonly played version of the rules, with the complete ranking of the rolls.

What do you need?

Mia is wonderfully simple when it comes to equipment:

• Two dice: regular six-sided dice. If you have none on hand, use the online dice roller and roll two at once.
• A dice cup: to roll hidden, so only you see your own roll. That hidden rolling is what makes the bluffing possible.
• A way to track penalty points: often an extra die per player that starts on 6, or a list on paper. Many groups spell out the game's name instead: each penalty point adds a letter, and when your word is finished, so are you. M-I-A gives you three lives, M-E-X-I-C-O six.
• Two or more players: the more people, the more fun the bluffing.

Reading a roll: higher die first

In Mia you do not add the dice together. Instead, you read your roll as a two-digit number: the higher die becomes the tens digit and the lower one the ones digit.

• A 6 and a 4 reads as 64.
• A 3 and a 1 reads as 31.
• The order in which the dice land doesn't matter: 4-6 and 6-4 are both 64.

Two matching dice are called a double. Doubles rank above all regular rolls. And there is one roll that beats everything: 21, the roll the game is named after: the Mia, or the Mexico.

The complete ranking of the rolls

The ranking runs from high to low in three groups: the 21 at the top, below it the doubles (from 66 down to 11), and at the bottom the regular rolls (from 65 down to 31). The lowest roll of all is 31.

Pay close attention to the difference between 21 and the regular roll 32. A 2 and a 1 don't form "21" as a regular number. They form the Mia, the highest roll there is. A 3 and a 2, on the other hand, are a regular 32, just above the lowest roll of 31.

How does a round work?

The common bluffing version is played like this:

1. Roll under the cup. The first player shakes the two dice in the cup, flips it over on the table, and peeks underneath so only they see the roll.
2. Announce a value. You state what you rolled, and this is where the bluffing starts. You may tell the truth or lie, but you must always bid higher than the previous player. The first player in a round has no previous bid to beat: they roll, look at their roll, and announce a value (true or bluffed); only the players after them must keep bidding higher. Whoever passes on a low value first forces the rest to overbid it.
3. The next player chooses. They believe you and roll themselves, tasked with passing on an even higher value. Or they don't trust it and lift the cup to check. This is called "lifting".
4. Checking settles it. If your announced value doesn't hold up (you bluffed, or rolled lower than you claimed), then you get the penalty point. If it does hold up, the doubter who lifted the cup gets the penalty point.

If nobody checks, the cup passes, still hidden, to the next player, who must again bid higher. The tension builds with every turn, because the higher the bid, the greater the chance someone lifts the cup.

Penalty points, lives, and elimination

Whoever gets the round's penalty point loses a life. A common standard: everyone starts with their own small die set to 6 (six lives), and after every loss you turn it one lower. If you're on 1 and lose again, you're out (or, in the drinking variant, you have to drink up). Other groups instead spell out the game's name: each penalty point adds a letter, and when the word is complete you're out. M-I-A gives you three lives, M-E-X-I-C-O six.

With dice, letters, or drinks it works the same way: whoever collects the most penalty points loses. The last player still "alive" wins.

Variants and house rules

Mia has many regional variants. Almost every friend group, bar, and college crowd plays it a little differently. The version above is a widely played standard, but if you sit down at a table elsewhere, ask about the house rules first. Common differences:

• Up to three rolls. In some variants you may reroll (some of) the dice up to three times per turn before passing on your value. The online dice roller supports that rule: tap a die to keep it, and only the other one rerolls.
• Open Mexico. No cup and no bluffing: everyone rolls in the open. The first player decides how many rolls the round gets, up to three, and the others get the same number. Whoever ends up with the lowest roll loses the round or pays into a pot. Simple and fast, and it is the version some reference works reserve the name Mexico for.
• Double penalty on a 21. If a real 21 is rolled or revealed by a check, some groups count it as two penalty points instead of one.
• Passing on a 21. If someone rolls a real 21, the next player may try to pass that 21 along; the player after that lifts the cup or tries to roll a 21 themselves within three rolls. If they fail, they take the (double) penalty.
• "32 stays" and other bar rules. All sorts of extra rules around specific rolls circulate regionally. They're fun to add, but agree on them beforehand.

To try a different dice game, browse the full overview of dice games, or play Poker Dice, another game where the combination of your dice decides how high you rank. If lying and catching liars is your favorite part, Liar's Dice is the other big bluffing game with dice.

Mexico, Mäxchen, Mexen: other names for the same game

The name travels further than the game does. English reference works file the bluffing game as Mia and list Mexican Liars and Mexicali Dice as names for the same thing. In Germany it is Mäxchen; in the Netherlands Mexen, Mexicanen, or Mexicaantje; and a great many English-speaking tables simply say Mexico. Whatever you call it, the two dice, the 21 on top, and the bluffing stay exactly the same.

The references don't fully agree on which name covers which version. Most of them describe Mexico as an open game (everyone rolls in view, up to three rolls, and the lowest roll of the round pays) and file the hidden, bluffing version under Mia, which is why this page is headed Mia. In practice both versions are played under both names, so ask which one your table means before the first cup goes down. The open one is the Open Mexico variant above.

Tips & strategy

• Bluff convincingly. Sell a good lie with the same calm as an honest roll. Don't react differently to a top roll than to a dud.
• Dare to check suspicious jumps. Someone suddenly leaps from 41 to a 21? Lift that cup. It's often too good to be true.
• Memorize the ranking. Especially that 21 (the Mia) sits at the top and that all doubles beat every regular roll. Mix up the order and you'll accidentally bid too low or too high.
• Keep an eye on the penalty points. Against a player down to their last life, it pays to check more often, because they're under the most pressure.

Curious how often you'll statistically roll a double or a 21? Read more about dice probabilities.