Liars Dice - Positive/Negative Feedback Loops

Positive/ Negative Feedback Loops

Positive - A positive feedback loop is defined as something that amplifies game play. The output of a positive feedback loop tends to destabilize the system of the game. A good example of a positive feedback loop is the runaway leader where a certain mechanic in the game causes on player to take and early insurmountable lead


Negative - A negative feedback loop is defined as something that diminishes game play. The output of a negative feedback loop tends to stabilize the system of the game. An example of this is a "take-that" mechanic giving trailing players the ability to slow down the leading players progress.

Positive and negative feedback loops essentially classify the different elements within a game as to gain more balance within a game. Today we will look at the relation between positive and negative feedback loops as they relate to the game Liar's Dice. Before i can explain how to relate this game to positive and negative feedback loops i will first have to explain what the game is itself. So that raises the question...

What is Liars Dice?

Liars dice is a game of deception played by two or more people. A round begins with each player rolling a cup full of five dice and placing the cup face down onto the table with the dice underneath it. There are many different variations of the game which will outlined below, as well as a few alterations made by the team MakeShift games. 

Equipment

All game variants of liars dice require the same equipment

• 5 dice per player
• 1 cup per player

Individual Hand

The "individual hand" version of liars dice is conventionally played between two players. To begin a round each player rolls a single die to determine who will be the first bidder. Each player will then roll their cup full of dice, place it face down on the table, and examine their hands to themselves (they do not show each other). After a bid is made by a player (a player declares what is in their hand), the other player may make another bid. The other player may also call their bid a lie, or re-roll some or all of their dice. If a player calls a bid untrue each player will show their hand to each other. If the accused holds the hand they called then they are the winner. If the caller of the bluff is correct and the accused does not hold the hand that they called, the caller of the bluff will be the winner.

An outline of the hands can be seen below:

• Five of a kind: e.g.,66666
• Four of a kind: e.g., 33338
• Full house: e.g., 66111
• High straight: 23456
• Low straight: 12345
• Three of a kind: e.g., 44432
• Two pair: e.g., 22551
• Pair: e.g., 66532
• Runt: e.g., 13456

Common Hand

The "common hand" version of liars dice is conventionally played with three or more players. At the beginning of a round each player in the circle will roll their full cup of dice and place it face down on the table, keeping it hidden from the other players. A player is chosen to begin play and that player begins bidding by declaring a face on the dice and the quantity of those faces that they decide are in play. In this variation 1's are generally wild and count as the face of the current bid.

During each turn a player can either choose to make another bid that is higher than the previous bid or challenge the previous bid. To place a higher bid it must consist of a quantity or face value or both that is greater than the previously declared values. If a player decides to challenge the current bid all dice in play are revealed to all of the players and a winner is determined.  If the bid placed by the player is valid and there are the amount of dice of the face value that they originally called, the bidder wins. However if there are not enough dice to make the players bid true, they will lose.

Disney Version

In the Disney version of Liar's Dice set in the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest" you play the role of a pirate who is wagering his soul aboard Davey Jones' forsaken ship. The main difference from other variations is the fact that if you lose a challenge you will lose a dice.

Setup - Like the common hand variation this version of the game is played between three or more players. Each round begins with all of the players in the circles rolling their cup full of dice and placing it face down on the table over top of their dice. They examine their own dice and a person is chosen to begin the bidding.



 Game Play - After the first turn has passed the next player can call the previous player a liar, or place their own bid.If a player is called out as a liar and it is not true then the accuser will win and the accused will lose a dice, if the bid placed by the player is correct however the accuser will lose a dice.

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Winning Conditions - When all but one player runs out of dice the game is over and that player is declared the winner.
 

Positive and  Negative Feedback Loops - Relation to Liars Dice



Now that you know a little more about the game Liars Dice you can make your own assumptions about the positive and negative feedback loops within the game. Our team MakeShift Games play tested a version of Liar's Dice to try and decide on a few new mechanics that would eliminate some positive feedback loops from the game.

Play Test 1

The version of Liar's Dice that was play tested by MakeShift Games was the Disney version outlined above. We decided to play this version as it seemed to contain a considerable amount of positive feedback loops, which we are looking to eliminate from the game.

The main positive feedback loop that we found from play testing the game using this versions rules  was the fact that a player will lose a dice when they fail to succeed in a challenge. This mechanic allows other players to gain a drastic head start and eventually makes it nearly impossible for players to overcome the leader.

Also when a players is given many hands in a row that have little amounts of more than one dice with the same face it will be harder for them to make a convincing bluff. This is random however can be considered a positive feedback loop as players will have a chance of losing more quickly.

Variations on rules created by the team

Dylan Burnham
RULE 1:  There is an extra set of dice in the center of the table of which noone at the table knows the values of.

Eliminating Positive Feedback:  Since there is an extra set of dice in the center players will have a better chance of being correct as well as have a better chance of deceiving their opponents (especially in smaller groups). This will hopefully make the game more stable as players will be eliminated more randomly based on convincing or true calls.

Moazzan Pathan
RULE 2: If you have all 5 different dice, (or you can fake claim it) you are allowed to change one of your dice to whatever, you want (at the start of a round ONLY) A player can call you a liar when you make this claim.


Eliminating Positive Feedback: Players who have a smaller amount of dice can change their dice roll to something that is more helpful. This will hopefully make the game more stable as players have a better chance to make a more convincing or correct call.

Ahmed Al-Hulaibi

RULE 3: When you have only one dice left, It is counted as wild (Just for you)



Eliminating Positive Feedback: Just the same as the previous rule this will hopefully give losing players who have a smaller amount of dice can change their dice roll to something that is more helpful. This will again hopefully make the game more stable as players have a better chance to make a more convincing or correct call.

John Dambrauskas

RULE 4: Whoever loses challenge of being called a liar gives their dice to other player.



Eliminating Positive Feedback: This rule eliminates some of the negative feedback as players can win dice back rather than being forced to continuously eliminate their dice. This will hopefully stabilize that game as players will be able to increase their amount of dice and overcome the leading player in a different way than just eliminating dice from other players.

Play Test 2

After play testing the game again under our new rules and conditions I found that some positive feedback was eliminated, however some was amplified. Relation to positive and negative feedback and the implemented rules can be seen below.

RULE 1: Seemed to have little effect on the game in some cases however when it came down to a smaller amount of players it gave the losing players a chance to catch up to the leading player.

RULE 2: Helped players who had not the greatest of hands have a better chance of deceiving their opponents. Also helped players with smaller hands have a better chance of winning as they tend to roll less doubles. In some cases however the leading player was able to use this as well so it can be said that in some cases it does amplify positive feedback.

RULE 3: Since a player was able to change the face of their dice they seemed to advantage when the bidding was low. It seemingly helped players if they could call another out on a liar quickly however did not help them in cases where the bidding was high and they could be proven wrong easily.

RULE 4: The fact that the winner player gained the losing players dice seemed to amplify positive feedback as the winner of each round gained more dice to work with. This gives them a greater chance to deceive all other players in the game. It did however save players from elimination in some cases so it did serve some purpose of promoting negative feedback.


Final Thoughts

What i seemed to learn from this is that game mechanics are all about balance. If a mechanic is too overpowered it can decrease or increase the flow or interest of game play.

Thank you for reading and happy gaming!