Perudo

01Discover the game

Perudo is a game of hidden dice, estimation and bluff. You only know your dice, but every ad concerns all the dice still at stake. In your turn, you have to offer a stronger ad or challenge that of your neighbor. A plausible ad is not a certainty; all the pleasure comes from this incomplete information.

This tutorial follows Perudo Classic d'Asmodee, Spanish official notice published in 2023, whose mechanisms are explained here in French. We use the Palifico rounds described in this leaflet, but not the expert variant Calza. Football adaptations and other booklets have differences: they do not mix their exceptions. Two to six people play about thirty minutes. The overall difficulty is Medium, for estimation, the memory of the ads and the choice of when to contest.

02Equipment

The classic box contains thirty dice, divided into six colors of five dice, six cups, a bag and a booklet. In this game, face 1 is represented by Paco the toucan. Unused dice and lost ones leave the game and stay in the box or bag, apart from those still played.

Each person uses a cup and five dice at the start. It takes enough space to throw them and then look at the result without revealing it to the neighbors. No money or bet token is necessary: the bet is a verbal ad and the sanction is the loss of a dice. A replacement cup or a storage lid does not add a role in this version.

03The goal

Be the last player with at least one die. Losing dice reduces the information you can see and brings you closer to elimination. Your aim is to keep your dice.

Bids do not necessarily describe your own dice. Saying “five 4s” means you believe at least five dice across all cups count as 4s. That may be true even if you have no 4. You can bluff, but you cannot change your dice after looking at them.

04Prepare a handle

Each takes his five dice and his cup. Choose the first player at random and keep the clockwise sense. All shake their dice at the same time and then turn the cup on the table. Everyone looks secretly at his result without moving the dice.

Before the first announcement, count how many dice are at stake. At four people still five dice, there are twenty. Later, if the hands are four, three, two and one dice, there are only ten left: the old estimates are no longer valid. Keep the lost dice clearly separated to avoid confusion.

05Advertise, bid and challenge

Open and understand the jokers

The first player announces a number of dice and a value of 2 to 6. In an ordinary round, it cannot open directly on the Paco. The latter serve as jokers to check for regular value announcements: an ad of 4 counts every 4 and all the Paco revealed.

The next player can overbid or say "Dudo!", i.e. "I doubt." He can't pass to let someone else decide. The dice are not restarted between two ads in the same round.

Overbid on an ordinary value

To beat an ad, keep the same amount and increase the value, or increase the amount by choosing the ordinary value of your choice. After "five 3", "five 4" fits, like "six 2". On the other hand, "five 2" is lower and is not a valid bid.

The ad always represents "at least". You don't need to guarantee that the quantity is accurate to announce. That's why a result higher than the announced amount gives the better reason when it is contested.

Go through the Paco

One can pass from an ordinary ad to the Paco by dividing its quantity by two and rounding over. After seven 4, Paco's smallest ad is four, as half of seven is 3.5. One can also advertise more Paco.

After an announcement by Paco, one can increase their quantity or return to an ordinary value. To return, one must at least double the amount of Paco and then add one. After four Paco, one must at least nine dice of a value of 2 to 6. These particular thresholds prevent the direct comparison of "four Paco" and "five 6" as two ordinary numbers.

An announcement about the Paco only counts the Paco. We don't add another face; the jokers replace ordinary values, not the other way around.

Say Dudo

When a player contests, all reveal their dice. Check only the last ad, not all previous adverts. Add the dice of the requested value and Paco, except during Palifico. If the total reaches or exceeds the advert, the contestor loses a dice. If the total is lower, the last bettor loses one.

The lost dice is removed from the game. All then re-launch their remaining dice for a new round. The one who just lost a dice opens; if he lost his last one, he is eliminated and his left neighbour still in play begins.

The Palifico tour of this edition

When a person has just lost his fourth dice and keeps more than one for the first time, he announces "Palifico" and opens the next round. This only round changes the rules: the Paco are no longer jokers and the announced value remains fixed. We normally only increase the quantity.

The chosen Classic booklet provides an exception: players who have already declared Palifico earlier in the game can change the value to their own ad. The round can start with the Paco. When it ends, the ordinary rules come back, even if the player retains his unique dice. N

The expert Calza variant, which consists of betting on a strictly accurate account to recover a dice, is not enabled in this tutorial. Advertise this choice before playing: it avoids introducing a second way during the round to interrupt the game.

06An example handle

To three players, the hidden dice are, for our example revealed after the blow: Alice 4, 4, 2, Paco, 6; Bob 4, 3, 5, 5, Paco; Chloé 2, 3, 6, 6, Paco. So there are three 4 reals and three Pacos, six counting like 4 in the ordinary run.

Alice announces four 4. Bob announces five 4. Chloe says Dudo. We reveal everything: the total six is at least five, so Bob's announcement was correct and Chloe loses a dice. Bob must not lose on the pretext that it did not exist exactly five 4.

In a Palifico round with the same sides, an announcement of five 4 would be wrong: the three Pacos no longer replace the 4. This contrast explains why the special round must be clearly announced before the first bet.

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07End of game

Each Dudo resolution loses exactly one dice to the wrong player, regardless of the gap between the ad and the result. A lack of three dice therefore does not impose a loss of three dice. One player without dice is eliminated; the others continue using only their remaining dice.

When only one person still has dice, she wins. There are no total points to calculate and the number of successful announcements is not a win score. In the final head-to-head, Palifico is no longer used according to our edition, but the Paco normally remain jokers and the conversion thresholds continue to apply.

08Frequent errors

• Count only his own dice to decide if an ad is possible.
• Forget the Paco in an ordinary handle or count them as jokers during Palifico.
• Confound "at least" and "exactly" during Dudo.
• Switch from seven ordinary dice to only three Paco, without rounding over.
• Return from four Paco to eight dice instead of nine minimum.
• Replay Palifico at each round of a player at a dice or keep it at the final duel.

09Tips for starting

Counts the total number of dice before making an estimate. With normal balanced dice, a value of 2 to 6 and the combined Paco represent two sides out of six; it is a benchmark, not a promise on the real throw. In Palifico, a value occupies more than one side out of six.

Observe the variations of the ads without assuming that they are necessarily sincere. When the dice total decreases, a small increase can become very risky. First learn the conversions to and from Paco aloud; an arithmetic error should not be confused with a successful bluff.