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Mia is a simple dice game with a strong emphasis on bluffing and detecting bluff [1] related to Liar's dice.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2011) |
Mia is a simple dice game with a strong emphasis on bluffing and detecting bluff [1] related to Liar's dice.
Two dice and either a flat bottomed container with a lid or a dice cup are needed. This game is played by three or more players.
All players start with six lives. Usually each player use a separate die to keep track of their lives, counting down from 6 to 1 as they lose lives. The players roll a single die to determine who goes first. [2]
To start a round, the first player (Player A) rolls the dice and checks their throw while keeping the value concealed from the other players in or under the container. That player must end their turn by announcing a value according to one of three choices:
There is no required minimum value for the announcement following the first roll of the round. [2] The action then passes to the next player (Player B), usually in a clockwise fashion (i.e., the player to the left), who now must choose one of two options:
This process continues with the next player until the round ends. Note that each player must always announce a value greater than the previous value announced, unless they are passed a Mia in which case the round ends with the next player. When Mia is announced, the next player has two choices:
The first player to lose all of their lives loses the game.
Suppose there are four players A, B, C, and D:
| Standard | Alternate | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roll | To beat | Roll | To beat | |||
| 21 "Mia" |   | 0% | 21 "Mia" | | 0% | |
| 66 double-6 |  | 5.6% | 31 "Little Mia" |  | 5.6% | |
| 55 double-5 |  | 8.3% | 66 double-6 | | 11.1% | |
| 44 double-4 |  | 11.1% | 55 double-5 | | 13.9% | |
| 33 double-3 | | 13.9% | 44 double-4 | | 16.7% | |
| 22 double-2 | | 16.7% | 33 double-3 | | 19.4% | |
| 11 double-1 | | 19.4% | 22 double-2 | | 22.2% | |
| 65 | | 22.2% | 11 double-1 | | 25% | |
| 64 | | 27.8% | 65 | | 27.8% | |
| 63 | | 33.3% | 64 | | 33.3% | |
| 62 | | 38.9% | 63 | | 38.9% | |
| 61 | | 44.4% | 62 | | 44.4% | |
| 54 | | 50% | 61 | | 50% | |
| 53 | | 55.6% | 54 | | 55.6% | |
| 52 | | 61.1% | 53 | | 61.1% | |
| 51 | | 66.7% | 52 | | 66.7% | |
| 43 | | 72.2% | 51 | | 72.2% | |
| 42 | | 77.8% | 43 | | 77.8% | |
| 41 | | 83.3% | 42 | | 83.3% | |
| 32 | | 88.9% | 41 | | 88.9% | |
| 31 | | 94.4% | 32 "Joker" | | 94.4% | |
Unlike most dice games, the value of the roll is not the sum of the dice. Instead, the highest die is multiplied by ten and then added to the other die. The roll 
is 21 and 
is 65. The highest roll is 21 which is called Mia, followed by the doubles from 66 to 11, and then all other rolls from 65 down to 31. Thus, the complete order of rolls (from highest to lowest) is 21 (Mia), 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, 11, 65, 64, 63, 62, 61, 54, 53, 52, 51, 43, 42, 41, 32, 31.
The appeal of Mia resides primarily in the potential it affords for bluffing. As with other games of bluff, this is partly a psychological challenge. It is important to know the other players and master the subtleties of more or less conscious interpersonal communication. A common strategy is to develop a "character". A player may, for instance pretend to be a truthful person, a notorious liar, a constantly lucky roller, or one that usually tries to get at players beyond the next player. This will make the actions of the other players more predictable, which will give the player an advantage.
It is, however, also about statistics. In total, there are 36 possible throw combinations with two dice; however, there are only 21 possible results in this game. There are two ways to achieve any result with two different numbers; for example, a result of 43 can be achieved by rolling either 
or ; on the other hand, doubles can only be made in one way.
As an example, consider the roll 55. There are two rolls ranked above this (21 and 66), and so the probability that any single subsequent roll would beat 55 is the sum of the probability of rolling 21, which is 2⁄36, or rolling 66, which is 1⁄36. Therefore the probability of beating 55 outright on a subsequent roll is 3⁄36 or 8.3%. To compute the probability of losing to 55, the possibility of a tie must be included, that is, adding the probability of rolling 55, which is again 1⁄36. The total probability of beating or tying 55 on a subsequent roll is 4⁄36 or 11.1%, and consequently the probability of losing to 55 (i.e., neither beating nor tying) on a subsequent roll is 1–4⁄36 or 88.9%.
Because of the disparity in probabilities to roll doubles compared to mixed numbers, the median roll in this game is 54, which means that on average, any single roll has an equal chance of being above or below a roll of 54. Players should be aware that 54 is the "middle" roll, in the sense that if a player announces 54, there is a 50% chance that the next player will roll a better value. In the Danish version called Meyer, the equivalent middle roll is 61, as the "little Meyer" (31) roll is ranked above the doubles.
Note that 62 is positioned in the middle of the possible results table, with ten possible results above and below 62. In comparison, there are twelve possible results above and eight below 54. The likelihood that someone rolling a 62 (the numeric median result) will be beaten by a subsequent roller is only about 39 percent, while someone rolling a 54 (the statistical, or actual, median result) is facing exactly even odds.
The game is also known as Kuriki, [2] Kariki, [3] Meyer, Meier, or Mire. Because the gameplay been passed down orally, many variations and house rules exist.
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| Gambling games | ||
| Commercial games | ||
| Word games | ||
