FAQs

Concepts

How is Liars Poker different from regular Poker?

The concept of regular poker is “my hand is better than your hand”. In Liars Poker the concept is “among all hands there are this many of some digit”. If there are that many or more the bidder wins – and if not, the bidder loses. As with regular poker how well you bluff or strategize affects your success.

In SLIPS, you have a 2nd chance to bid if your first is challenged around. And the amount you can win changes with the bidding, along with stakes carrying over from one hand to the next. SLIPS also manages multiple sessions, keeps score, and tracks settlements. Other features such as varying progression through a Slip and the none bid further enhance play.

A session consists of playing one or more Slips with a fixed number of players in a specific turn order. Each session has its own entry in the Sessions tab and in Sheet Detail.

A Slip is 15 randomly generated 8-digit numbers arranged in a column for use as hands. Individual hands are identified with a letter (A thru Q) and playing a Slip means finishing 10 of the 15 hands.

A hand is the 8-digit number used for play, in green at the top of the game console. The term is also used to describe a round of play.

A unit is whatever players decide to play for. It could be a dollar, a euro, or more, or just points for fun. SLIPS has no Game Center-related Leaderboards or Achievements. The score, or how much you’re up or down, is tracked in the Sheet tab.

1s are low and 0s are high, the order is 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0. So a bid of 4 2s is higher than a bid of 4 1s. When the bid number reaches 0, the level must go up at least one (after 4 0s, something at the 5 level or higher, like 5 1s or 6 6s). Note that bids on the number 6 double the stakes.

The payoff is given by the multiplier (number with the x attached) to the right of the hand. It’s what the bidder gains from each other player on a made (successful) bid (Note: none bids have a different, formula-based payout). On a failed bid, the bidder loses no more than whatever multiple the hand started out with. For further detail see Slips 103 – The Multiple and SLIPS 104 – None Bid and Hero in Settings > How To Play Reference.

The order of play which remains fixed for the session. Determined by the host in Session Setup. Bid order and turn order are equivalent.

Number of players and turn order for a session are fixed and cannot change. Start a new session to accommodate a different setup.

Turn Actions

It's my turn. What do I do?

Bid, Challenge, or Count as follows:

First to go on a hand must make an opening bid.

Next to go can challenge or make a higher bid.

If your bid is challenged by all other players you either count or make a 2nd (higher) bid.

If the 2nd bid is challenged by all other players a count is forced.

A bid is a turn action that declares how many of a particular digit there are among all players hands. There are two parts, a level (how many) and a digit (what number). A bid of 4 3s states that there are 4 or more 3s in everyone’s hands –  if all the 3s were counted up, there would be 4 or more of them. A successful bid accrues units to the player who made it while an unsuccessful bid accrues units to all who challenged.

Only if you are first to go. After the first bid any following bids must be higher than the previous one.

Set bid level with the left side slider or stepper and bid number with the right side slider or stepper and press BID.

The bidder is whoever has the turn, displayed in the game console at top left, preceded with a purple dot when it’s you. When it’s your turn you have to make a bid or challenge, as you see fit, or, if your bid was challenged around by the other players, a count or 2nd bid.

All turn actions are logged in the history window including the latest bid. Also, whenever a bid is made the level and number reset in their respective fields on the game console.

A challenge is a turn action that rebuts the bid, stating in effect, that a count on the bid will not succeed. Once all players challenge a bid a count can be made (or automatically forced if it’s the 2nd bid). To make a challenge simply press the CHALLENGE button when it’s your turn.

Count is a turn action that ends the hand. It reveals what everyone has and if the last bidder won or lost. The COUNT button only appears on the bidder’s game console when the bid is challenged around, in the spot where the CHALLENGE button normally sits.

A none bid is when a player bids a digit that there are none of in their hand. For example, if the hand is 01030506 a bid of 3 7s is a none bid because there are no 7s in the hand. A none bid wins when there are none of the bid number across all hands. It also pays off differently than a regular bid, see Slips 104 – None Bid and Hero in Settings > How to Play Reference for further detail. Note: In 2-player it does not apply and in 3-player it results in a tie as there’s no payoff.

A hero is a none bid that happened to make the count so the bidder had none in their hand but everyone else had enough to make the bid succeed.

Game Actions

How do I respond to a Messages-based invite?

In the Messages app tap on the rich link image and it should bring you directly into SLIPS. Note: iMessage, MMS Messaging (if present), and Group Messaging (if present) in Settings > Messages must all be ON, with iCloud sign in also required. Invitees without SLIPS installed will be brought to the listing for it on the App Store.

In the sessions tab tap Start/Join Your Own Session or the + at top left.  Select number of players and tap Next. Game Centers’ Multiplayer Game screen pops up with Invite Friends and Start Game (Game Center determines opponents) as options. Invite Friends prepares a New Message containing a rich link image that can be sent to Contacts, Friends, or Nearby players. Note that sessions with combinations of selected and random opponents are possible if desired. When all invitees are IN a green Play SLIPS button appears in Session Setup – tap it and the game is on!

The player starting a session (host) may change both Name and Bid Order in Session Setup only before Play SLIPS is tapped. After the Session activates they’re static. Tap in the Session Name field to bring up a keyboard for editing and/or drag the three-horizontal-bar controls in the Bid Order table to rearrange order of play across invitees (host remains fixed at top).

Yes. With iCloud Drive On (Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive) game actions and history will synchronize across devices signed in to the same Game Center account. In general, turn actions within a Slip are best made from one device instead of hopping around from one to the other.

Go to device Settings > Game Center and change the NICKNAME entry. The nickname must be unique.

Settlement denotes an exchange of units to balance out the score for a particular session.

When it’s your turn (Your Bid….) left swipe on the entry in the Sessions tab and tap Settle. Settle appears if there are non-zero unit totals for the session, otherwise Remove takes its place. Tap Initiate Settlement in the Settlement screen. Settlement confirmation then moves from one player to another in similar fashion to turns. Once all players confirm, settled amounts show in the Sheet tab, highlighted in gold in the Detail section and added to the Settled column in the Summary.

Left swipe on a session entry with zero PL totals across all players e.g. post-Settlement and tap Remove (sessions with 4 weeks or more since the last turn are also removable irrespective of PL). Other players are notified and prompted to remove the session as well. Note that settled amounts from deleted sessions are purged from Sheet Summary so Overall column values adjust accordingly.

Yes but only in 3-player games where there’s a successful none bid (there are none of that number across the hands).

It presents the mathematical chance of success for the level and number displayed in the game console given the number of players and what’s in the player’s own hand. The none bid probability of success is included as well. A Settings toggle controls whether the gauge appears or not.

Controlled by a Settings toggle, how many the bidder had in hand in a losing effort will not be revealed in the count, substituting “Not Enough” instead.

Controlled by a Settings toggle, it prevents players from making outlandishly high bids in order to boost the multiple for the next hand. It applies to both initial and subsequent bids. If any player in the session has the toggle set it applies to all players. When changed during a hand it takes until that player’s turn to take effect.

Miscellaneous

What is Slip PL?

How much you’re up or down on the Slip currently in play, also tracked in the Sheet tab. PL is shorthand for Profit/Loss.

The letter to the left of the hand identifies which row on the Slip is being played. It should be the same for each player in the session. A Slip contains 15 hands, marked A thru Q. Tapping on the letter cycles between showing and hiding the hand.

The number with the x attached represents the payoff multiple or what the bidder earns from each player if the bid succeeds. It can go up, increasing with bid level or doubling with 6s, or down (bid comes off of 6s) during a hand. On a losing bid though, no more than the base or starting multiple for the hand can be lost (to each player). For further detail see Slips 103 – The Multiple in Settings > How To Play Reference.

Cyan – Invite to Play SLIPS from Game Center Friend

Gray – Waiting for session to begin or for another player to make a bid

Green – Session is ready to begin

Purple – It’s your turn (your bid)

Gold – Settlement action initiated

Red – Session removed or canceled

The gold lines identify settlement rows. They balance out the Sheet for that session when units are presumably exchanged. In Sheet Detail they count as negative when units are received and positive when units are delivered. In Sheet Summary the sign is flipped in order to properly tally overall score.

Yes, tap on the letter identifier to the left of the hand to hide (display reads HIDDEN) and the hand symbol that replaces it to cycle back.

Yes, single tap on the hand to sort the numbers in order.

The Slip popup shows all the hands on a Slip, 15 in all, 10 of which are played. Current hand is underlined and then grayed out when completed. Double tap on the hand in the game console to bring it up and double tap anywhere in the popup to dismiss.

Which hand (1 thru 10) on left and base multiple on right for current or completed hands plus underneath from left to right – your PL, last bidder name (could be you) and their PL.

It skips based on the number of odds in the last digit of each player’s hand, cycling through the Slip and skipping hands already played.

This is a throwback to when SLIPS was played on paper, called out to help ensure all players were on the same row. In the SLIPS app, it serves for nostalgia, a reminder of days gone by.

In SLIPS, effective bluffing can certainly yield dividends!