Rules
Each round, every player rolls 2d6 once.
Hand hierarchy (high to low):
- Mexico - the dice show 2 and 1. Beats everything.
- Doubles - any matching pair. Higher pair beats lower.
- Flat - anything else. Read the dice as the highest two-digit number (a 6 and a 5 makes 65, a 4 and a 3 makes 43, and so on - so 65 > 43).
The player with the lowest hand loses a life. If two or more players tie for lowest, nobody loses one.
Each player starts with 3 lives. Last player standing wins.
History
Mexico is a bar / parlor dice game from the early 20th century, found under names like Mexicali and (in some regions) Mia. The German “Mia” variant turns it into a bluffing game, with each player announcing a hand they may or may not actually hold - that’s a different game tree entirely, and not this one.
The rank table is small enough to learn in a single round: 21 different flats (32 through 65, omitting the 21), six doubles, and the single Mexico. Probabilities work out roughly:
- Mexico: 2/36 ≈ 5.6%
- Any double: 6/36 ≈ 16.7%
- Flat: 28/36 ≈ 77.8%
Doubles are surprisingly common - one in six rolls. The Mexico itself is rare enough that landing one feels like a real moment.
References