I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on Saturday, and overall I enjoyed it. My one real complaint would be that it seemed very rushed, too much going by too fast. One of these things is the dice game that Jones’ crew was playing, and that Will challenged Jones to. I couldn’t quite understand what the rules were. I got that it was something about bluffing, but the details escaped me, so much so that I wasn’t even quite sure who had won or lost. Can anyone explain the game to me, and how it was that Jones won? Thanks.
Sorry. Hit submit too soon. The rules for the game are contained in the link. I may be misremembering the scene, but I thought that Will won the game, and Jones told him that he could have the key the next time the Dutchman made port–in ten years.
According to the fairly detailed analysis here, Will didn’t win. Rather, his father lost, and Jones was under no obligation to show the key.
Basically, you’re bidding on what the dice will show. So, suppose I bid “three fives”. The next person up has a choice: He can raise the bid, or he can call my bluff. If he raises the bid, he needs to either bid the same amount of a higher number, or a higher number. So to top “three fives”, he could bid “three sixes”, or four or more of anything. Play continues in order, until someone calls. At that point, the dice are revealed, and someone loses. If the bid is actually there, then the caller loses. If it’s not, the bidder loses.
In the specific game shown in the movie, there were three players, Will, Bill, and Davy. If Davy lost, he’d have to give Will the key. If Will or Bill lost, his soul would be forfeit for eternity. But Bill didn’t want to risk the possibility of Will losing, so he deliberately made a ludicrously high bid. At that point, Davy had the option of raising the bid (almost guaranteeing that he would lose), or calling it (almost guaranteeing that Bill would lose). Either way, Will’s soul was safe, which was Bill’s entire point. Davy very sensibly called, and Bill lost.