There are thousands of games to play around your home bar. Some are classic "coffee table games" such as chess, backgammon, domino's and such.  Others are drinking games (where the winner or loser has to take another drink); and still others are classic bar games played by those in a festive gathering since the time of whaling ships (such as Canoga or Shut the Box which requires dice and board). There many, many books about games to play at your home bar, we have selected the three that seem the most popular [our advice is to buy them used at addall.com and save a few bucks]:

According to Hoyle
Editor: Richard Frey
Paperback (used) average price:  $6

Scarne on Dice
Author: John Scarne
ISBN: 0879804319
Paperback (used) average price: $20

Complete Book of Dice Games
Author: Skip Frey
ISBN: 0879803258
Paperback (used) average price: $10

Below are a couple games to get you going until you have stocked your library on games to play at your home bar.

LIARS POKER
a group of people form a circle. each player attempts to fool the others about the serial numbers printed on the face of their dollar bill. one trader begins by making "a bid" for example, "three sixes." meaning that all the serial numbers of the dollar bills held by every player, including their own, contains at least three sixes. Once the first bid has been made, the game moves in the circle. let's say the bid is three sixes. the player to the left or the right of the bidder can do one of two things. he can bid higher (there are two sorts of higher bids: the same quantity of a higher number (three sevens, eights, or nines) and more of any number (four fives for instance). or the player can "call" that is like saying, "you aint got shxx" the bidding escalates until all the other players agree to 'call' a single player's bid. then, and only then, do the players reveal their serial numbers and determine who is bluffing whom.
 
RULES
Basic Liar rules apply, Aces are wild unless called at the start. Zeroes (0) count as 10s. The eight digit serial number is used instead of dice. You determine who starts by the alphabetic prefix and suffix to the serial number. The player whose letters are closest to the beginning of the alphabet starts. Only one hand can be played per dollar bill. If there are more than two players, the game is played as All Challenge One. One player either wins a dollar from each opponent or lose a dollar to each opponent. It's best to keep playing with fresh dollar bills, so you need to be able to exchange your money as the game goes on.

 

BOSS DICE
Boss is played between two players, each having a cup with five dice. the object of the game is to win two out of three hands (horses). A hand consists of two rolls. The player with the higher poker hand after the second roll wins the hand.

Here's how Boss is played. Both players roll their dice simultaneously. The player who rolls the higher poker hand is the Boss. He must leave out of his second roll those dice that made him the Boss. Therefore, the Boss picks up his unmatched dice and rolls them being careful to conceal this second roll from his opponent. Now the Boss evaluates his entire hand (all five dice) and reviews his opponent's first roll.

Based upon the results of his two rolls and his opponent's first roll, the Boss makes a decision as to whether or not he wants the hand to continue. If he thinks that his opponenet has a good chance of beating him with his second roll, then the Boss calls the hand off by saying "Pick em up." they both would start all over again rolling all five dice to once again determine who will be Boss.

If the Boss believes he can beat his opponent, then he calls "Come up" His opponent then decides what his best opportunity is for rolling a better hand than the Boss's. (remember, you only get to see the first dice he kept from the first roll) The opponent may decide to keep some of the dice from his first roll or re-roll all five of them.

At the end of the second roll, both players show their hands and the higher poker hand wins. If there's a tie, then it's a push, no winner, and they replay the hand again. The advantage of being boss is obvious. Both players have two rolls per hand, but the Boss gets to see the results of both of his rolls before continuing the hand. In addition, when the boss calls his opponent "up," the opponent does not know what the Boss's second roll was and can only guess at the strength of the Boss's hand. Consequently, the opponent could make a strategic error when deciding how many and which dice to roll on his second flop.

RULES
1. Boss is won by the high poker hand. However, nothing is wild and straights do not count.
2. To be Boss, a player must roll at least one pair. If neither player rolls at least one pair on the first roll then the roll doesn't count. There is no Boss. They both re-roll all five dice and start the hand fresh.
3. On the very first flop of each hand, there is an exception made to the normal ranking of poker hands. Two pair do not count. Only the higher pair of a two pair roll is counted. Accordingly, on the first roll, one pair will beat any two pairs of lower denominations (i.e. a pair of 5's beats a two pair of 4's and 3's). If both players show two pairs, and the higher pair is the same, there is a tie. Also, it is not permissible to keep two pair from the first roll and roll the remaining die to try to get a Full House. You can only keep one of the two pairs.
4. Two pair do count on the second roll!! It is possible to win a hand with just two pair.
5. If there is a tie on the first roll, there is no Boss. Both players re-roll all five dice and start the hand fresh.
6. If there is a tie on the second roll, there is no winner and the hand is replayed