The history of Mia
Two dice, a cup and a lie told with a straight face. Mia is played across much of Europe and beyond, yet it has no inventor, no birthday, and a new name at almost every border.
A game without an author
Mia wasn't created by a publisher. It's a bar and kitchen-table game, handed down from person to person. That's why there are so many house rules: in some places double 6 is the best double, in others double 1; some tables allow passing the cup without looking, others don't.
The core never changes: the higher die is the tens, 21 beats everything, then come doubles and then all the other scores. Each player must call higher than the last, and whoever receives the cup decides whether to believe it or lift.
One game, many names
The quickest way to see how far it has travelled is to look at its names: Mia, Meyer in Denmark, Mäxchen and Meier in Germany, Kinito in the Basque Country, Kariki in the American punk scene, Tokyo and Bluff a 21 in Italy. You'll find them all on the Names page.
Did the Vikings play it?
You'll often read that Mia is an ancient game already played by the Vikings. None of the sources that repeat it point to a document or archaeological find. It's a great story to tell at the table, not a historical fact.
Why is it called Tokyo in Italy?
We don't know, and we haven't found a single source that explains it. There's nothing Japanese about the game. If you know where the name comes from, or played it under another name in your town, tell us and we'll add it here.
What about China?
People sometimes say it's a Chinese game. Bluffing with a cup and dice is certainly at home in China: 吹牛 (chuīniú, "bragging"), also called 大话 (dàhuà, "big talk"), is popular especially in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong and is played in bars with a cup each.
The rules are different, though: everyone has five dice and you bet on how many dice of a given value are on the whole table, with 1s as wild. It's essentially Liar's Dice. We found no trace of a two-dice Chinese version with 21 as the top score.
One guess, and only a guess: people who knew the Asian cousin may have linked the European game to the East too, and that could be where a name like Tokyo comes from.
From pubs to the box
Since it belongs to everyone, nobody owns the rights, and over the years it has been sold in many forms.
- 1986Richard Borg's Bluff comes out, a close cousin: each player has several dice, but the heart is the same bet on other people's lies. In 1993 it wins the Spiel des Jahres, Germany's most important board game award.
- 1990sFun Can appears in Germany: a beer can with the rules printed on it and a little window to look at the dice.
- 1995Milton Bradley publishes Affengeil, the same mechanics with dice showing one to six bananas.
The punk game
In the United States the game travelled in touring bands' vans. Steve Albini said Shellac learned it from Fugazi, who had learned it from the English band Citizen Fish.
Fugazi singer Ian MacKaye later named his next band Coriky after the game. According to the band, it's very popular among DC punk bands on tour.
Relatives
Mia belongs to the big family of bluffing games. Its most famous relative is Liar's Dice, also known as Perudo or Dudo, where everyone has several dice and you bet on how many of a value are on the whole table. In cards, the equivalent is Cheat: you call a card and the others decide whether to trust you.