Lying Pirates plays 2 to 6 players out of the box. With the 8-Player Components pack and a few extra pieces, you can take a full table to 8. Exactly which add-ons you need depends on whether you own the Base Game or the Deluxe BIG BOX. Here are both shopping lists, in plain terms.
Key takeaways
| Edition | Required add-ons | Recommended extras | Already included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deluxe BIG BOX | 8-Player Components pack plus 2 Bamboo Cups | Gold Coins, Crew Dice | 8 Captain Coasters, so no coasters needed |
| Base Game | 8-Player Components pack plus 2 Bamboo Cups plus Fan-Inspired Captain Coasters | Crew Dice, Gold Coins | Everything you need for 2 to 6 players |
Table of contents
- Can you play Lying Pirates with 8 players?
- If you own the BIG BOX
- If you own the Base Game
- How an 8-player game actually plays
- The full 8-player shopping list
- Get the whole crew aboard
Can you play Lying Pirates with 8 players?
Yes. The standard answer for player count is 2 to 6, and that holds for both the Base Game and the Deluxe BIG BOX straight out of the box. The reason is simple: the box ships six of every per-captain piece. Read the Base Game component list and you will count 6 Cups, 6 Captain coasters, 6 Wooden ships, 6 Battle dice, and 6 Coins, alongside the shared pieces like the 50 Crew dice, the modular map, and the 71 Action cards. Six captains, six of each. That is the official limit.
To seat a seventh and eighth captain, you add the 8-Player Components pack. It supplies the per-captain hardware for two more players: 2 battle dice, 2 miniature ships, and 2 meeple ships, all matched to the quality of the core game. That is what lifts the table from six captains to eight.
Here is the part most people miss. The 8-Player Components pack gives you the ships and battle dice for two more players, but it does not include cups or coasters. Those are the two pieces you have to source separately, and exactly how many you need depends on your edition. The bluffing core itself does not change. Lying Pirates is built on the Liar’s dice family, and that bidding loop scales cleanly with more players. You just need enough physical gear to put a cup and a coaster in front of every captain.
The pack adds the captains. You add the cups. Base Game owners add the coasters too. That is the whole puzzle.
If you own the BIG BOX
The BIG BOX is the easier upgrade, because it already carries most of the heavy lifting. The BIG BOX core game includes 6 Bamboo Cups and a full set of 8 Captain Coasters, on top of upgraded components like metal coins, magnetic tiles, and card sleeves. That means your coasters are already sorted for an eight-player table.
So the BIG BOX shopping list is short:
- 8-Player Components pack (required). The ships and battle dice for captains seven and eight.
- 2 Bamboo Cups (required). The BIG BOX includes 6 cups, so two more brings you to the eight you need. The Bamboo Cups come in a 2-pack, which is exactly the top-up.
- Gold Coins (recommended). More captains means more coins changing hands during the betting and action phases. A bigger pile keeps the table moving.
- Crew Dice (recommended). Two extra captains add two more cups to the bidding pool, so a handful of spare Crew dice keeps everyone fully stocked and covers the occasional die that rolls off the table.
You do not need extra Captain Coasters. The BIG BOX already ships with 8.
If you own the Base Game
The Base Game is the complete game, but it is built for six captains, so the eight-player jump asks a little more of it. The Base Game ships with 6 Cups and 6 Captain coasters. The 8-Player Components pack covers the ships and battle dice for the two new captains, so the two gaps left are cups and coasters.
The Base Game shopping list:
- 8-Player Components pack (required). Same as for the BIG BOX. The ships and battle dice for captains seven and eight.
- 2 Bamboo Cups (required). The Base Game has 6 cups, so two more reaches eight. The 2-pack of Bamboo Cups is the clean top-up, and it upgrades the feel of your whole set at the same time.
- Fan-Inspired Captain Coasters (required). This is the piece Base Game owners cannot skip. The Base Game has only 6 Captain coasters, and eight captains need eight. The Fan-Inspired Captain Coasters set covers all eight seats, and it adds new community-designed abilities that give each captain a little extra personality.
- Crew Dice (recommended). Two more cups in the bidding pool means more dice in play, so spare Crew dice keep every captain fully crewed.
- Gold Coins (recommended). A bigger table burns through coins faster during betting and buying Action cards. More coins, smoother nights.
If you are weighing whether to top up the Base Game piece by piece or simply move up to the complete edition, our Base Game vs BIG BOX vs Cities of Greed buying guide lays out that math in full.
How an 8-player game actually plays
Eight captains do not change the rules. They change the temperature. The three phases are still Betting, Sail, and Action, and the goal is still to lap the modular map back to the Base tile first. What grows is the chaos around the table.
The clearest shift is in the betting pool. Every captain fills their cup and bids on the total quantity of a chosen face value across everyone’s dice, with 1s wild. With eight cups on the table instead of six, there are simply more dice hidden behind those coasters, so bids climb higher before anyone risks a call. The opening bet can be larger too, since the first bid’s quantity can be as high as the number of captains. At eight players, that means an opening bid can reach eight before the bluffing even warms up.
More captains also means more table talk, more reads, and more people watching your hands when you slam a thumbs-up to nudge the bid by one. Betting phases run a little longer because there are more turns before someone shouts “Liar!” The Sail phase carries more survivors into the battles, and the Action phase has more rivals trying to sabotage you. None of that needs a special rule. It is the same game with a fuller, louder table.
🦜 Polly squawks: Eight liars in one cove is twice the fun and twice the betrayal. Just make sure every captain has a cup to hide behind, or someone is going to get caught red-handed for all the wrong reasons.
We have sold more than 16,000 copies of Lying Pirates worldwide, and the game holds a 7.3 on BoardGameGeek across more than 500 reviews. The honest designer’s note on eight players: it is the most raucous way to play, brilliant for a party or an event, and it leans hard into the social bluffing that the game is built around. It is not the tightest, most strategic way to play. That title still belongs to four or five captains. But if your goal is a full table and maximum noise, eight is a riot, and the add-ons above are all it takes to get there.
The full 8-player shopping list
Here is the clean recap. Match the list to your edition, add the recommended extras if you want the fullest table, and you are set.
Required, both editions:
Required for Base Game owners only:
Recommended extras, both editions:
Get the whole crew aboard
Whether you are topping up an existing set or buying the complete edition from the start, here is the fast path to eight captains.
8-Player Components
The required add-on for 7 or 8 captains. Ships and battle dice for two more players.
Deluxe BIG BOX
The complete premium edition. Includes 8 Captain Coasters, so it is the easiest base for an eight-player table.
€125 inc VAT
Base Game
The complete game, retail edition. The lowest-cost way in before you add the eight-player gear.
€40 inc VAT