How to play Chili Bun (Ớt Hiểm): bluff, bid and dodge the chili

The buns, a round, bidding, eating, the chili, house rules and tips, for 3 to 6 players.

Updated 16 October 2026

Chili Bun is a bluffing game for 3 to 6 players. Everyone hides steamed buns in a bamboo steamer, and one of each player's four buns has a chili inside. Then you bid how many buns you dare to eat. Its Vietnamese name, Ớt Hiểm, is the bird's eye chili, and hiểm also means sneaky.

In GatherPlay's Chili Bun your buns are on your phone, where only you see them, and the steamers and every bite are on the shared screen. The server keeps every bun secret and checks every bid, so there are no peeks and no arguments.

The goal

Win two golden chopsticks. You win one each time you eat the whole bid without biting a chili. You also win if everyone else has lost all their buns.

The buns

• Everyone has four buns that look the same from outside: three plain buns and one chili bun.
• A bun is in your hand or in your steamer, stacked with the last one on top.
• On the shared screen and on other phones, a closed bun never shows what is inside.
• A bun you lose is gone for the rest of the game, and only you know which one it was.

A round, step by step

1. Everyone puts one bun from their hand into their steamer, all at once.
2. Then, in turn, add one more bun to your steamer or open the bidding. With no buns left in your hand, you must bid.
3. A bid is how many buns you will eat, from 1 up to every bun in the steamers.
4. In turn, everyone raises the bid or passes. Once you pass, you are out of the bidding for this round.
5. When one bidder is left, or someone bids every bun in play, that player is the eater.

Eating

The eater eats one bun at a time, always from the top of a steamer. Their own steamer comes first: the app bites those buns for them, one by one, until the steamer is empty, the bid is reached or a chili turns up. Then the eater picks other players' steamers, one bite at a time. Eat the whole bid without a chili and you win a golden chopstick.

Biting a chili

• Eating stops, and every bun goes back to its owner's hand.
• Someone else's chili: that player picks one of your buns blind, from a shuffled row. You lose it.
• Your own chili: you choose which of your buns to lose.
• Lose your last bun and you are out. The eater starts the next round; if they are out, the chili's owner starts, or the eater picks who starts if it was their own chili.

House rules

• Lucky Bun, on by default: an eater left with one bun after a chili gets a plain bun everyone knows about, for the next round only. Each player gets it at most once.
• A turn timer, off by default: when time runs out, the game acts for the player, for example steaming a random bun or passing.

Tips

• Your own buns are bitten first. If your chili is in your steamer, a high bid will burn you.
• Bid low with your chili on top: others may think your steamer is safe and bid over you.
• Watch who adds buns and who opens the bidding early. A fast opener often has only plain buns stacked.
• When you bite other steamers, start with the players who bid or passed as if they had nothing to hide.
• Down to one or two buns? Pass more often. One more chili and you are out.

Playing apart

Start a Discord or Google Meet call and share the shared screen's browser tab. Everyone plays from their own phone with the code. Every phone also shows the steamers, so a laggy stream never stops the game.

Start a game

1. Open GatherPlay on the TV and host a Chili Bun game.
2. 3 to 6 players join with the QR code on the screen.
3. Pick the house rules and start.