A Look at Some Strange Dice

A look at 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,16,18,20,24,30,50,60, and 100 sided dice.
www.Dragoncompany.org
Part 2 - • A Look at Some Strange...

[@adamwoolston253]

Kinda want to get the 1-sided die to hand to players who ask to do ridiculous things. “I’d like to seduce the dragon” “Ok, here, I have a special die for rolls like that”

[@be_chill_everyone]

Friend: If u roll a 1 u can move Me with a 1d: YOU UNDERESTIMATE MY POWER.

[@skeletorrobo]

'Yeah it's pretty easy, just roll over 1'. Hands over die.

[@ArthurKhazbs]

Some games have impossible skill checks by design, and a 1d1 roll is perfect for that!

[@ArthurKhazbs]

Also a bit of a technicality, but writing a weapon's constant base damage of X as Xd1 is a rules-as-written way of making it double on critical hits!

[@jackhammer4139]

I met the guy who created the 100 sided die his name is Lou zocchi and he was doing a magic show at a restaurant in gulfport mississippi. I was 8 at the time so I didnt really talk to him much but my dad has known him for many years. Lou used to have a little gaming shop in gulfport mississippi and my dad always went to his shop to look at his stuff. lou told my dad that the die had an extra layer on it so it would be unbreakable. and then my dad put that to the test with a lawnmower and it was in fact unbreakable. just some stuff I thought was interesting

[@YongyoonKim]

RIP Lou Zocchi

[@Mitchell2311]

@@YongyoonKim he is still alive

[@Nhatanh0475]

"Lou told my đa that the die" Never know to test the unbreakable ability of something would be only using the lawnmower instead of a hammer.

[@alexanderbinz7380]

I bought my first dice set, i dont even play any games that they are used in. i just wanted some.

[@DionysusFascinus]

Alexander Binz Haha I've always wanted a set but was never able to justify it. Recently ran into a game with a crappy scoring mechanism and immediately had my excuse to order some.

[@eizzah8323]

Alexander Binz Same I only bought a set (4/6/8/10*2/12/20) and I plan to buy a D30

[@chupathingy5862]

TheÆtherPlayer/Azωת you can get full sets on eBay staring from a dollar up.

[@SovereignVis]

Who says you need to use dice for playing a game? Sometimes you come across a really hard decision to make. That is when you let the dice decide. :)

[@emjaygluck2242]

Me too lol

[@BeeTeej03]

If anyone brings these dice to my D&D table they’re getting smacked

[@skye648]

To be honest, the d100 would be useful once or twice for percentile rolls...

[@Luigicat11]

@@skye648 Most of the rolls in Call of Cthulhu are percentile so it'd be useful for that.

[@MaxStirnerFan185]

Luigicat11 but you can just use d10 and % die

[@amadeusgamer7000]

why? he's not gonna use them

[@GalakStarscraper]

Nice video Dragon Co. The 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 18 in the video were from Impact! Miniatures and are normally $2 a piece. We also have a 16, 24 and 30.

[@DragonCompany1]

+Impact Miniatures Thank you, I got them for about £2 a piece, maybe I should shop around in the US more and save a bit.

[@GalakStarscraper]

+Dragon Co. We are the original source so probably less expensive here. We do have a D22 as well.

[@dirt1684]

The d3 is the best looking odd sided dye because it is symmetrical

[@VulKus117]

I really love this video! Watched it many times.

[@potatoheadpokemario1931]

I favorite die in my collection is the skew D4, it's so much better than the normal D4, more fair, one side face up as opposed to a point on top and something about it is so fun to roll

[@redrolacitebahpla]

the "Flattened out" die were called truncated shapes.

[@danielbickford3458]

My dad had one of the d100, I think we still have it somewere

[@MuzikBike]

Pretty sure the d18 is actually just a modified rhombicuboctahedron, and wasn't derived from a sphere.

[@DragonCompany1]

That is possible, but it isn't the story the manufacturer provided.

[@helpthereisaspiderundermyb9883]

What kind of die is a rhinobotulismhedron?

[@MuzikBike]

Just got myself a d18 a week ago and it does indeed appear to have an overall rhombicuboctahedral shape. The d26 seems to also have this shape as well, although many of the squares do seem to be distorted into rectangles somewhat.

[@puppiesarepower3682]

Dollar Tree has a set of these; I just bought a pack for the heck of it earlier in the evening.

[@emsguybob]

I really like my 12 sided d6 dice.

[@dirt1684]

This video urged me to order these wierd dice online.

[@blajouskowits33]

I play Dragon Quest and 16 on percentiles is actually really good. Closer to 001 with the role of the two the better. (dunno if another game prefers closer to 100 but meh)

[@thgar4850]

The most common and best dice are platonic solids - the common 4, 6, 8, 12, 20. The 10 sided as well as your 50 sided and a 14 sided and a 34 sided are of a trapezohedron class of dice. The 16 sided is a dipyramid. There is no reason why we could not produce other dice in these classes. In general, die with a multiple of 4 sides would be better as a dipyramid while a die with an even number of sides that is not a multiple of 4 would be better as a trapezohedron. There are also catalan solid dice including your 24, 30 and 60 sided dice. A complete set would include two more 12 sided dice, a total of four 24 sided dice, the 30 sided die, a 48 sided die, a total of four 60 sided dice, and a 120 sided die. All odd sided dice are not true dice in the meaningful definition of the word. Nor are the cut spheres. Other dice are possible, but I tend to like the platonics, catalans, dipyramids, and trapezohedrons. Oh, the 14 sided you showed was based upon the "juryeonggu" die. It is a very old design use in Korea more than a 1000 years ago for drinking games. The original "die" was an isogonal truncated octahedron. It is not a true die, but can be nearly fair.

[@REDDOD56]

What great unintentional ASMR

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

I'm surprised to see that there isn't a 120-sided dice in existence. I'd imagine that such a dice could be made by modifying the pentagonal faces of a 12-sided dice or the triangular faces of a 20-sided dice.

[@DragonCompany1]

+ShadowWolfTJC They do exist, unfortunately only in a limited custom sense. (www.dicecollector.com/DICEINFO_WHAT_SHAPES_DO_DICE_HAVE.html#D120) I think the reason they aren't mass manufactured is their size. They would have so much mass to stop, and they wouldn't give a unique enough probability set to be more useful than combinations of already existing dice, so it just isn't worth it to make them in a similar fashion the Gamescience D100 (which is more cool than useful) that would eliminate their momentum.

[@Nicoder6884]

They are mass produced now!

[@DragonCompany1]

Indeed they are available now. thedicelab.com/d120.html

[@nathanilsaenz8178]

I think Louis Zocchi designed the d24 and I think original koplow used his design with his permission or something like that

[@MG_]

Question: For fairness sake or for good durability, would it be smart to get dice with sharper edges or more rounded edges?

[@DragonCompany1]

If molded to the correct proportions a die with sharper edges will always be more fair than a similar die with rounder edges (that's why casino dice are so sharp and replaced so often). The problem with them is that they are uncomfortable to hold and more easily damage things (like Gamescience precision D4s that have cut off edges because they could easily be dangerous without them). But for all intents and purposes the rounding process most companies use doesn't effect the probability of the die enough to be worth noting (unless your gambling with them). As far as I can tell there would be no difference in "durability" save your dice inevitably getting rounder faster, which would still be imperceivably slow.

[@deepsiskonine]

d4 = caltrop

[@bingus5775]

I never noticed that

[@immortalwolf3055]

try stepping on one, you will see why we call it a caltrop aside from the specific shape.

[@GalakStarscraper]

We make a D4 that is read from the top and is not a caltrop. ;-)

[@phizzhead53]

make the caltrop traps damage roll be a bunch of d4s lol

[@poftim7773]

An alphabetic D26 would be cool.

[@DragonCompany1]

It would certainly be better than the Alphabet D30 they have now with 4 "wilds."

[@EmperorHArdian]

You're a freak alright. But that was surprisingly interesting to watch.

[@NuclearRaven13]

D24 looks like a spikey cube for some reason.

[@skye648]

iS tHAT a joJo ReFrEnCe

[@AboAlrokDawn]

My favorite is the 12 dice.

[@gruknarorcishwar-yerhereto8489]

Ever see a D6 thats a orb? like a perfect sphere? My local comic store had one in the 10 cent bin and it was impossible to work with

[@DragonCompany1]

I have... They seem more like a novelty item than one that is actually meant to be used. In a game they would just introduce a little too much subjectivity and annoyance.

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

Gosh. It's been a long time since I had last commented, huh? Anyways, I've since discovered some unusual historic alternatives towards the kinds of modern-day traditional dice that we all may be more familiar with on tabletop games, and they are the long dice ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_dice ) and the teetotums ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teetotum ), both of which I'd find to be ideal to include in your dice collections if you need, say, any odd-sided dice, such as a d3, d5, d7, d9, d11, or d13 for your tabletop gaming needs. Also, if you're looking for an alternatively-shaped d10 (which is shaped like a pentagonal trapezohedron), or a d14, d16, or d18, then might I suggest looking into some barrel dice ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_dice )?

[@spliffi869]

cool stuff. thx for sharing

[@joeyhotdog]

This was oddly relaxing

[@ourpetsarecute3110]

You’ve got to wonder wtf kind of game requires d7

[@jannesiukkola1877]

Or d1; "Roll d1, when the decision is already made." :D

[@xxfireowlxx474]

100 sided dice for board games like D&D

[@imogen1]

I don't get the larger dice since you can use the same method as the D% & D10 for any composite number. Just take two dice with sides that multiply to make the larger number, regarding the highest value on each as a zero, roll one of each and multiply one roll by the number of sides on the other die and add that number to the second roll. Double zero makes your highest value, the same way that two digits of 100 just looks like 00, bing bang boom, got ur any sided dice (provided it's not a prime number). Easy as pie

[@imogen1]

Honestly, you would think nobody on this planet had ever thought to use a positional number system with variable multipliers instead of exponentation, smfh.

[@imogen1]

@Oliver's 50th Account "Brother?" It's just you and me in my replies afaik (Also... It's a joke? Literally the weirdest response.)

[@imogen1]

@Oliver's 50th Account Okay, yeah I get that you don't like my joke. That's fine. It's okay to not enjoy someone else's humor. Why are you calling me "brother?"

[@imogen1]

@Oliver's 50th Account You... aren't okay are you?

[@imogen1]

@Oliver's 50th Account Why are you so mad?

[@HuyenPhan-ir2wo]

I have all of the dice in the description except the d100 and d1

[@dyl_out]

wow great educational video! :)

[@orsonzedd]

Gulfport, MS. made by Louis Zocchi, the Zocchihedron

[@jackhammer4139]

Orson Zedd I met the guy who made it I live in gulfport

[@jackhammer4139]

Orson Zedd I met the guy who made it I live in gulfport

[@IsiahTomas]

4:48, Pearl shaped 3 sided, in case anyone's searching

[@wanehilic3187]

With the 9 million dice i managed to get 10 dice, the standard 7 and 3 decimal place dice

[@dirt1684]

I have I a 48 sided dye that is yet to arrive

[@melissakio1840]

The 100 dice ; how do you know which number is the one you pick to play? there are a lot of numbers upwards.

[@DragonCompany1]

+Melissa Kio It's a little harder to see on camera and at an angle, but in person, especially if you're right over it, it's pretty easy to see which number is pointing directly up. And the fact that the numbers are surrounded by circles instead of multi-sided faces with angles that could get confusing also helps.

[@jannesiukkola1877]

Just don't push the table. :D

[@lukefranklin5]

Is there any way to get the d2 that you 3d printed for myself? I really like that design and don’t really like do use the d4 for 50/50 scinarios

[@DragonCompany1]

Here's a link to the one I ordered: www.shapeways.com/product/C7NPKN5WW/d2-basic-die-5-inches-by-1-inches

[@jannesiukkola1877]

How should you locate numbers so that it's fair?

[@umbrielvandelune9521]

Where can I buy the ten million set? I love it.

[@DragonCompany1]

The particular set of dice in the video was assembled from multiple sets. The 4 in the 10,000 set are available at many game/dice stores in various color sets (I happened to get mine from the Dice Shop Online). The others are available from classroom resource providers, or eBay, which is where I got mine. Each one had to be purchased individually and were under "Place Value Dice". But I have seen several complete sets on eBay since.

[@locrin77]

This 100-sided dice, or rather 100-sided ball - seems pretty inaccurate. Each side is so small that, when it finally stops rolling, it is hard to tell the number you rolled. Isn't it easier and faster to use two d10's. I have a golf ball that looks and behaves much like this one big d100 :P

[@DragonCompany1]

Of course it would be easier, but I don't think it's as much fun. (It is much easier to see the number you rolled in person than it seems in this video)

[@eeang3]

7:05 the 9 dice look interesting

[@carlosbarreto4695]

***** Is this d5 *really* a fair dice? Ok, we know that dice are not perfect, but that dice seems to be very prone to roll a 1 or 5 due to it's surface.

[@DragonCompany1]

+Carlos Barreto I know the Gamescience version of the D5 is as fair as can be with any die. Mine is a more mass-manufactured version, but after rolling it for a while it seems as fair as would be needed for game playing purposes. I'd only gamble with Gamescience though.

[@carlosbarreto4695]

***** Thank you for your reply. I purchase some sets of the "My Everything Dice Set" from Impact Miniatures . Although they arrived, I don't have them right now because I'm in another city. But I strongly believe they're are made of excelent quality. I'm glady I had the chance to buy these dice and I will make a review of them as soon as I can. The set contains 18 dice: d3 (the "false" version, which is just a d6 with repeated numbers), d4, d5, d6, d7, d8, d9, d10, d10%, d11, d12, d14, d16, d18, d20, d22, d24 and d30. Do you use these dice in Dungeon Crawl Classics?

[@GalakStarscraper]

+Carlos Barreto ... The D5 in the video all 5 of the surfaces are the exact same size and are equal distance from the center mase so there are equal odds for it to land on each side.

[@DragonCompany1]

+Carlos Barreto I'm glad I could provide information, I'll have to check that set out as I have yet to see a D22 that isn't 3D printed, it would be interesting to get. And I don't use the dice for any specific games, I collect them more as novelty items because I prefer to devote time to shorter table top games as opposed to RPGs.

[@TheOliverBrounShow]

+Carlos Barreto If it were incredibly long, you would know that it would be unfair to the sides at the end. If it were incredibly short, you would know it would be unfair to the sides on the edges. There has to be a balance in between somewhere.

[@lisabeck1140]

I don't know if anyone has commented on this yet, but, as you came to discover in this video, yes, you can patent dice. This page here has a list of them: www.dicecollector.com/DICEINFO_PATENTS.html. As for copyrights, typically they protect things like books and videos, whereas trademarks typically protect brands and logos. Here's a short tutorial on the differences between trademark, patent, and copyright, compliments of your United States Patent and Trademark Office: www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics/trademark-patent-or-copyright. BTW, interesting video. You clearly have a passion for dice and did a thorough job of showing us the ones you have. Nice collection. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[@RainyBat]

I am so upset that D20 is out of production

[@lg_unofficial]

My dices is for june(d3-d100)

[@galvanizeddreamer2051]

You can actually get a d16 in the style of your d12/14/18/24.

[@leonp7235]

Thanks for the video. I'm working on a home brew game and i want to rip off cortex, but i want to use every dice from d1 (1,1,1,0,0,0) up to d20. How much do you know about which odd numbered dice are actually fair? I want to find dice that go up to d19. Oh, and does anybody print D4s on a D8? I've never seen one but it makes sense doesn't it?

[@DragonCompany1]

It depends on what you mean by "fair." Dice with an odd number of sides that have been made for the general public are about as fair as their even-sided counterparts. Both of these types of dice are less fair than casino dice, but generally not enough to make a significant difference in games being played "casually." The dice made from spheres with flattened edges are more likely to be fair than their strangely-shaped angular-faced counterparts, but the companies producing have put them through enough testing that that shouldn't be a problem. I have seen 1-4 printed on a D8 before, but I don't know where one could find them now, and I also know of no companies that manufacture 17 or 19-sided dice (so that would require an order from Shapeways). (Sidenote: your description of a D1 would appear to be a D2, since it has two possible outcomes of "1" and "0")

[@roby9631]

could someone inform me for which game is a 1 sided die needed

[@leonp7235]

Ancient board games, the game people played in the kingdom of Sumer (Ur), Sennet & other such games - Values are zero and one, normally rolled on 4 dice (0+0+0+0=5), I just use wooden cubes with three sides painted black. I recommend Sennet, its similar to backgammon.

[@leonp7235]

of course, in Africa and the middle east they use flat sticks not cubes. Or twigs split in half. And there are some beautifully carved and painted bone sets.

[@roby9631]

Thanks, i'll look in to it. I might look for some of the bone sets, too

[@leonp7235]

The ManJar i think you have to make the bone slats your self. Unless your able to find something at Trade Aid.

[@D.C.T.23]

Where do you get a 32 sided die?!

[@DragonCompany1]

A 3D printing service like Shapeways is the only reliable place I know of (and where I got the one in the video). Some have been made over the years but I don't think any were mass-produced. ( www.shapeways.com/product/U989B3RZU/d32-sphere-dice?optionId=40747046 )

[@D.C.T.23]

Thank you! I have been looking up and down for some d32!

[@KurNorock]

I want a 100 sided die because percentile rolls in games like D&D. It is just more interesting rolling 1 big die for the number rather than rolling two ten sided die.

[@beanstheclown]

You are definitely welcome to do so, but I would advise against it unless you really like extra random results. A d100 based on 2d10s actually has a very different probability curve than an actual d100. If the table/effect/probability was created with 2d10 in mind then most likely the effects that the designer intended to occur most often will be those in the middle ranges because 2d10 will trend toward the middle with large numbers and small numbers coming up more frequently. Using a d100 for these rolls will result in every number having an equal chance of occurring and thus events/results that are intended to be less common or even rare occurring far more frequently.. This is not inherently wrong but will result in far more random game with wild swings in probability/effect/what-have-you. Just something to think about.

[@DragonCompany1]

There is actually no difference in the probability curve of a d100 vs 2d10 representing a percent (d100) (there's actually no curve at all) as there would be in say a d12 vs 2d6. In the case of 2d6 the results are added together, making numbers in the middle (like 7) more likely (and the number 1 impossible). With 2d10 as percentile each number is used as a place value instead of being added, making all results equally likely (if the dice are fair).

[@pablo2495]

You call a six sided die a strange die? Wow.

[@steampunkastronaut7081]

I lost my 38 sided dice, anyone found it...? Or the reference?

[@EMO_KID591]

Is this a gravity falls reference cuz I totally understand what you mean if it is

[@filipbenuska5355]

where do you actually use these? I know d&d has some d3 rolls, but i never saw d11 anywhere...

[@DragonCompany1]

Most of them are just for the novelty. There are cases like: the odd D&D rule, Dungeon Crawl Classics, or Dice Farmer, where they come up but I've never actually played a game that used any past the standard set. It's just fun to have weird dice to roll.

[@MaeveFirstborn]

Cool.

[@excrafter7419]

I wish I had all those!

[@swampwiz]

The 14,18 & 100 are not true fair dice.

[@DragonCompany1]

While they may not be "true" dice, in the sense that not all the sides are the same shape meeting at the same angle, they are as fair as any die that has been through the tumbling process, as they don't have any bias toward one face. (the same could be said about the 7, 5, or 16 for that matter)

[@proven22x52]

my d100 is green

[@rgsd1969]

I can relate to bin

[@chesterules]

or roll the 60 sided die on the carpet :D

[@rgsd1969]

*binz*

[@excrafter7419]

1 sided dice XD

[@sagesarrazine6270]

Also known as marble.

[@orsonzedd]

percentile dice are boring

[@darkraiknb4279]

are you an only child?