Dice

Dice are small things we throw.

Most dice are cubes. They have dots on each side. These dots are called pips.

You roll them to pick a number. This helps you play games. Dice can have many shapes. Some have four sides. Others have twenty sides.

People have played with dice for a long time. It is fun to roll them!

Dice are small objects that people throw to pick numbers.

Most dice are cubes with six sides. These sides have dots called pips. On a standard die, opposite sides add up to seven.

People use dice for many games. You might use them for board games or role-playing games. Dice have been used for a very long time. Some old dice were made of bone. Others were made of clay.

Dice can come in many shapes. Some have four sides. Others have twenty sides. These are called polyhedral dice. Some people use a ten-sided die to pick a number.

There are two main kinds of dice. Non-precision dice are for social games. They often have rounded corners. Precision dice are used in casinos. These dice are very balanced. They often have flat markings. They also have sharp edges. Some dice are even made to be unfair. These are called loaded dice. They are made to land on certain numbers more often.

Dice are small, throwable objects used to pick random numbers.

People use them in many ways. You might see them in board games or role-playing games. Some people even use them for games of chance. They work by landing on a face that shows a value. This value can be a number or a symbol.

Most common dice are cubes with six sides. These sides use dots called pips to show numbers from one to six. On a standard die, the opposite sides always add up to seven.

Making dice involves different steps depending on how they are used.

Many dice are made through plastic injection molding. This uses a material called PMMA. To add colors, makers add pigments to the plastic. To add numbers, they dip the die in paint. Then, they use a process called tumble finishing. This scrapes paint out of the indents to show the numbers. It also makes the edges smooth and rounded.

Precision dice for casinos are made differently. They are often made from bars of cellulose acetate. These dice have flush markings that are flat against the surface. They also have very sharp edges.

Dice have a very long history that goes back to before recorded time.

Some people think dice grew from using animal bones for fortune-telling. In ancient Egypt, people played a game called senet. They used flat, two-sided throwsticks to move. The oldest known dice were found in the Burnt City in Iran. These date to between 2800 and 2500 BCE.

Bone dice were also found in Skara Brae, Scotland. These are dated from 3100 to 2400 BCE. In the Indus Valley, people used terracotta dice. Some of these even had opposite sides that added up to seven.

Different cultures have used many kinds of dice through the years.

In ancient Greece, people played a game called Knucklebones. Romans were also big fans of dicing. They had large dice called Tali and small dice called Tesserae. In China, dice helped lead to the invention of dominoes and playing cards. In Japan, people used dice for a game called sugoroku. There were two types of this game. Ban-sugoroku was like backgammon. E-sugoroku was a racing game.

Some dice can even be made to be unfair. These are called loaded dice. They are designed to favor certain results.

Dice come in many shapes besides the standard cube.

You can find polyhedral dice, which have many flat sides. Some sets include shapes called Platonic solids. These include dice with four, eight, twelve, or twenty sides.

A ten-sided die is also very common. Some people use twenty-sided dice for games. Some of these are special "spindown" dice. They help players count down numbers like health points.

Even a four-sided die is unique. It does not have a top face when it rests. Instead, you read the number near the top point. All these shapes help make games exciting and varied.

A die is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions.

People use dice to generate random values during many activities. These include tabletop games, board games, and role-playing games. They are also used in games of chance. When a die is thrown, it comes to rest showing a value on its upper surface. This value is a random integer. In a fair die, each possible value is equally likely to appear.

The mechanics of a die roll rely on the laws of classical mechanics. The result is determined by how the die is thrown. Minor factors, such as tiny movements in a thrower's hand, create uncertainty. This uncertainty makes the roll random. Because of this, dice act as a crude form of hardware random number generator.

Dice are often thrown by hand or from a container. These containers might include a cup, a tray, or a tower. The value is read from the uppermost face, corner, or edge.

Most common dice are cubes with six faces. These faces are marked with dots called pips. On a traditional die, opposite sides always add up to seven.

This rule requires the one, two, and three faces to share a single vertex. Dice can be classified by their chirality, or "handedness." If the one, two, and three faces run counterclockwise, the die is right-handed. Western dice are normally right-handed. However, Chinese dice are normally left-handed.

Asian-style dice also feature pips that are closer to the center of the face. On these dice, the one and four sides often have red pips.

Dice manufacturing is divided into precision and non-precision categories. Non-precision dice are often made of polymethyl methacrylate, also known as PMMA.

These are usually opaque with recessed markings and rounded edges. They are made using plastic injection molding. To add numbers, the die is submerged in paint and then undergoes tumble finishing. This process uses abrasives to scrape paint out of the indents. Precision dice are used in casinos and are often translucent.

These are made from bars of extruded cellulose acetate. They feature flush markings and sharp, square edges. To prevent cheating, each casino die carries a serial number and a logo.

The history of dice is very long and uncertain.

Some scholars hypothesize that dice developed from fortune-telling with animal knucklebones. The oldest known dice were found at the Burnt City in Iran. These date to between 2800 and 2500 BCE. Bone dice were also found in Skara Brae, Scotland, dating to 3100–2400 BCE. In the Indus Valley, terracotta dice have been found from 2500–1900 BCE. Some of these ancient dice already featured opposite sides that added up to seven.

Different cultures have used various types of dice for centuries.

Ancient Romans enjoyed dicing, which they called "aleam ludere." They used large dice called Tali and smaller dice called Tesserae. In China, dice led to the development of dominoes and playing cards. In Japan, dice were used for the game of sugoroku. There were two types: Ban-sugoroku and the racing game E-sugoroku.

Some dice are even designed to be "loaded." These are modified to favor specific results for cheating or entertainment.

Modern players also use polyhedral dice, which have many different shapes.

Many sets include the five Platonic solids. These shapes provide dice with four, eight, twelve, or twenty faces.

A common non-cubical die is the ten-sided pentagonal trapezohedron.

Some twenty-sided dice are called "spindown" dice. These are arranged so players can easily count down numbers, such as health points. Even a four-sided tetrahedral die is unique. Because it has no top face, the value is read near the top vertex.