1) "Dice" is a term used to describe any of the various 3D geometric shapes frequently used for gaming purposes save perhaps for the 2-sided coin. As such, its use isn't limited to the d6 or cube, although that is the most familiar dice, particularly to non-gamers.
2) Dice are usually assumed to be fair, which means no side has a greater chance of coming up than any other. The TC mentioned this in his post. Dice which do not meet this requirement might still be considered dice, but would be considered "fixed" or "weighted" and disqualified from most use for this reason. Thus they do not fall within this current topic.
3) The singular for dice could arguably be "die" or "dice". In my book, either is acceptable, although the plural is always "dice". (This is also the ruling of the author of "Alien Dice" a webcomic, based on dictionary definitions.)
There does exist a 100-sided dice, although it resembles a sort of golf ball with divots more than anything else. It's simpler to use 2 10-sided dice for those rolls in my opinion. (10-sided dice typically use 0-9 for sides, rather than 1-10, and they do make them specifically for the tens digit as well, 00-90)
Originally posted by sonhouse \Adding dots to represent larger #'s like 10 would make them difficult to easily be read off by the uneducated slobs most likely to use them. So it would seem unpractical to use more than 12 faces, needs to be even #'s so there is only one top face.
I would think 12 faces would be max for practical reasons then.
I have a game that uses a 20-sided die and is easily readable. Of course I'm not an uneducated slob either...
20 and 30 sided dice are actually fairly simple to read, especially from a bird's-eye view. Of course, I do believe that 6-siders are the only ones to use pips. Most other dice (and many 6 sided dice as well) use numerals.
A few distinct dice use symbols which indicate things other than numbers, but these tend to be dice attached to a single particular game.
Dice
05 Mar '07 08:59
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