Celebrating National Dice Day with 9 Intriguing Dice-Related Facts

As you have probably noticed, every day is a national or international day of something, meaning the year is full of opportunities to organize some celebrations and throw a party. December 4 is one of those days that the land-based and online gambling community found particularly interesting as that day is known as National Dice Day.

This small throwable object which comes in various sizes and shapes and is crafted of versatile materials, holds the reputation of an ancient gambling tool. Believe it or not, it has been around for thousands of years. Cards aside, this tiny gadget is one of the most basic bits of equipment used in gambling and board games.

Thinking of the best ways to celebrate National Dice Day, playing a dice game such as Craps or Sic Bo seems like a logical choice, but there are some alternatives as well. If you want to boost your knowledge of dice, buckle up and enjoy these nine interesting facts we’ve prepared for you!

🎲#1 Dice have a long, long history

While determining the exact origin and date when dice came into being is rather hard, what we can tell for certain is that they’ve been around for thousands of years.

The oldest known dice were unearthed at the Burnt City, an archaeological site in south-eastern Iran. A group of archaeologists found a dice which is believed to be of an old set of a Backgammon game, which is estimated to be from between 2800 and 2500 BCE.

Aside from this, the bone dice from Skara Brae, Scotland are from 3100–2400 BCE, whereas the terracotta dice found in graves at an Indus Valley civilization settlement, date to 2500–1900 BCE.

What comes as quite interesting is that the opposite sides of at least one of the dice excavated, all add up to seven, which is the same as in modern dice.

🎲# 2 A variety of materials is used to craft dice

Cellulose, acrylic, resin, and similar plastic materials are the most common materials used to make dice. Other options include glass, wood, seeds, metals, or even cardboard, the lattermost of which are the rarest because they are the least durable.

But before any of these materials we know nowadays were invented, what do you think people used to craft dice? Well, bones, of course. The earliest civilizations used the ankle bones of animals, their hooves, and tusks and carved them until they reached the desired shapes and sizes.

🎲#3 Dice come in unusual shapes

Depending on the game type, the size of meeples, miniatures, pawns, standees, and other elements of the game, the size of a die differs as well.

On the other hand, when two people talk about “dice”, they don’t have to picture the same shape necessarily. The most frequently used one is the standard 6-sided die, also known as d6. If you belong to Dungeons & Dragons fans, you’ve surely been presented with d4, d8, d10, d12, and d20, known as Platonic solids.

But there are even more fascinating varieties, going all the way to d48, d60 or d120. “Is that even usable?”- I hear you saying. The lattermost was crafted with the help of a 3D printer, it’s not a handmade gadget.

Other than these, there are mirror-symmetric dice, face doubling, Catalan solids, crystal-shaped dice, the cylindrical d5, spherical dice, Archimedean solids, bipyramids, prisms, antiprisms, truncated spheres, and many other geometrically intriguing shapes have already been manufactured. Who knows what those that are yet to see the light of the day will look like?

🎲#4 Tiny dots on dice are called pips

That’s right, they aren’t just any dots you’d encounter on a flower’s leaf, one’s umbrella, or a coffee mug. These are called pips. A traditional dice, used in a predominant number of games has six sides with pips representing numbers from one to six.

The most common two variants are black dice with white pips and white dice with black pips, but in some board games, you may find them in a variety of color combinations. What matters the most is that the pips remain visible, so that every player can spot the number without a problem.

🎲#5 Dice are the reason why seven is considered the lucky number

Take a look at the pips of opposite sides of any traditional six-sided die. The combination of numbers is one and six, two and five, and three and four, meaning each combo adds up to seven. When rolling two dice, the chances to get seven are rather high. With this in your mind, you can be pretty sure that the odds can sometimes be in your favor.

🎲# 6 A roll of a dice can(not) be manipulated

Cheating is one of the hottest topics among gamblers, and dice games certainly aren’t an exception. Controlled roll is one of the tactics often used by players, but it still doesn’t guarantee 100% winnings.

You’ve probably heard of loaded dice, which represent weighted dice, often with off-square faces used by throwers to cheat. Although this is more common in the underground gambling stage, don’t be surprised to encounter that in a crooked land-based casino.

Certain manipulation techniques are used in board games as well. This leads us to an important conclusion. Physical games which include real people and human dealers are more susceptible to cheating. As games in online casinos rely on random number generators (RNG) aka machines, there’s less room for that. Unless the games are rigged, but that’s another story.

It takes years and years to master the art of throwing dice and become a skillful dice shooter, but even then, no one can be absolutely sure that every roll will be a winning one. Instead of preoccupying themselves with high expectations, players should simply enjoy the game, and let Lady Luck do her job.

🎲#7 Some dice sets can be quite expensive

When it comes to casino games, dice shape and size are more or less the same and rather common. It was the creation of Dungeons & Dragons and similar games that revolutionized the dice manufacturing sector.

Available in stunning colors, unusual shapes, and versatile sizes, certain dice sets can be quite pricey. For example, the price for a DnDice Grand Elder Dragon Series set ranges from $115 to $500. Level Up Dice Heavy Metal Tungsten Polyhedral Set costs over $630, whereas the prize for the World’s Smallest Dice by Iriso Seimitsu is $880.

But an undisputed leader in the category is a Roman Glass d20 dating from the 2^nd century, a deep blue-green die with individual symbols carved on each of the faces. This very die was sold at an auction for $17,925.

🎲# 8 Dice has starred in numerous movies and books

Gambling has always been an inspiration for moviemakers. In Indecent Proposal, Diana and David Murphy (Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson) encounter John Gage (Robert Redford) playing a game of craps.

In case you are a fan of the Bond franchise, then you’ve surely noticed that in Skyfall, Bond (Daniel Craig) plays Sic Bo at the Floating Dragon Casino in Macau. In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest lost souls serving as the crew of the Flying Dutchmen play the Liar’s Dice.

Literature isn’t exempted from this craze either. There’s a plethora of guidebooks with techniques and strategies explained as well, but you may also encounter books where dice appear in a different scenario.

For example, The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart, tells the story of a depressed psychiatrist who decides to roll the dice and determine his fate. As the story unfolds, he finds himself challenging his identity and abandoning his comfortable middle-class life.

🎲#9 The English language is full of dice idioms, expressions, and proverbs

Do you sometimes feel like you are in a pair-o-dice? Did you know that dice’s favorite music is rock’n’roll? Have you ever wondered what dice do to lose weight? They go on a die-t.

Sometimes, things can be quite uncertain, so don’t be obsessed with thinking whether you’ll fail or succeed, as it’s simply a roll of the dice. No matter what happens, let the good times roll.

Talking about the combination of numbers that appears when dice are rolled , snake eyes are probably the most popular lingo. It represents two ones, which means an unlucky outcome. In craps slang, when one rolls a nine, it is called Nina. Acey-Deucey is a roll of one and two, whereas Puppy Paws means rolling two fours, totaling eight.

The list can go on and on, but the point is clear- dice and words in close connection with it are an integral part of our everyday speech. Some humorous, some making a serious point, all these puns, expressions, and idioms are there to make the English language richer and more interesting.

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We hope this editorial has brought you some interesting insights into one of the oldest gambling gadgets. The way things seem, dice will remain an integral part of numerous games

Is there any dice-related fact you’d like to share with us? If the answer is positive, hit the comments section below, we can’t wait to hear from you.

Happy National Dice Day & gamble responsibly!