Air bubble in dice-affecting rolls?

[Nai_Calus]

It depends really on what you're looking for.

For example, for most dice rolling I prefer the sharp gamescience dice, especially for stuff like d20s that likes to roll off the table otherwise.

For Shadowrun I refuse to use them and use the rounded-corner pipped d6s you get in blocks because it's too hard to get a dozen sharp-cornered d6s to roll to my tastes, but the rounded ones slip and slide against eachother and mix up in my hands nicely to be tossed on the table. (Plus 12mms are easier to roll a bunch of at once)

That and my GS dice have been banned for Shadowrun after rolling so consistently badly one night that after a particularly bad roll of seventeen dice on an important roll one of the other players handed me some of their dice(in a group that doesn't like other people touching their dice) and the GM made me re-roll the roll I'd just made and done horribly on.

Honestly for RPGs pretty much anybody's dice is good(Although I have an inexplicable dislike for both Crystal Caste and Koplow, and always use Chessex or Gamescience if I can. Of course I have over 800 dice...)

 

[Obryn]

Aw, well I bought a dice set from chessex, as well as everyone else I game with, and my d20 is kinda rounded on all edges, and it does roll a really long time :/ so I'm guessing chessex is crap or what?

Heck no.

The kinds of variability in mostly-fair dice shouldn't be apparent until you hit thousands of rolls. And even then, odds are you won't actually notice. It's likely that, even if a die is slightly biased, you might think that its bias is different than it is, based on your expectations.

More or less, unless you're actually running a trial of a few thousand rolls or more and tracking the frequency of each result, it should be minor. What's more, if a 20-sider adds up to 21 on opposite sides like most do, it will have an average roll identical to a fair die.

(Now, that's assuming the die isn't horribly misshapen. If it's just a little off, it's almost certainly fine.)

Personally, though, I love my Gamescience dice and wouldn't give them up for the world. I just need more of them.

-O

 

[Jeff Wilder]

If folks are actually concerned about bias in a die, perform a chi-square test on it. I've performed probably 100 tests of 200 trials or more, and I have yet to find a commercial die that shows any bias over 200 trials.

Nowadays, as I creak and groan into middle age, the biggest draw for me in a die is, by far, visibility. I don't want to have to squint to read a die, nor (even worse) do I want my players to actually pick up their dice to read them. I just don't understand why anybody would use dice with such poor contrast and visibility.

Anyway, my dice of choice now are Koplow's big ones ... I think the d20s are 30 mm.

 

[MortalPlague]

Great video, thanks for sharing! I'd always wondered about that...

I would buy some gamescience dice right now, but I detest that style of d4... give me the ones with the numbers on the points...

 

[malraux]

If folks are actually concerned about bias in a die, perform a chi-square test on it. I've performed probably 100 tests of 200 trials or more, and I have yet to find a commercial die that shows any bias over 200 trials.

Realistically, this is the basic standard. The theory of dice production is interesting, but if there's little affect on randomness, then it doesn't matter. Casinos deal with much larger volumes of rolling and have lots of people who would pick up on lack of randomness.

If the cheaply produce dice do have non-randomness in them, it would be nice to know exactly how much non-randomness.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Great video, thanks for sharing! I'd always wondered about that...

That was a great video. I was rapt.

I detest that style of d4... give me the ones with the numbers on the points...

I wish more folks made d12's marked off 1-4 (three times). I have five of these (for magic missile, natch).

I can't stand rolling the normal pyramidal d4's and I can't believe that the way you hold the die doesn't affect the outcome. The throw doesn't seem fair.

 

[sjmiller]

For those who are having trouble with rolling 4-sided dice, or who do not feel that they roll well, I have a two word suggestion: Dice Cup. Take one from a backgammon set, or buy a nice one with ridges on the inside. Roll your d4 in there and you will get a nice clean roll every time. I suggest a dice cup for all rolls, but then I like the way they sound.

 

[frankthedm]

ok, that vid really changed my opinion on dice buying. Even taking what Zocci said with a grain of salt, two layers of paint and multiple goes in a rock tumbler sure sound like a recipe for biased dice.

 

[Alan Shutko]

What does everyone else do about the pieces of the sprue left on gamescience dice? Mine had some pretty big pieces that definitely affected rolling, so I had to shave them off... which probably also affected rolling. At least tumbled dice look regular.

 

[Obryn]

What does everyone else do about the pieces of the sprue left on gamescience dice? Mine had some pretty big pieces that definitely affected rolling, so I had to shave them off... which probably also affected rolling. At least tumbled dice look regular.

I have a noticeable one on my 6-sider. And I don't know how much of a difference it makes. According to Lou, it doesn't make a difference; he talks about it in the video. I don't know if I believe him.

I like my gamescience dice more for aesthetics than for ultimate statistical randomness.

-O