Check Out These T-Rex Bone Dice... But They'll Cost You!

If you have some spare cash to burn, you can back a crowdfunding project for polyhedral gaming dice made out of genuine T-Rex bone fossils. They're not cheap, though!

The bone is, apparently, ethically sourced--coming from "scraps and broken fragments" not used by museums or scientists. The dice come in three different styles (and prices!); the most expensive option is a set of dice carved from solid bone, which will set you back a whopping $599. Cheaper options include "bone inclusions", which are fossil fragments suspended in the center of clear dice, at $99; or pulverized bone, which is blended with resin, for $69. Those are for full dice sets, of course--you can also grab single dice if you don't want to splash out that much cash. Delivery is in July 2026.

In addition to the dice, the Kickstarter also offers 1:12 scale dinosaur replica skulls, 1:53 scale full replica skeletons, and fancy dice cases and stands.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It will be very hard for me to resist that.

Given that we can't consistently get commercial landers to the moon for "space burials" (of a handful of cremated ashes), to say nothing of the challenges of getting something back, I think your money is safe for a while yet.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I used to buy novelty dice every once in a while, nothing made out of dinosaur bones of course, but it didn't take long for the novelty to wear thin.

Yeah, at some point, I realized a bunch of my novelty dice were less usable than Chessex or Black Oak Workshop dice, and most of them were donated to school gaming clubs, although I held onto a dice set that was a gift from my kid and my two oversized boss fight D20s (one of which has a liquid core, the other of which is basically a diorama of a shark bursting out of the water).

Usability has to win out over novelty, and it doesn't always. (The basic t. rex from this campaign looks nicely readable, though.)

 

[aco175]

I see this guy make a d20 out of diamonds. I did not watch the whole video, but was looking to see of you could press a diamond and make dice out of them, some sort of synthetic diamonds.

 

[MGibster]

Somehow, to me personally, that just feels wrong. In the sense that it rubs me the wrong way. Without any further arguments or explanation.

Throwing books away used to rub me the wrong way. Books are valuable! Throwing them away seems like such a waste. Almost akin to book burning! Except it really isn't. The books I've tossed were mass produced and had very little value to anyone. Yes, I've donated books to libraries and given them away as well, but sometimes you just gotta clear out your space and don't have time for all that.

You might want to examine why someone owning a megalodon tooth rubs you the wrong way. Megalodon teeth literally wash up on beaches in North Carolina and Florida on a frequent basis. You can just walk down a beach, especially after a storm, and find them (along with teeth from extant species). They're not particularly rare and they're not particularly valuable from a scientific perspective. You can get a very large, high quality megalodon tooth for about $600 these days.

I certainly agree there are valid concerns here. I sure wouldn't want to see someone take that 90% intact T-Rex skeleton and turn it into flatware, buttons, or knife handles. And there are definite concerns about illegally procuring fossils and smuggling them as Nicholas Cage found out when he returned the $296,000 T-Rex skull he purchased to Mongolia.

 

[Dire Bare]

There are valid concerns when turning fossils into something to be sold as collectibles . . .

But the folks behind these T-Rex dice have covered that concern. I'm not bothered by this, at least not from the "rare fossil" angle. You can find all sorts of fossils and things made from fossils in rock/gem/gift shops all over.

Will these spendy fossil dice start a trend, tempting folks to turn rare, scientifically valuable fossils into more dice? I'm, ah, not worried about that happening. But, I'll worry about it should it actually come to pass down the line.

But I can't see spending that kind of money on dice I'd be afraid to roll in fear of damaging my table or my dice!

 

[Sossij]

This price point isn't way out of line for other fancy dice and, frankly, seems a lot more fun than "no, we promise, these sharp-edged dice are super-fair and evenly balanced." I went way down the rabbit hole of buying fun dice with inclusions, etc., during lockdown. I've since pared my collection way back, but if there was a set of these with shark teeth, I'd be in.

I've always wondered about the "fairest dice ever" thing when I've seen several people who seem to know way more about statistics than I do explain why your dice would have to be monstrously unbalanced for it to matter in any way.

I'm also sure that no matter what dice I have, they will specifically roll the numbers that I do not want them to roll.

 

[CleverNickName]

I mean, they're cool but way too expensive for me. I'd be afraid to even use them for fear of damaging them or losing one. (And knowing my luck, they'd never roll higher than a 2.)

 

[Arilyn]

I've always wondered about the "fairest dice ever" thing when I've seen several people who seem to know way more about statistics than I do explain why your dice would have to be monstrously unbalanced for it to matter in any way.

I'm also sure that no matter what dice I have, they will specifically roll the numbers that I do not want them to roll.

Yep. When playing a roll under system I gleefully grabbed my set that always rolled badly for me in D&D. Guess what?
I am a greedy dice goblin. I am very interested in dinosaurs but, no, I'm not interested in these.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've always wondered about the "fairest dice ever" thing when I've seen several people who seem to know way more about statistics than I do explain why your dice would have to be monstrously unbalanced for it to matter in any way.

I think it's about a desire for control in the face of random chance. Some people are really, really uncomfortable with chaos and want to know that everyone is on an even playing field. It definitely seems to be a holdover from a more adversarial era.