D6s with numbers vs D6s with pips, is it just me?

[Laurefindel]

Plus, how can you shout "BOX CARS!!" when you roll double sixes on dice with numerals? That would just be wrong.

And “DAMN, SNAKE EYES” losses its meaning too

 

[aco175]

I just clump the dice into piles that total 10 before adding them all up when I have a lot like in a fireball. I'm guessing a lot of people do this. It seems simpler to make piles of 10 instead of adding to a higher number each time.

 

[bsss]

The problem I have with d6s with pips is all the other dice I'm rolling don't have pips. The inconsistency gets me more than anything else. If I was playing a game with only d6s, I could definitely see the possibility that my mental math would be faster with pips, but I think my mental math is already pretty solid, so it doesn't matter much.

But two differing aesthetics to my dice? No way, Jose.

 

[dbm]

pips allow a visual representation that my brain can compute faster than numbers

That reminds me of a phenomenon that backs up the visual pips idea. When you are familiar with an analogue clock your brain can read it faster than digital time representation as you have neurons which recognise specific patterns and your brain can sort of ‘post process’ the image to then work out what that shape means in terms of time. But when reading a digital watch you need to process each digit separately.

You do have to learn how to read an analogue clock, of course, and that is less of a given these days.

(my degree was ergonomics so design of control systems was of particular interest)

 

[Fenris-77]

The other day I was playing an RPG with 2d6 + Bonus, using d6s with numbers on them. My brain was slow and I kept making mistakes. The next day, I grabbed d6s with pips to play the same game. My brain started adding much faster. without mistakes. Weird. Why?

The human brain doesn't have to count groups of objects that number 5 or 6 or less, it just sees them. That might be part of it.

 

[aramis erak]

I've seen players with either. I genuinely don't find much difficulty for myself with either... but I slow down if I've a mix of pipped and digited.

 

[aramis erak]

The human brain doesn't have to count groups of objects that number 5 or 6 or less, it just sees them. That might be part of it.

That threshold varies widely between 4 and 10 by individual. Sight counting is a developed skill....

 

[Fenris-77]

That threshold varies widely between 4 and 10 by individual. Sight counting is a developed skill...

That really depends on the study. The basic assertion above holds very well through casual testing, numbers above six do not. So take that for what it is I guess.

 

[Laurefindel]

That threshold varies widely between 4 and 10 by individual. Sight counting is a developed skill....

That tracks. I know a few (older) people who add heart/spade/clove/diamond symbols rather than their numerals when adding cards in cribbage.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The other day I was playing an RPG with 2d6 + Bonus, using d6s with numbers on them. My brain was slow and I kept making mistakes. The next day, I grabbed d6s with pips to play the same game. My brain started adding much faster. without mistakes. Weird. Why?

My guess would be you internalized rolling D6s with pips in childhood with normal board games, and that went set, so you add those up without any conscious effort, and the D6's with numbers were only encountered later, so you brain has to switch gears. Ths may very well not apply to other types of dice because you only encountered them later in the first place.