Ted H. Kim's Weblog

Friday July 15, 2005

The Dice Tower

First the familiar refrain -- It's been quite a while since I last blogged ... But I thought I would point out another excellent game podcast called The Dice Tower. The show is the work of Tom Vasel and Joe Steadman. Tom is already well known for his numerous reviews of German games. Joe (his sidekick?) is a wargamer. Both are well known fixtures over on BoardGameGeek. They also have their own website here.

Folks may be wondering what a "dice tower" is. Boardgames often require you to roll dice (sometimes quite a few at once). Anyone who has played Monopoly knows the dangers inherent in having dice raining down like meteors on their hotels and game pieces. Plus, there is the other problem of retrieving dice from under the table, behind the couch and so forth. The most common solution to this problem is to roll in the game box top. But that has the problem of having a large footprint, and suprisingly people often miss this large target in the heat of the moment. The dice tower is a purpose built device that attempts to provide a solution to these problems. Some examples include this and that. The "tower" has an opening where dice are dropped (not thrown) into. As the dice fall, they hit a number of internal baffles to be sure they are randomized on the way down. Finally, the dice land in a tray where the results can be observed.

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(2005-07-15 14:44:22.0) Permalink