Dice roller

Dice was the first game of chance in the history of mankind. Cubes with dotted edges remain a part of games today, they help to resolve disputes, become a lot and a tool for choosing a solution in the absence of strong arguments for and against.

History of dice

Anthropologists and archaeologists are unanimous in their opinion that initially the bones had a magical meaning - they guessed by them, interpreting the combinations that fell out. The invention probably belongs to the Indians, although the tradition could have originated in any ancient civilization. Bones are found during excavations of the ancient Sumerians, in Egyptian tombs and in Tibet. The use of bones for the game was invented by the Greek Palamedes, evidence of this is in the tragedy of the same name by Sophocles.

During the Middle Ages, bones were banned. Only in the 15th century they were brought to Europe by sailors, since that time dice games have become a common activity in British pubs. Over time, fun penetrated the salons of France and England, and later spread to the territory of America. Archaeological finds confirm that in the pre-Christian era, the Slavs used dice. In the 16th-17th centuries in Rus', peasants threw bones when demarcating land, to determine primacy and resolve disputes.

Once upon a time, the hoof joints of animals were used as playing dice. Later, they began to be made from wood, stones, fruit pits, precious metals, nut shells and other materials.

Types of dice

It is generally accepted that game dice can only have a square shape with six sides. It's actually the most common, and is used in the vast majority of craps-type games. Opposite sides always give a total of 7 points, and the probability of getting one or another number is 1/6.

But besides dice, there are other types of dice: in the form of tetrahedra, dodecahedrons, icosahedrons. They are denoted by the Latin letter D with a numerical prefix, and significantly expand the gaming experience.

The only game die that gives an increased probability of dropping a particular number is a tetrahedron, with the designation D4. Compared to a die, it has only 4 sides, respectively - the chance of each of them falling out is 25%. But the tetrahedron does not have a front side, and the fallout always occurs with the tip up. Which of the three open faces is considered dropped is determined in advance, according to the game rules.

The classic die is referred to as D6, and has 6 variations of rolled values. It is with him that the craps game, which is widespread throughout the world, is primarily associated. What other types of dice are used today in gaming practice? We refer to them:

D8. An octahedral figure, or scientifically an octahedron. Accordingly, the probability of getting a result for it is 1/8. In classic craps, D8 is rarely used, and its main scope is role-playing games, including computer games.
D10. A decahedron ideal for generating random numbers between 0 and 9 with 10% probability.
D12. A twelve-sided figure, or dodecahedron. The faces are numbered so that the opposite values add up to 13. The probability of a result falling out in a dodecahedron is 1/12, and the minimum number, as a rule, is not 0, but 1.
D20. Twenty-sided, or icosahedron. Each of the faces is a regular triangle, on which a number is applied in the range from 1 to 20. Due to its shape, the icosahedron rolls well on a flat surface and leaves little chance of cheating during the game.
D100. A perfect ball with numbers from 1 to 100 printed at regular intervals on the surface. This die is also often referred to as a "percentage die" because it can be used to determine percentage probabilities. The value that is located in the uppermost, central part of the ball is considered to be dropped out - after it has completely stopped and taken a stationary position.

The D100 figure can only be called a game die, but it is still used in board and role-playing games. And the most important scope of figures from D8 to D100 is online games and applications. And - not only gambling / desktop, but also full-fledged RPGs, strategies, quests. Throws of dice are of an auxiliary nature in them, and allow you to ramdomize individual characteristics / results - with the introduction of numerical randomness / uncertainty into the gameplay.

Interesting facts

The history of gaming dice goes back over 4-5 thousand years, and for all their simplicity (if not primitiveness), they have gathered a lot of interesting facts around them. For example, they include the following:

During excavations in Iran, the most ancient dice were found, made approximately 5200 years ago. The dice lay next to the backgammon board.
Inhabitants of Asia Minor during the famine with the help of bones were distracted from thoughts about food. The Lydians played dice and ate every other day.
Since the invention of dice games, people have tried to fake dice. In the ruins of Pompeii, bones were found in which one side is heavier than the others.
In the 11th century, a separate pseudoscience, astrahalomancy, was built on gaming dice. The Byzantines used these game pieces with numbered faces to predict the future.
The number 7 is most commonly rolled when rolling two dice. This is because it has the largest number of combinations: 1 + 6, 2 + 5, 3 + 4, 4 + 3, 5 + 2 and 6 + 1. Therefore, if you are asked to guess the winning value before the roll, always choose a seven.
2 and 12 are the least likely to come up when throwing two dice. This is not surprising, because for these numbers only one combination is winning: 1 + 1 and 6 + 6.
In classic game dice, the numbers 1 and 4 are often colored red. The reason lies in the Chinese language, in which the words "four" and "death" are written differently, but they sound the same - "si". To "neutralize" the unlucky four, it is painted in a "lucky" red color. They also color the unit, as it is associated with the unfortunate "black line".

Today there are no countries where they would not play dice: according to certain rules, using one or more game dice.

Dice changed shape, material and color, but retained their functions - this is a subject for playing and solving controversial issues. If there are no real dice at hand, use a program that generates random numbers. A computer cube will help you no worse than gold or plastic.

The game of dice is one of the oldest, and archaeological finds indicate that it was played in ancient Egypt as early as the 20th century BC, that is, more than 4,000 years ago. The name of the game is explained by the material from which the cubes were made.

Initially, they were carved from the bones and joints of ungulates, less often from wood and fruit pits. And for the rich estates, cubes were made of ivory, agate, amber, gold, silver and precious stones. Due to its simplicity, dice instantly gained popularity among those who learned about them: from the Middle East, the game spontaneously spread to Europe and Asia, and subsequently to the rest of the world.

Dice games

The most primitive use of dice, yet the most popular in the world, is the scoring competition. Each player rolls one or two dice and the one with the most points wins. The main principle of the game is the randomness of the result, which does not depend on the skills and knowledge of the players.

By throwing the dice, you rely on chance and, in the modern sense, start a random number generator. In the 21st century, it is not necessary to have physical dice for this, they can be “thrown” online using special applications. The result will be just as random as a real throw.

As for the rules of the game, in the course of world history they have repeatedly changed, become more complicated and modified. This is not surprising, given the simplicity of the dice game, which you subconsciously want to complicate at least a little. As a result of the research of players from all over the world, more than 20 varieties of this game have appeared, each of which has its own rules and restrictions. Let's talk about at least six of them.

Classic craps

The peculiarity of marking dice is that the sum of opposite faces is always equal to seven: 6 + 1, 4 + 3 and 5 + 2. In classic craps, this is used to calculate the winning points of each die individually, or all dice thrown. As a rule, their number does not exceed six, and each player makes a throw in turn. After that, the points are summed up and the winner is determined.

Three Dice

Before the game, each participant announces two arbitrary numbers, for example - 7 and 13. If one of them falls out when throwing three dice (in total), an unconditional victory occurs. If several players guess their result at once, the game is repeated until the last winner.

Hazard

Azzahr is Arabic for "bone" and Spanish for "bad luck" is azar. Historians find it difficult to answer which of them gave the name to the game of the same name. Either way, it is based on lucky and unlucky numbers. The first include 7 and 11, and the second - 2, 3 and 12. If a player scores one of the unsuccessful numbers when throwing two dice, he loses, and when he scores a successful number, he wins.

Three bones

An advanced version of the classic game where three dice are rolled at the same time. The maximum dropped number is removed to the side, and the remaining two are summed up and written down on paper. After that, the triple throw is repeated 9 more times according to the same pattern. The winner is the one who has the largest sum of the smallest numbers drawn in 10 throws.

What is the amount?

An outdoor version of the game that needs a lot of free space. The site is drawn into squares to make a field of 14 × 11 cells. Each player is assigned a number from 2 to 12 - an interval in which the sum of two dice thrown can be. After that, the players line up on the first squares of the field and roll the dice. If a three falls out, the third player advances one cell, and if a five comes up, the fifth. Accordingly, the winner is the one who first overcomes 13 game cells and gets to the finish line.

Reversing the bone

One of the most difficult variations of the game, in which you need to constantly add up points. The first player names an arbitrary number from 1 to 6, and the second player rolls a die. Then both players take turns turning it in any direction by 1/4 of a full turn and adding to the first arbitrary number the subsequent ones that have fallen out (on the upper face). The winner is the one who manages to score exactly 25 points. If a player exceeds 25 points during the next move, he automatically loses.

There are other versions of the game, including board versions. In any case, the meaning of all these games comes down to a set of the required number of points, which fall randomly. If you do not have bone (plastic) dice handy, you can always replace them with an online application that simulates a dice game with random generation of numbers. Today, such applications are distributed completely free of charge and allow for additional configuration before playing.

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