That extremely rare, almost-never chance of landing on the edge is exactly what I would program into a game if I made one, instead of exactly 50% odds.
It should come with some bizarre consequence, too. If it were the Oregon Trail game, there should be a tiny chance that the player finds an ancient artifact that glows and hums when touched. An alien ship swoops in and abducts the party, forcing them to join the crew. From there on, it's a space pirate game with zero explanation why and no references in the product literature. Also, customer service pretends not to know about it, if contacted.
Even not considering that, they still aren't 50-50 odds. The stamped printing on both sides throws off the balance just enough to bias one side over the other.
I brought this up in maths class once. The teacher agreed that the edge was a possibility and since he was involved in football, they used to flip the coin and let it land on the ground. More than once it stuck in the mud in the edge.
the flattening is what makes them not spheres and have sides. If we applied this "logic" then literally everything is just anything but in a different form - which makes no sense
This is correct. It's a d4 that's just as cleanly a d4 as a regular d4 with rounded corners. Both have parts that don't belong to the sides, since there's no defined outcome where the dice comes to rest on one of the rounded non-side parts.
One set of my dice have very hard/straight/flat edges... The fucking 4 sided has stabbed me many times, but once it went right under my finger nail and drew blood 😫
It can be viewed as two interlocking 'c' shapes, so it could be dressed as a d4, with a different value at each end of the 'c.' Alternatively, each 'c' can be considered a single side, making it a d2. Since we already have d4 well represented by the 4-sided triangle, aka tetrahedron d4, this design strikes me as more valuable as a d2
This gave me an idea for a gimmick die. Transparent die filled with dark liquid. The exterior of the die has the usual numbers in white lettering. Inside the die, there is a smaller cork die that rises like a magic 8ball. It’s 2d(x) in 1. Interesting for tension building, if nothing else.
Edit: looked it up and I’m not original, and they’re largely as bad as I thought they’d be
One of my overdue projects is to disassemble a magic 8 ball, remove the dice from it and make a digital magic 8 ball. I plan to bequeath the removed “dice” to a DM I know.
Make sure to wear long gloves and short sleeves. The dye in that water is strong. I was purple for days after cracking an 8ball and people kept asking how I got hurt.
Or you know, a coin.
Coins are just really unbalanced three-sided dice.
A standard US nickel, yes.
I prefer better odds than that…
Thick Nickels
thickles
Thnickles
Whatever you call them, people will respect you more when you use them.
thank you for this blessed website in trying times
This website looks like it was made in 1999, but it documents a project from this year. I love it. The page loaded nearly instantly.
I love his commitment to the bit. True dedication
The old UK £1 was similar in size but twice as thick. It's now 12-sided but not sure how that impacts the odds.
Well, but it also has to stay on its edge, and that's a lot less likely...
That extremely rare, almost-never chance of landing on the edge is exactly what I would program into a game if I made one, instead of exactly 50% odds.
Not if it's a thnickel.
Thanks, I hate it.
It should come with some bizarre consequence, too. If it were the Oregon Trail game, there should be a tiny chance that the player finds an ancient artifact that glows and hums when touched. An alien ship swoops in and abducts the party, forcing them to join the crew. From there on, it's a space pirate game with zero explanation why and no references in the product literature. Also, customer service pretends not to know about it, if contacted.
Rare coin flip: Success for every roll over the next hour of gameplay.
Even not considering that, they still aren't 50-50 odds. The stamped printing on both sides throws off the balance just enough to bias one side over the other.
https://youtu.be/vAA-A9t7TD0
I brought this up in maths class once. The teacher agreed that the edge was a possibility and since he was involved in football, they used to flip the coin and let it land on the ground. More than once it stuck in the mud in the edge.
Then told us to ignore that possibility.
aka really short cylinders
Roll a d100, if it is odd 1, 2 if even
I like how you'd be rolling two d10's, and then completely ignoring one of them.
It keeps the statisticians happy
Too expensive.
This was my thought.
Mfers be out here debating whether the thing depicted is actually a "two sided" dice, meanwhile coins just be chillin over there getting ignored.
Y'all be trippin.
I need to get one of these sometime
https://youtu.be/b6S5gHjuN48
a two sided die is called a coin
The edge of a coin is a 3rd side though
every other die has sides that aren't counted if you're doing that.
dice are just flattened spheres. they only have one weirdly shaped side
the flattening is what makes them not spheres and have sides. If we applied this "logic" then literally everything is just anything but in a different form - which makes no sense
congrats on getting the joke
And a very very funny joke, at that
indeed
A side in this case is a specific area that allows for differentiating outcomes
A die can land and stand on a corner if you do it precisely enough.
It needs a designation, why I said what I said. You don't call side on a coin flip because your only choices are heads or tails
And I was argueing in your favour and you downvoted me for it.
An ideal coin is perfectly flat with no thickness.
Sir, what who describe looks more like a piece of paper than a coin.
Ideal coins are inflexible.
Ok, so a thin layer of adamantium is an ideal coin, but not a tiny disk of metallic alloy engraved with pictures, texts and values ! 📝
Well, an ideal cow is a perfect sphere, so.
then use a freaking fortune fish
Yup, my "d2" in my dice bag is a silver half dollar. Still call it my d2 though.
Came here to say this
in my day...
Agreed, but also weird as aren't d4 made from 4 triangles?
This is correct. It's a d4 that's just as cleanly a d4 as a regular d4 with rounded corners. Both have parts that don't belong to the sides, since there's no defined outcome where the dice comes to rest on one of the rounded non-side parts.
Fuck caltrop d4s, all my homies hate caltrop d4s (it's me, I'm all the homies)
One set of my dice have very hard/straight/flat edges... The fucking 4 sided has stabbed me many times, but once it went right under my finger nail and drew blood 😫
I think Skua might be right, d2?
It can be viewed as two interlocking 'c' shapes, so it could be dressed as a d4, with a different value at each end of the 'c.' Alternatively, each 'c' can be considered a single side, making it a d2. Since we already have d4 well represented by the 4-sided triangle, aka tetrahedron d4, this design strikes me as more valuable as a d2
Some people do. 🤷 I donno, friend, I just work here.
This gave me an idea for a gimmick die. Transparent die filled with dark liquid. The exterior of the die has the usual numbers in white lettering. Inside the die, there is a smaller cork die that rises like a magic 8ball. It’s 2d(x) in 1. Interesting for tension building, if nothing else.
Edit: looked it up and I’m not original, and they’re largely as bad as I thought they’d be
One of my overdue projects is to disassemble a magic 8 ball, remove the dice from it and make a digital magic 8 ball. I plan to bequeath the removed “dice” to a DM I know.
Make sure to wear long gloves and short sleeves. The dye in that water is strong. I was purple for days after cracking an 8ball and people kept asking how I got hurt.
Magic N ball
I'm a bit disappointed that many of these n-sided dice are not isohedral, despite isohedral polyhedra existing for many of these values of n.
The weirdly shaped ones probably sell better. Which would you pick up in a store?
Oh, I still bought the full set, but I tried to get isohedral dice whenever possible.
That's a weird looking coin
I've seen this shape uses as a D4. Nothing cursed about it. About as threatening to me as a Labrador puppy.
At first glance I thought this was an AI generated picture of a roll of toilet paper..
It's four-sided, not two-sided. If that one counts, you can also just use a regular six-sided one and just put three 'ones' and three 'twos' on it.
This die can only ever land on two distinct sides so it has two sides.
Incorrect. It can land on two different sides. Or it can roll off the table and under something, leaving you in a state of limbo.
It has only 1 corner, and 2 surfaces, making it 2 sided. The 2 sides just happen to be curved
Ah, dice lawyering.
Doesn't it have 0 corners, 1 edge, and 2 surfaces (faces)?
Ah yeah, you're right. I mixed the words for edges and corners
All dice are quantum dice!
It has two sides. They're curved, and it doesn't stay on the curve part, so you can effectively use it as a d4, but it's still only two-sided.
Sort of like how you can flip a Mobius strip like a coin and it will land one of two ways, but it still only has one side.
It has 2 surfaces.
It has 4 or 6 sides it can rest on IMHO. I'd need to play with it to find out.
There are 4 stable orientations and 2 unstable equilibria
define 'side'.
How many sides on a ball?
Inside, outside, and, depending on the ball, offsides.
Fair point. A ball has either one or infinite sides from my perspective.
this is four sides??
The picture is of a d4. Dice are measured counting the flats (and therefore possible number of different results) not mathematically defined "sides".
No, dN means there are N different outcomes. Does not matter if they are flat or anything. Cube with two of each number from 1 to 3 is a d3.
It has two outcomes, hence is a d2
If you wanna get loosey-goosey with it and count the curved bit as a result, its still just a d6 lmao