That time I found out dice actually do get cursed, not just superstition

So last week I was looking up old forum posts about dice luck and found this guy who tracked 10,000 rolls of a single d20 over three years. Turns out his die rolled a 1 almost 7% more often than it should have, and the 20s were way below average. I double-checked my own set that I've been using for like 2 years and sure enough, my trusty blue d20 has a tiny chip on the 3 face that makes it tilt. Has anyone else ever measured their dice and found something weird like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

wells.brooke1mo ago

My buddy Mike has a green d20 he's been using since like 2015 and it always rolls crits when he needs them most. One night he dropped it on the floor and it split clean in half, and inside there was this tiny air bubble right under the 20 face. He superglued it back together but it's never rolled a 20 since, so either the bubble did something or he broke its spirit.

julia921mo ago

From years of running RPG nights I can tell you, dice with chips or uneven edges definitely roll funny over time. I've got a whole box of "retired" dice that I tested with salt water and they all float with one side up way too often. Grab a cup of water with a bunch of salt dissolved in it and give your suspect dice a spin, it's an easy way to spot manufacturing defects or wear.

nina_hall1mo ago

Is this just one of those things where we trust machines to be perfect until we test them ourselves? It's wild how much small stuff messes up the balance of things, like dice or even furniture legs. I've got a buddy who swears his old wooden table wobbles worse when he puts his laptop on one corner versus the other. It's the same idea with dice - a tiny chip throws the whole thing off. Funny how we don't notice until we actually check, like hidden dents in our phones from sitting on them. Probably more stuff we use has these little flaws that just don't show up until we look real close.