dice
Robots
Automatic Dice Machine Records 1.3 Million Rolls a Day
2:40AM John Herrman | And now, an ingenious solution to a problem that you didn’t know existed: the Dice-o-Matic can make over a million dice rolls a day, supplying genuinely random results for an email-based card and strategy gaming service. More »
Games
Is It Possible? Role Playing Dice Just Got Nerdier
11:00AM Wilson Rothman | If you assumed nobody could top a classic D20 for sheer nerd equity, you assumed wrong. Builder Itay—who confesses he is new to Dungeons & Dragons—thought he’d improve the sport by cobbling a variable-number die out of two 5×7 led displays, a Freescale accelerometer and love. More »
Phones
iPhone Dice Game Simulates Real Dice Rolling Using Sensors and Physics
2:02AM Brian Lam | This Dice game is by far the coolest game I’ve seen, and it’s got amazing tech inside which takes advantage of the iPhone’s sensors like no other app. Here’s how it works: You shake the iPhone and it rolls the dice inside, which you use to play poker. But instead of using some dumb random number generator, it captures your hand’s motion and rolls simulated collisions between the virtual dice. This game is great but its just a sampling of the tech from Fullpower, the company Philippe Kahn, creator of the camera phone in 1997, has been developing in stealth for 5 years until today. Yes, this is the tip of a giant iceberg full of gadgets exactly aware of what we’re doing with them at all times. More »
Games
The Ancient Romans Were Gamers: 2nd Century Glass d20 Sold for US$17,925
7:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | We can only guess what the ancient Romans might have thought about the latest revision of the Dungeons and Dragons rulebook (super approachable; they’d love it!), but we do know they were gamers. That’s because an incredibly old, incredibly valuable Roman glass d20 was sold at auction by the famous Christie’s auction house. For US$17,925. Historians know the symbols are Roman, but have yet to figure out which game for which it was used. Any guesses, Gizmodo readers/ancient gaming history buffs? [Christie's] More »
Gadgets
Car Dice Toys Go All-Glowing, Abandon Dangliness, Fluffiness
7:39PM Gizmodo US Edition | I’m in conflict over this new “pimp your ride” car toy. Firstly, the old-fashioned fluffy, dangly rear-view mirror dice were never cool, unless they were an ironic statement. And secondly, I kinda liked them anyway. This 21st Century version, the “Rainbow Dice-Shaped Lamp”, is just one die and, sure, it glows in seven fantastic colours when plugged into the cigarette-lighter socket. But where’s the fluffiness? Where’s the retro-chic? Humph. If your sense of style isn’t offended, it’s available for US$19. [Gadget4All via Pocket-lint] More »
Games
Keyboard Dice Brings Geek to the Streets
8:45AM Chris Mascari | Jaehyung Hong, the the same designer that developed the Bluetooth lanyard we showed you earlier, has a slightly simpler design for us. This time it’s a set of keyboard dice assembled from the keys of an old keyboard. Each side of the die has a specific key that would correlate to any set of game rules. But don’t expect to be taken seriously if you try to drop these in a heated alley dice game. Check the close-up image for more dicey detail. [Yanko Design] More »
Random Stuff
PC Dice Give You Saving Throw Against Hardware Failure
4:20AM Jason Chen | The DIY PC enthusiasts among you (we used to be one, years ago, before we got an actual job) know what a crapshoot it is upgrading bits and pieces of your rig to stay up to date with the latest games. With these PC Dice, however, you can take all the guesswork out of what components need to be upgraded. Just take the dice, which have operating systems on one die, parts/problems on another, and solutions on a third, and roll to see what your next step is. $27 a set means they’re actually cheaper than most components you can purchase for a computer anyway, which makes for a great Xmas present for your favourite computer nerd. [PC Dice via Uber Gizmo via Oh Gizmo via Boing Boing Gadgets] More »
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Giant Dice Rolled Down Mountain to Play Craps
12:12AM Mark Wilson | In a huge promotional event, online gambling site Gnuf has helicopter-dropped a pair of giant dice down a mountain in Nuuk, Greenland. Standing about 7 feet tall and weighing in at around 1,200 pounds a pop, each die was constructed like a tank, with its steel frame enclosed by steel sheets, all protecting its surely steel heart. And while we can’t condone gambling, we can condone airlifting deadly gigantic dice to be haphazardly flung down a mountainside. You know, purely in the name of scientific interest or an especially slow game of Monopoly. [gnuf] More »
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Dice Stacking a Camera Trick? Nope, Here’s Slo-Mo Proof
12:15AM Charlie White | When we posted an unexpectedly well-received video of dice stacking yesterday, little did we realise that this peculiar activity has been developed into an artform by some amazing magicians. Here’s a new dice stacking video from Thomas Fischbach, the same guy we saw in the video update yesterday. For those of you who thought this was all a camera trick, Fischbach shows us his moves in ultra-slow motion. That’s some awfully quick sleight-of-hand right there. [Thomas Fischbach on YouTube] More »
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