**PUNKLE JOSH** [Here to have fun!]
Canada
Cambridge
Ontario
"The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing." --A. Alvarez
“My opinion is that a game has its own life when published, and is really alive when players want to add their own house rules!” --Bruno Cathala
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There's something about the rolling of dice that I find quite satisfying (until I see the final result
 ), and many of my favourite games require that this activity be frequently repeated. However, by the time I have set up Conquest of the Empire or Attack! Deluxe Expansion on my table, there is very little room for dice chucking. Instead, we find ourselves very gingerly rolling the dice in gaps on the board such that entire plastic armies weren't wiped out by giant tumbling cubes from the heavens. Clearly a solution to his problem was needed.
I discovered dice towers just a couple of years ago and was instantly enamored by the concept. It was probably not long after playing Shogun, with its famous cube tower, for the first time that I realized that similar devices existed for the rolling of dice. I began to discover images such as these on BGG, and they captured my imagination:
And of course there's this wonderful classic:
Not only are those towers fun to tumble the dice through, but they clearly make a beautiful accessory to your dice-rolling games. So I decided I would have to make one for myself. It would be a nice big medieval castle keep with a drawbridge out of which the dice would tumble into a courtyard surrounded by a castle wall. It would be flippin' sweet.
But how would I go about making it? The Hirst Arts materials seemed to create the most gorgeous-looking towers, but they also seemed rather costly and labour-intensive. I've got a bit of experience working with foam board, but I would have to paint it to get a nice-looking final result. No matter how I looked at it, it wasn't going to be easy.
And then I started thinking that, as cool as these devices are, they end up taking away a bit of the fun of rolling the dice, since all you're doing is dropping them down a chute. I didn't want to lose the tactile pleasure of chucking a handful of dice! I realized what I really needed was some sort of dice tray, and it occurred to me that an item such as that would be much easier to make.
So I gathered my materials (a sheet of black foam board, Weldbond white glue, a cutting mat, a sharp utility knife, a metal ruler, a pen, and some accessories with which to decorate it), and make it I did*:
The final dimensions are 32cm X 30cm (approx 12.5" X 12") and it is super-light weight since it is mostly foam board. I also designed it in such a way that it could sit on a table between 2 players (most ease of use if both are right-handed), and allow both players to roll dice simultaneously (if one player is rolling attack dice and the other is rolling defense, for example). I also used an interesting, soft, foam-like material for the rolling surface. This stuff accomplishes 2 things: it makes the rolling of the dice nearly silent, and the slightly spungy/grippy surface "catches" the dice a bit and encourages them to bounce and roll.
I'm not totally pleased with the craftsmanship. I now have a fair bit of experience with using foam board ( http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/320425), but I was rushing one evening to complete this project after having spent most of the day on another foam board product, so the hasty measurements and cuts resulted in pieces that didn't quite fit together as they should have. But I'm happy enough with the final product, and it has significantly enhanced our dice rolling!
*For those of you who are interested, here is how I made it:
-cut out the large, foam board (purchased at Staple's) base of the tray
-cut out 2 strips of the black and the red foam material (purchased at Michael's) for the rolling surface
-cut out the center foam board piece and glued it in place
-took the accessories that I was going to inlay into the rolling surface (these were all purchased at Michael's - the skulls were foam stickers that I purchased just before Halloween and the rest of the items came in 2 small packets from the buttons and beads section, I believe) and used the pen to trace them upside down on the back side of the foam material
-cut out the shapes I had traced
-glued the rolling surfaces in place on the foam board base
-stuck the skull stickers in place and pressed the other accessories into the foam board to create indentations (they all had a plastic loop on the back)
-glued the other accessories into the indentations
-cut out all the side pieces and glued them in place
-stuck the red and white letters on the sides (they were also foam stickers that I purchased at Michael's just before Halloween)
-?????
-profit!
And that's about it - thanks for allowing me to share my latest project with folks who I know will appreciate it! May the dice gods favour you more than they do me!!
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Robert Wesley
Nepal
Aberdeen
Washington
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 "au contraire, mon frere" as THIS were what we're heading FOR: [b]"GAMES Dice Dungeon"
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Alfred Das
Netherlands
's-Hertogenbosch
Noord-Brabant
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Good good good... A trendsetter you are... I'm chuffed to see Chuckin' Bones en vogue again.
Bring on 2009!
Een vrolijke Kerstmis toegewenst. :holly: :santa: :bells: :whatnot:
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Eric Jome
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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squash wrote: I realized what I really needed was some sort of dice tray...
Two words for you;
Box. Top.
We throw the dice in the box top. 
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**PUNKLE JOSH** [Here to have fun!]
Canada
Cambridge
Ontario
"The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing." --A. Alvarez
“My opinion is that a game has its own life when published, and is really alive when players want to add their own house rules!” --Bruno Cathala
-
GROGnads wrote:
That sounds pretty damn cool!! If you're going to make something, why not go all the way, eh? And if you or someone else creates a dice dungeon, I definitely want to see photographs!
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**PUNKLE JOSH** [Here to have fun!]
Canada
Cambridge
Ontario
"The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing." --A. Alvarez
“My opinion is that a game has its own life when published, and is really alive when players want to add their own house rules!” --Bruno Cathala
-
Der Das wrote:
Good good good... A trendsetter you are... I'm chuffed to see Chuckin' Bones en vogue again.
Bring on 2009!
Een vrolijke Kerstmis toegewenst. :holly: :santa: :bells: :whatnot:
Hear hear!! 
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**PUNKLE JOSH** [Here to have fun!]
Canada
Cambridge
Ontario
"The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing." --A. Alvarez
“My opinion is that a game has its own life when published, and is really alive when players want to add their own house rules!” --Bruno Cathala
-
cosine wrote: squash wrote: I realized what I really needed was some sort of dice tray... Two words for you; Box. Top. We throw the dice in the box top.
See, I WAS using box tops, but we kept having to stand up to peer into the box in order to see the results of the roll. It was starting to border on physical activity! Now we can just sit on our lazy asses and roll merrily away (the dice, that is)!
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Cresston Gackle
United States
Bettendorf
Iowa
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Use an iPhone. It can throw dice, pick cards, and generate random numbers on the go.
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Joshua Gottesman
United States
Las Vegas
Nevada
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I want the dice abbey.
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Joshua Gottesman
United States
Las Vegas
Nevada
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gack1224 wrote: Use an iPhone. It can throw dice, pick cards, and generate random numbers on the go.
Yeah, but the BlackBerry does that with little clicking noises.
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Matt Drake
United States
Arlington
Texas
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squash wrote: GROGnads wrote: That sounds pretty damn cool!! If you're going to make something, why not go all the way, eh? And if you or someone else creates a dice dungeon, I definitely want to see photographs!
http://www.vixentorgames.com/Item.asp?item=Dice%20Dungeon
We also have dice trays, but they have lids on them, so we call them dice boxes.
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James Hébert
United States
Topeka
Kansas
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I found several wooden jewelry boxes (about 8 x 8 x 3) for a $1.50 apiece at a thrift shop. Remove the inner tray, and you've got a perfect, lidded dice tray already lined with felt! And since they're meant to sit on a dresser and hold women's jewelry, they're nicely finished and have a hinged lid.
Of course, if the lining color doesn't work for you, you might want to replace it with a dark green, burgundy, or blue....
But you can't beat the workmanship, or price! They always generate nice comments when I bring them out.
James
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norman rule
United States
Columbia
Maryland
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jhebert wrote: I found several wooden jewelry boxes (about 8 x 8 x 3) for a $1.50 apiece at a thrift shop. Remove the inner tray, and you've got a perfect, lidded dice tray already lined with felt! And since they're meant to sit on a dresser and hold women's jewelry, they're nicely finished and have a hinged lid.
That's not a bad idea, but I would think that the hinged lid would be a problem. Depending on where it's placed on the table, not all players may be able to see the rolls. And if you pass it around, don't you run the risk of the lid "falling" and pinching fingers as it's handed from one person to another?
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James Hébert
United States
Topeka
Kansas
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mrorwell wrote: jhebert wrote: I found several wooden jewelry boxes (about 8 x 8 x 3) for a $1.50 apiece at a thrift shop. Remove the inner tray, and you've got a perfect, lidded dice tray already lined with felt! And since they're meant to sit on a dresser and hold women's jewelry, they're nicely finished and have a hinged lid. That's not a bad idea, but I would think that the hinged lid would be a problem. Depending on where it's placed on the table, not all players may be able to see the rolls. And if you pass it around, don't you run the risk of the lid "falling" and pinching fingers as it's handed from one person to another?
You're right, they do get in the way if they don't open flat. For those, I remove the hinges.
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You can call me Foob
United States
Deale
Maryland
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Actually, for games that use 1 or 2 dice, nothing compares to a rolling glass. Best is a thick-walled highball glass with a heavy bottom. The ones from Holiday Inn rooms are best. : )
Edit: it's all about the sound, not the feel.
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