Review: Gamescience Dice Part 1

For this review, you will need to do some extra reading or it may not make a lot of sense.  About two months ago I bought a set of Gamescience dice after watching this video and this video.  Oh, and while you're at it read this famous thread, this too provides the necessary context.

Have you done all the required reading?  No?  Well here's the summary.  The normal dice you use such as the Chessex and GW dice are flawed because they are tumbled.  The tumbling process removes the mold line but it also causes the dice to favor one side meaning that yes, your dice do hate you.  Dice with straight edges will give you more statistically even results.  Casino dice are the best probably, but they're heavy and super expensive.  Gamescience dice are a good solution, they're way cheaper than casino dice but will roll statistically even.

But seriously, at least go watch the two videos.  It's about 20 minutes total but worth every minute.  The guy is very interesting and explains his case well.  I tested out his claims that normal gaming dice are flawed and he was certainly right on that.  All my D&D dice had horribly uneven surfaces.  My Chessex brick has problems all over when you look up close.

Here lies the tale of my dice.  After watching those two videos I quit using my Chessex brick that I've had since I was 17 in favor of the Gamescience dice.  Did I magically start winning games?  Did I miraculously pull out those sixes when I needed them?  Well...no.  If your dice are average you shouldn't really notice anything.  Not to mention with the laws of probability you will still have bad dice games no matter what dice you use.

Indeed, I still have bad dice games.  My first game of WHFB was the absolute worst dice I've ever had in my life.  I didn't succeed in doing anything (failed all charges, failed all to wounds or if I did they passed their saves, failed to cast anything, miscasted on the first roll, etc) until about turn three or so at which point it was far too late.  I have had good dice rolls (in a later game) in which my champion needed to pass three armor saves at a -1, I rolled two sixes for the armor and then rolled a 6 for his parry save.  However, it's always the really bad and the really good ones that stand out.  We don't remember the average rolls.

In all, I'd say my experiences have been quite average.  For dice that's a good thing.

Now the dice come with a bit of a blemish from the casting, it's similar to a mold marking where it's been cut off the sprue.  The website says to take it off with sandpaper but it didn't work for me, it scratched the surface.  I used a very sharp exacto blade and that took it off just fine.  As I said before, all dice are born with these but since Gamescience dice are not tumbled you have to get rid of it yourself.  It's small enough that it won't affect the roll (it's on the flat surface, not the edge).

They are sold both inked and non-inked.  The non-inked ones are cheaper but you'll have to ink them yourselves.  I used my Micron pens and they worked great.

Coming up on Monday is part 2 in which I reveal the statistic results of the Chessex and Gamescience dice.  Stay tuned!