8 Dice Nerds Will Love

I saw a blog entry a couple of months back about the most expensive dice in the world, and as cool as it would be to have a meteorite as dice, it's just not worth it to me. Gaming is fun, but I can't imagine spending $200 for something that might roll under the table and end up traveling through my dog's intestines.

These dice, though, are cool and reasonably priced. Some of them, I'd say, are even cooler than the world's smallest dice or the world's oldest dice.

1.) We begin with handmade steel dice. These are D6 and are useful for most board games, but probably most desirable to Warhammer players. Steel dice are a subtle, classy, sleek statement. Unfortunately they were made for a gift and aren't available for purchase.

They are good-looking, though, aren't they?

2.) Okay, so maybe these aren't affordable, but these crystal dice sure look nicer than the clear plastic ones you find online. Neiman Marcus sells these dice for $600 which means that you could afford 3 meteorite dice for the price of the pair.

My recommendation is that you either keep these on a shelf or don't own a dog or a small child. I get the idea that these dice are made for the gambler who isn't blowing his money fast enough at the tables.

But they're just so pretty!

3.) I continue the theme with the expensive dice, moving down the price bracked to $98. These crystal-studded black dice are a bit gaudy for my taste, but if you want to show off, they're a lot more reasonable than all crystal.

Barneys New York sells the pair in a leather box and they are embellished with Swarovski crystals.

Once again, I suppose they're intended for the heavy gambler, but I figure anyone who can afford to spend $62 on a soul grinder has disposable income for some bling on their D6.

4.) We're back into the realm of sanity with this Chessex set. The set automatically generates dungeon paths. It's a great way to run a pick-up game or to sluff off on your planning duties as Dungeon/Game Master.

The D6 come in sets of 4 with room numbers on them so you can randomize your paths.

Alternatively it's useful for when you play with that guy who has read all of the core material and knows every canon dungeon in the game. These dice take away the pressure of having to make some random dungeon up from scratch.

5.) This one is called the "Weird yet Fair D6". It has the shape of a normal D6 with beveled corners and carved numbers. The coolest part is how this dice was made. The D6 was made using Shapeways, a company that specializes in converting 3D models into tangible objects.

It's a simple enough concept, but the fact that it was implemented with computer assisted design makes it really cool. The D6 goes for around $10.

6.) Finally a D20! For all of you D&D gamers (I only use D20 in my life for MTG as I play D10 systems) who want a big flashing beacon when you make a critical hit! This ThinkGeek dice does just that!

I'm not sure how you'd change the battery in a dice that runs $9.99, but it is an LED dice so it'll be a while before the power is gone.

The site suggests playing it behind a DM screen or in the dark for a dramatic effect.

7.) PC Diagnostic Dice have no gaming purposes. They're like sex dice for nerds and the ThinkGeek site suggests that it's likely as accurate as a real PC diagnostic test.

This set of 3 dice comes in a velvet bag. Roll the dice to see the problem, the culprit, and the suggested action.

Incidentally, as I type this, I am on a shiny new iMac because my PC had a melt down a few months ago and I was tired of rolling the dice.

8.) The final point on this list is pretty much all of DiceCreator.com. The webmaster boldly sent me a link to his blog a couple of weeks ago and I had fun browsing his gallery finding everything from Cthulu to Punisher to Firefly to Portal dice. He does some odd dice but most are D6. I'm not sure how the weighting works out, but the designs are really detailed and amazing.

Browse through the blog if you have an hour or so to kill. Some of these designs are even available from his eBay store.