Love them or hate them, Dice are a part of gaming. Wheather it’s the D6 from our youth that was used to propel us around the streets of London in MONOPOLY, or the mighty D20 used to roll for Critical Hits in an engrossing DUNGEONS & DRAGONS campaign, these little geometric pieces of marked plastic have been with us since our first board game memories.
Growing up, all I saw were six-sided dice, the most regular being plain white with black pips. The first time I played with coloured dice was a game called THRICE, which came with three green and three red. But since then I’ve seen all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colours, especially as my collection grows.
After I told a friend that I thought the dice from a specific game were the ‘Best Dice Ever!’ (number 1 on this list, so I won’t spoil it), they asked me what other ones I thought were good.
Here I present to you my favourite Dice from within my collection as of September 2020. These have only been included on this list if I have played the game, so a few from my Shelf of Shame aren’t on the list (other games in the Tiny Epic series, for example). The top 5 were easy to pick, but I did have trouble with the lower half of the list. So, first I present to you the Honourable Mentions, five games whose Dice nearly made it in.
LCR – One of the most basic games I’ve ever played, and completely luck based.
JAWS – Tension as you roll for maximum bites, and the white on clear red looks nice.
SMALLWORLD – A small wooden dice that holds the power to invade that one last region.
TINY EPIC GALAXIES – Six different faces control the balance of the galaxy.
MEMOIR ’44 – Combat made simple.
10 – ZOMBIE DICE
These Dice are nice and chunky. A basic push your luck game where you want those brains to turn up while avoiding the shotgun blasts. Three different colours differentiate the odds between them; Green being the one you want, while the Red will make you hiss with disgust if you draw it.
9 – NEON DICE
Like the game these dice come from, they are bright and loud. Different members of your gang fight with different dice, the Green being the favoured if you can get it as it feeds back money to you as well as dealing damage.
8 – DUNGEON ROLL
A recent addition to my collection, I have been enjoying short bites of entering the Dungeon and fighting monsters with my collected band of heroes. I particularly like the way the heroes are colour coded to match a specific monster they are better at dealing with, so that one Grey Mage can take out all Grey Skeletons. Makes it quick and easy to match heroes to foes.
7 – UNEARTH
In this game, the Dice represent your tribe of Delvers, who search underground for ruins. You have five Dice to play with, but they are not all equal. Your workers are made up of a D4, three D6’s, and a D8. The Dice are rolled and used to add to a cards total, with the highest Dice on a card winning the player that Ruin. But as you have to pick a Ruin you’re going for before you roll, you have to plan which one to use to control the odds. It gets very tactical.
6 – SUSHI ROLL
When I heard they’d made a Dice version of SUSHI GO! I didn’t see how it could work. Upon playing it, however, it’s my favourite of the two versions, and the Dice are a big part of that. Re-rolling each turn, seeing what the other players have, and knowing the odds of what you might get next turn, make it more interesting to me than taking one card.
5 – DUELOSAUR ISLAND
These dice are chunky and colourful. Each side represents a type of DNA you can research. The best part about them are that the Dice themselves are made to look like amber. I see so many games that have a great theme everywhere except the Dice, and this was a really nice touch to the production.
4 – TAKENOKO
Another in my collection that links nicely to the theme, this single wooden Die controls the weather, with each face giving you an extra action to use on your turn. My favourite is the Storm which scares the Panda to any other location on the table, great for when your opponents have moved the hungry fella out of the line of the bamboo you need to eat.
3 – FORMULA D
Six different Dice, one for each gear of your racing car. These things are awesome. From the D4 used for first gear to get you off that start line, all the way up to the D20 that powers you along the straights, it’s a fantastic mechanic where you have to choose your gear at the beginning of your turn, which controls which Die you’ll roll, thus limiting you to a maximum possible distance you might travel. And let’s not forget about the black Dice that comes out when drivers get to close, all to the chant of ‘Danger Die!’.
2 – DEAD OF WINTER
Many will agree that this is the most evil die in the history of gaming. Those blank faces offer hope, but you’ll rarely roll them, despite how many are on the dice. You’re more likely to roll a wound or a frost bite, or in the case of any one of my characters venturing over to the Library, that little tooth icon that represents a zombie biting you. You roll that tooth and its game over for your survivor. No modifiers, no second chance. Gone. Dead. Finished.
1 – KING OF TOKYO
These Dice are ‘The Best Dice In Any Game Ever!’ And if you don’t agree, my MekaDragon will fight you. Seriously, they are so big and chunky, with easy to see symbols, and the green on black is so striking. I want to get the Halloween expansion just to have the Orange and Black version, and the frosted ones from the Dark Edition also look good. But these original ones are the ‘King’, and you really feel like you’re stomping into the city to do battle each time you roll them.
And that’s it. My favourite Dice to roll from my collection. A mix of looks, feel, and implementation into the game they are used for. No doubt as I play more games over time, this list will change like any Top 10. But for now, these are the ones that put a smile on my face when I have to pick them up and roll them.
What are your favourite Dice? Do you agree or disagree with my list? Let me know in the comments below.
Always Play Blue 