Talk:Dice

Where, if at all, to put basic stat info for nDs dice

A while back, related to some research I was doing, I needed to gather some basic info about the results you get when rolling nDs+c and nDs-c dice -- It discussed the minimum value, maximum value, and most likely value(s) you get for particular nm s and c, including when the adjusted rolls would result in a negative value. This info has been useful for my fellow gamers, and I think it would be of interest to other d20 players, as well as those interested in dice probability, and perhaps probability more generally. As far as I was able to discover, this info is not grouped together in one place on the Web -- or, if it is, I could not find after a lot of googling.

I've been told by a knowledgeable editor that such info is too detailed for the Dice page. Dice Notation was suggested as a location for it, but that page is about (several different) dice notations, and doesn't really get into the probability behavior of info related to them (sensible; the page is about notation, not stats). It also seems inappropriate to place this info on its own page; seems too detailed for that. So, I'd like the community's input: Is there an appropriate page for this info? Should it be on a new page after all? Or it is just too esoteric to be in Wikipedia?

Many thanks for your advice! Eclectucator (talk) 23:14, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

(I come from Wikipedia:Teahouse#Create a Main Page for Dice Properties?.) Perhaps at the bottom of Dice pool? The main problem to me is not falling afoul of the policies against original research and synthesis.

Courtesy links for reference: User talk:BOZ/Archive 2024 § Advice on What Page to "Some basic properties of nds rolls" (if anywhere), removal of text at Dice, and the version before that. @Eclectucator Rotideypoc41352 (talk · contribs) 22:34, 11 March 2025 (UTC)

Link 25 broken - suggested replacement

Reference 25 is leading to a broken link:

Here is a suggested replacement: https://shop.backgammongalaxy.com/blogs/news/what-is-backgammon-precision-dice 80.208.69.137 (talk) 09:28, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Use of die symbols

A traditional die is a cube with each of its six faces marked with a different number of dots (pips) from to

I think the use of these die symbols, , has gone too far - in this article, as well as in many articles on die games. As a rule, I don't think such a symbol should be treated as a part of speech, and also, giving a range as in the example cited above, we are treating them as numbers, and thus, they should be written as numbers ("from 1 to 6" or "from one to six").

(I'm not sure this is the proper place to discuss this - but otherwise, where would that be?) Nø (talk) 09:36, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

This is at least the appropriate place to discuss the fact that (I agree that) they're overused here: in particular, the modern pip-arrangements have no place when discussing Roman talus dice; nor do pip-arrangements in general have any place when discussing non-standard six-siders, which are almost invariably marked with Arabic numerals. (As far as I've seen, anyway. I admittedly don't have a citable source for that.)

I've removed most of the uses of Template:die from this page, as well as the gratuitous coloration from two of the uses I left in place. (And, unfortunately, bollixed the summary by submitting the edit early. Oops.) The remaining uses are... at least borderline acceptable, but I won't argue for their retention if anyone wants them gone, too. —Twice Nothing (talk) 10:52, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

Sorry, that was my fault. Another editor called me out on this saying I was causing accessibility issues. I was able to receive confirmation from both Largoplazo and Graham87 that it wasn't properly pronounced in some screen readers like NVDA. Link to that discussion here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/Accessibility/Archive_17#h-Template:Die-20250923080300 2600:8800:97:E200:1031:EF09:EE66:A6E0 (talk) 04:35, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

12,000-year-old dice?

"Probability in the Pleistocene: Origins and Antiquity of Native American Dice, Games of Chance, and Gambling" (2026) Mapsax (talk) 01:37, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

@Mapsax — added a bit of barebones info about it. Sourced it from a secondary rather than the paper itself.  — MWFwiki (talk) 01:29, 1 June 2026 (UTC)