Dice so nerdy, they make other dice seem not nerdy

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Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/29/dice-so-nerdy-they-make-other.html

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Making Lego dice that don’t have Lego sides seems like a missed opportunity.

The rest are pretty sweet, though.

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I like those RGB dice, but this will do in a pinch.

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The NYC dice are disappointing, even a bit offensive:

Die 1: West Village, Chelsea, EV/Nolita, LES, Soho, Roller’s Choice

Die 2: Italian, Roller’s Choice, Sushi, Mexican, Asian, Ethnic

EDIT: To be clear, I find it absurd to believe two d6 are sufficient to represent the size of NYC and the diversity of its cuisine, and referring to some generic “ethnic” cuisine is just not cool, as is lumping together all Asian cuisine (yet it gives sushi its own category, for whatever reason).

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I’ve only spent about a week in NYC in my whole life, and I have still eaten in more places than represented by these dice.

I’m amused at “Asian” and the even broader “Ethnic”, and even more amused that sushi isn’t considered Asian.

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“Ethnic” is a worse than useless descriptor. I wonder what food is non-ethnic. Maybe a pure glucose solution?

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Perhaps American, since Americans eat everything? To quote Colbert, America’s national food: food.

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I have been looking for an all-20 D20 for YEARS! Yes!

Edit: the website makes it sound like he’s only made one, though?

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Italian, Sushi, Mexican, and Asian, according to this die. Roller’s Choice doesn’t count, because they could choose Ethnic.

What’s Indian food? Is that Asian or Ethnic? And where’s American food on this list? Do people in NYC don’t do like regular pub fare? I also know for a fact they have that faux-Southern all-organic locally-sourced hipster food, but I haven’t eaten any there.

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True American cuisine doesn’t take the GI way out, it just parks in your arteries.

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Hey Cory,

The guy that makes these dice is Eric Harshbarger, not Erich Arshbargar :slight_smile:

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He has a two-pip die on his website, that he says is the minimum number of pips required to be able read a six-sided die. I think you can actually get away with just one of the corner pips on the 6 visible, say the pip in the corner where the 2 and 3 meet.

  • Pip is not visible, even on the side faces: 1
  • Pip is in the top right of one of the side faces: 2
  • Pip is in the top left: 3
  • Pip is in the bottom right: 4
  • Pip is in the bottom left: 5
  • Pip is on the top face: 6

You can also make a 20-sided die with only the one marked. All you need for a die with any number of sides is one face marked with an orientation indicator, and you can figure out the positions of the other sides from that.

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A blog post so nerdy it makes dice seem not nerdy

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I thought the name looked familiar. He’s done some pretty amazing Lego builds in the past.

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Taxonomy is always controversial.

That gives me a good idea for some dice…

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Eric Harshbarger, not Erich Arshbarger. And yes, he was one of the first online Lego nerds to turn it into a business, buying vast quantities of brick in bulk and building large sculptures and mosaics.
http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/portfolio.html

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Would be funny to unexpectedly use it during a critical point in the game.

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I use them when I compose text messages;

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Plus it should def. have Afghani and Polish as major options (they could replace Italian and… Mexican, I guess).