Everyone has one. A 20-sided die that’s seen more death than the scythe-wielding, hourglass-juggling scallywag himself. Is it just probability taking its sweet time to even things out, or is a more sinister spirit at work? Fortunately (for soon-to-be-slaughtered bards everywhere), there’s a way to pre-empt your inevitable demise.
A fellow by the name of Daniel Fisher has come up with a way to test your dice for bias and it’s very straightforward. Hot water, lots of salt and the suspect die. Drop the die into the water — making sure it floats — and then roll it while still in the solution.
If it prefers a particular number it’ll almost always “roll” to show it, while a balanced die won’t.
The reason for this interesting behaviour is that dice aren’t all made equal. In fact, you could argue none of them are. In fact-fact, opaque dice are more likely to be dodgy, because imperfections and bad manufacturing can be hidden away.
Take this one and its chalky interior:
Obviously, you’d see this in a transparent die, so you’re more likely to get a decent roller if you stick with those. Alternatively, you could grab a set of numerically-balanced dice.
How to check the balance of your D20 [YouTube]
Lead image: janet galore / Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0
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