How Many Of These Facts About Dice Did You Know?

If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about dice, you’re in luck. On this page you’ll find some pretty interesting facts about dice that you probably didn’t know. The small cube-shaped objects with numbered sides are used to generate outcomes for games, including some well known casino games, and have actually been around for quite a long time.

Have a read of these facts about dice, then why not play some dice games here at LuckyStar Casino?

Facts About Dice

Dice Or Die?

The English language is complex and downright confusing at times. An oddity that many come across is the word ‘dice’. Technically speaking, ‘dice’ refers to two or more ‘dice’, while if you’re referring to just one, the correct word to use is ‘die’. However, many people use the word ‘dice’ to mean just one or more than one - in other words, they use it as both the singular and the plural, ignoring the correct singular ‘die’. What makes the matter more confusing is that some people use ‘die’ to mean but just one ‘die’ and any number of them!

National Dice Day

These days, it seems that just about everything has its own ‘day’ where it’s celebrated. Believe it or not, there is a day dedicated to dice and that day is 4 December. Many people in the US honour this day and enjoy playing all sorts of dice games to celebrate it.

Origins Of Dice

There’s no telling where dice actually came from. They’re believed to have been around well before recorded history and it’s thought that they originated in several different places independently. The earliest dice that have been excavated date back to between 2800-2500 BC. These primitive dice were unearthed at the archaeological site of a Bronze Age settlement in Iran known as Burnt City. It’s believed that these dice were part of some sort of early backgammon set.

What Dice Have Been Made Of

Nowadays, most dice that are used today are made from thermoset plastic, though some made from metals can be found as well. Throughout history, all sorts of materials have been used to make dice, including ivory, wood, porcelain, lead and even animal bones. In fact, the earliest instances of dice were made from a variety of animal parts, such as tusks and hooves.

Diverse Dice

Dice can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The standard die is a cube shape with six sides. Each side is marked with a different number of dots ranging from 1 to 6. Just like casino games have many different versions, so do dice.

If you play certain board games, you may come across eight-side dice (octahedron), whose sides are all triangular. There’s also the tetrahedron, which has just four triangle-shaped sides and is the shape of a pyramid, though this one isn’t the best for rolling. There are even some dice that have a total of 20 sides!

The Name Of The Dots

The dots that are used to denote what each side is actually have a name: they’re known as ‘pips’. Most of the time, the pips on white dice are coloured black, while the pips on coloured dice are coloured white, though this isn’t always the case.

The Number Seven

On a traditional six-sided dice, if you add up the two numbers on opposite sites, they always add up to seven. The dice are usually arranged so that 1 is opposite 6, 2 is opposite 5 and 3 is opposite 4. This is most likely because the number 7 is believed by some to be lucky.

Names Of Rolls

There are names for certain rolls made when playing with two dice. If you roll two dice and they both show one pip, it’s a snake eyes. Should the dice both show two pips, you’ve got a ballerina. Brooklyn forest is the name for a roll that produces two threes, while a square pair is the name given to a roll with two fours. If you roll and produce two fives, it’s puppy paws, while if you produce two sixes, it’s midnight.

Play Dice Games At LuckyStar Casino

Now that you know a lot more about dice, why not have a go at some dice games? Head to our Casino section and start playing! We have a game of craps and a game of sic bo for you to try your luck at. To quickly find these games, simply type in ‘craps’ or ‘sic bo’ into the search bar. If you want to play a live dice game, visit our Live Casino section and open up the Betgames lobby, where you’ll find the thrilling and fast-paced Dice Duel game ready to be played!