Dice Distribution (bar)

A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing games, and games of chance.

A traditional die is a cube with each of its six faces marked with a different number of dots ( pips) from one to six. When thrown or rolled, the die comes to rest showing a random integer from one to six on its upper surface, with each value being equally likely. Dice may also have other polyhedral or irregular shapes, may have faces marked with numerals or symbols instead of pips and may have their numbers carved out from the material of the dice instead of marked on it. Loaded dice are specifically designed or modified to favor some results over others, for cheating or entertainment purposes.

History

Dice have been used since before recorded history, and their origin is uncertain. It is hypothesized that dice developed from the practice of fortune-telling with the talus of hoofed animals, colloquially known as knucklebones. The Ancient Egyptian game of senet (played before 3000  BCE and up to the 2nd century CE) was played with flat two-sided throwsticks which indicated the number of squares a player could move, and thus functioned as a form of dice. Perhaps the oldest known dice were excavated as part of a backgammon-like game set at the Burnt City, an archeological site in south-eastern Iran, estimated to be from between 2800 and 2500 BCE. Bone dice from Skara Brae, Scotland have been dated to 3100–2400 BCE. Excavations from graves at Mohenjo-daro, an Indus Valley civilization settlement, unearthed terracotta dice dating to 2500–1900 BCE, including at least one die whose opposite sides all add up to seven, as in modern dice.

Games involving dice are mentioned in the ancient Indian ''Rigveda'', ''Atharvaveda,'' ''Mahabharata'' and the Buddhist games list. Knucklebones was a game of skill played in ancient Greece; a derivative form had the four sides of bones receive different values like modern dice.

Although gambling was illegal, many Romans were passionate gamblers who enjoyed dicing, which was known as ''aleam ludere'' ("to play at dice"). There were two sizes of Roman dice. ''Tali'' were large dice inscribed with one, three, four, and six on four sides. ''Tesserae'' were smaller dice with sides numbered from one to six. Twenty-sided dice date back to the 2nd century CE and from Ptolemaic Egypt as early as the 2nd century BCE.

Dominoes and playing cards originated in China as developments from dice. The transition from dice to playing cards occurred in China around the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), and coincides with the technological transition from rolls of manuscripts to block printed books. In Japan, dice were used to play a popular game called sugoroku. There are two types of sugoroku. ''Ban-sugoroku'' is similar to backgammon and dates to the Heian period (794–1185 CE), while ''e-sugoroku'' is a racing game.

File:Knuck dice Steatite 37x27x21 mm.JPG, Knucklebones die, made of soapstone
File:Twenty-sided die (icosahedron) with faces inscribed with Greek letters MET 10.130.1158 001.jpg, Twenty-sided serpentinite die from Ptolemaic Egypt
File:Roman dice IMG 4367.JPG, Roman die
File:9BFE00 -roman lead die (FindID 103936).jpg, Composite image of all sides of a Roman die, found in Leicestershire, England
File:Wall painting - scenes around the pub - Pompeii (VI 14 35-36) - Napoli MAN 111482 - 04.jpg, Roman wall painting showing two dice-players, Pompeii, 1st century
File:historical dice.jpg, A collection of historical dice from various regions of Asia
File:Chinese dice from Late Yuan Dynasty to early Qing Dynasty.jpg, Chinese dice from Late Yuan Dynasty to early Qing Dynasty in Jiangyin Museum, China.

Etymology and terms

The word die comes from Old French