The Origin of Dice – Different Kind of Dice – A Calendar of Reviews (13 December)

In this December calendar of game design, Jon Back looks into different kinds of randomness, with a special focus on different kinds of dice reviews. And I mean all kinds of dice, common, uncommon, really useful and some completely worthless.


In this episode we discuss the origin of dice, and where the worlds oldest dice come from. The focus here is on one artifact, knucklebones. This is in no way the only way dice was invented, as it is an ancient thing, with many people and cultures behind it. There are more old precursors to the modern dice in other episodes in this series.



Each day is dedicated to one type of dice, splitting it all into small nuggets of knowledge, each containing one piece of a larger puzzle. It’s all meant as a bit of fun, but also, we as designers need to deeply understand each and every tool in our toolbox. Even the most fundamental game design elements, such as an individual die, can be dissected and understood. This can be seen as game design tutorials on specific game design elements for beginners and experts, a bit of amusement, or it can be seen as a way to improve your knowledge for your own future creative use. After all, most of us are creative geeks in one form or another.


While we focus on individual dice and randomization methods, the knowledge can be applied to any type of game you are designing: board games, computer games, consoles, mobile phone games (in public or otherwise), live action role play (larp), role playing games (rpg), and so on.

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