Best die size (16mm, 19mm, 25mm, ?)

[sharps54]

I’m working on scaling back and maximizing my gaming stuff. As I get older funky designs and color schemes are harder to read as are smaller dice. What is your favorite size (not number of sides) for dice to roll physically?

 

[Nick J]

Dunno. Whatever size is big enough to cause a mild concussion when I throw it at a disruptive player's head.

 

[Teyrnon]

I don't really have a favorite size but I have a strong preference for opaque solid-color dice with high-contrast inking.

 

[sharps54]

I don't really have a favorite size but I have a strong preference for opaque solid-color dice with high-contrast inking.

Agreed, my plan for personal use is to have some with black numerals on solid white, some with white numerals on solid black and some with white numerals in solid red. No funny scripts, just easy to read numbers.

I’m thinking about 19mm d6’s and 25mm for the polyhedral sets. Honestly most games I play are primarily d6 or d%. I hear the 25mm don’t roll as well so I’ll probably go with a dice cup. I haven’t used a dice tower for a few years now and just use a dice tray these days.

 

[TristramEvans]

I dunno, what ever size a d10 is.

 

[sharps54]

I dunno, what ever size a d10 is.

Most RPG dice sets are 16mm.

 

[Sharrow]

Assuming we're largely talking d6s, because the others don't seem to vary a lot, well my favourite d6s are mostly 14-15mm per side, so I assume that's a nominal '16mm'.

 

[Fenris-77]

For d6's I like what ever the size is that comes in that plastic box of 36d6 called the Brick. I think they're chessex, and they are smaller than standard with sharper corners and bigger pips than other d6s that size. Good for rolling handfuls of for 40K play. Other than that, I'm all about high contrast on normal size dice

Ah-ha - I found images.

So theses...


Not these...



Although I now I see both kinds are made by Chessex.

 

[Teyrnon]

I ran across this photo recently going through some old disks and it might make a good perspective image. The one on the left is a ~16mm die, I think the red one is 50mm.

 

[sharps54]

I think for the most part 25mm is probably the limit of real usability, if they made polyhedrals in 19mm or 20mm I’d go with that. 19mm d6 are the standard in casinos of that helps.

Here is a good break down I should have put in the original post

Dice Sizes Explained - 8mm, 12mm, 16mm, 19mm, 25mm and more

www.dicegamedepot.com

 

[dragoner]

I have 16mm d6's I am going to do a promo with, they are pretty chunky, I like them.

 

[ffilz]

For d6's I like what ever the size is that comes in that plastic box of 36d6 called the Brick. I think they're chessex, and they are smaller than standard with sharper corners and bigger pips than other d6s that size. Good for rolling handfuls of for 40K play. Other than that, I'm all about high contrast on normal size dice

Ah-ha - I found images.

So theses...
View attachment 56125

Not these...

View attachment 56126

Although I now I see both kinds are made by Chessex.

I like the more rounded ones. Mine measure at close to 10, but from the Chessex website, I guess they're supposed to be 12mm. I have several blocks, yellow, translucent blue, and I think orange (I don't have the orange in my dice bowl) plus several random individual dice (including a black with red pips "Traveller" pair). For polyhedral dice I like the "standard" size (most d20s seem to be about the same size as the original D&D dice).

 

[Endless Flight]

Whatever the size of the ones that came in every boxed set I’ve seen.

 

[sharps54]

Whatever the size of the ones that came in every boxed set I’ve seen.

That would most likely be 16mm

 

[Raleel]

i'm accustomed to 16mm, but 19mm is definitely easier on the eyes. Color is more important, I think. As others, black on white, white on black, or yellow on black are preferred. No script, no illegible fonts, etc. Essentially, the rules of old person gaming books also apply to dice. Note, I have good enough vision that I can read the pocket pathfinder 2 without glasses, but still wear them for comfort most of the time.

 

[Sosthenes]

For d6, I kinda like casino dice, which are 19mm, right?
For d20, the regular 16mm are fine.

For a d4, 0mm.

 

[Telok]

1. The pretty transparent ones.
2. The homemade 1.5 inch BOOM! die.
3. The 3 inch foam d6s we chuck at each other.
4. The dice roller I wrote.
5. The d6s with kitty cats and dinosaurs on them.

Different dice for different things. That's the size of it.

 

[Fenris-77]

5. The d6s with kitty cats and dinosaurs on them.

What are your thoughts on pink pigs?

 

[Telok]

Only as

What are your thoughts on pink pigs?

The only good pig is bacon.

 

[Fenris-77]

Only as

The only good pig is bacon.

That's why I give the pig nice to naughty players as a punishment.

 

[Raleel]

I do have a 4"x4" wooden escalation die for 13th age.

 

[Nick J]

Dunno. Whatever size is big enough to cause a mild concussion when I throw it at a disruptive player's head.

I do have a 4"x4" wooden escalation die for 13th age.

Tell me more . . .

 

[Fenris-77]

 

[Raleel]

Tell me more . . .

took a 4x4, sawed off a 4" chunk, woodburned numbers into it (norse themed, as a campaign was norse themed), then stained and sealed it.

 

[Telok]

More work than I did for the boom die. Made that one for a supers game to check when stuff like cars and computer consoles exploded. Got some wood cubes from the hobby store and took a red fine tip permanent marker to it for a nice comic book style "BOOM!".

Did eventually throw some arrows on the other sides so it doubles as a scatter die too. It's made it into my main collection as a general 1/6 hazard die. If I need to victimize a character its rolled and whoever it points at gets the crap, a boom escalates how much crap I get to drop and then I roll again to pick a victim.

 

[robb]

I like the over-sized dice now that our vision is getting poorer. Those 50mm D20s roll well and are clear at the other end of the table. I agree the other over-sized dice roll less well so it is mainly the D20s I'd recommend. I think you can get 40mm ones too. I like them too.

 

[CRKrueger]

Whatever size Zocchi dice are, unless I'm playing 40k, then smaller dice, or using d30's because d30.

 

[Dammit Victor]

16mm, opaque solid color, high contrast inking. My dice are also color-coded for Cortex/Alternity, which means I need a lot more matching d4s and d6s.

I also have a separate bag of d10s in various colors for Terminator.

 

[opaopajr]

I don't always get to tell 'stories from school' as it were, but I have an amusing one from when I worked at a FLGS:

We used to sell really tiny d6s, about the size of seed beads for necklaces, probably 3~5mm. They were at the time cheap, like under $0.05 each, possibly 3 cents IIRC. And I was told to make the sale, the customer was always right, and we have no minimum on credit card charges.

So one couple wandered around and the woman was so infantuated with the tiny dice she wanted a "His & Hers" notion to remember the experience. However since it was a vacation they had only cards on them. And our shop was not modernized to full Point Of Sale swipe readers, and the one reader we had was currently down.

Yes, I have officially ran a credit card for $0.08 on an embossing machine and had to call up by phone the third party validator for the credit card transaction code. My boss updated the terms for credit card usage thereafter. But the couple left happy!

 

[Sable Wyvern]

12mm for fistfulls of d6s systems.

Otherwise, 16mm.

 

[gruagach]

In my old age, I've become a fan of metal dice, typically 16mm. I'd love to find good quality 19mm metal sets.

 

[Simlasa]

For D6 I like the feel of a slightly larger size... not sure the precise measurement. A bit chunky.
Otherwise, I'm fine with what seems the average size... but with clearly printed numbers... not those Q Workshop things that look pretty but fuck if I can tell what number they're showing.

 

[Telok]

Reminds me. One of these days I need to print the d7.4 die.

 

[carpocratian]

These days I pick dice solely based on how easy it is to read them. Given that, I go for plain opaque ones with high contrast colors for the numerals or pips. The larger the numerals/pips, the better.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I voted for 19mm, because I have a couple of dice sets of that size that I really like.

But I also have a couple of 25mm d20's, which roll really well and it kind of fits that a d20 is bigger than the other dice. So it also kind of depends on the number of sides the dice have.

For dice pool games like WoD 16mm dice is probably best. 19mm would probably get a bit clunky for such systems, unless you have really big hands.

One thing unrelated to die size is with d4. I wish the traditionel d4 would go away. Instead you could just have d8 or d12 with 1-4 instead. I have some d8's like that and I love them.

 

[gruagach]

<snip>
One thing unrelated to die size is with d4. I wish the traditionel d4 would go away. Instead you could just have d8 or d12 with 1-4 instead. I have some d8's like that and I love them.

So much this. I wish I could find a couple nice metal dice sets with this kind of "d4".

 

[ffilz]

I voted for 19mm, because I have a couple of dice sets of that size that I really like.

But I also have a couple of 25mm d20's, which roll really well and it kind of fits that a d20 is bigger than the other dice. So it also kind of depends on the number of sides the dice have.

For dice pool games like WoD 16mm dice is probably best. 19mm would probably get a bit clunky for such systems, unless you have really big hands.

One thing unrelated to die size is with d4. I wish the traditionel d4 would go away. Instead you could just have d8 or d12 with 1-4 instead. I have some d8's like that and I love them.

Yep, love my Zocchi octohedral d4s...

For d6, I have no problem reading 12mm dice and I have rarely seen any color combinations that are hard to read. Other dice, I have seen color combinations that are hard to read, so I tend to use the higher contrast dice. Other than those micro-d6 mentioned above, I haven't seen any dice where the size makes the numbers hard to read with my eyesight. For me, it's more about comfortable size for rolling. The 12mm d6 are nice because they are big enough to roll comfortably with 1 or 2 dice, and small enough that a "handful" covers almost any roll I would ever likely need to make (well, OK, a big enough Cold Iron crit might challenge things...).

 

[Fenris-77]

So a straw poll about d4s - number on the point or number along the bottom? I'm a number on the point man myself. You octahedral heretics don't get a vote.

 

[gruagach]

Heretic or not, I don't actually own any octahedral d4s - so bring on the inquisition against me!

I'm a number-on-point adherent as well.

 

[Sharrow]

So a straw poll about d4s - number on the point or number along the bottom? I'm a number on the point man myself. You octahedral heretics don't get a vote.

On the point is probably more utilitarian but my favourite (and first) d4s, now long-lost, were side/base marked and so it's clearly the superior choice!