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Comments on How do I search for d6 dice with a blank 6th face?

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How do I search for d6 dice with a blank 6th face? Question

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I haven't found what I'm looking for online, so I'm wondering if there is a specialist term for this type of dice that would give me better luck.

What I'm seeking

I'm looking for dice that are identical to standard d6 dice (pips representing the numbers) except with only the faces 1 to 5 having pips. The 6th face is blank.

Proof of existence

I know these exist, because they are the input resource for companies that print a customised 6th face. However, I haven't been able to find a source for the raw dice without any customisation (which presumably will be considerably cheaper).

Terminology

Is there a name for this kind of dice, or a search term that will work better? So far I have tried terms such as "d6 blank 6th face", "zero-indexed d6", or "customisable d6". The nearest results have been either completely blank (no pips on any of the faces) or pips on 5 faces but uninked, so the pips are barely visible. Since I'm aiming to prototype with several hundred d6 dice, I'd like to avoid having to ink them myself if possible.

Purpose

I'm working on a board game where each piece is a dice, and the number on the top face indicates which player controls that dice. A dice with 3 pips on top is controlled by player 3. All dice start out neutral, which in a 5 player game can be represented by showing 6 pips on top. The game would start with all dice showing 6, and then they would change to other numbers during the game, as players convert them.

It would be much easier to see where the neutral dice are if they showed blank faces instead of 6 pips. I'm open to other suggestions of how to make the neutral dice stand out, but all I can think of is printing a custom image, which is a more expensive option than simply having a blank face.

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3 comment threads

Alternative solution for my particular game (1 comment)
If it is just for your personal use, bundle all the dice together with the 6 up and spray paint this ... (3 comments)
Why do you need this? (2 comments)
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  • I am afraid the best thing you can search for is "blank dice" or "custom dice" or "custom made dice" (this will maybe bring up someone who provides such services, those who also do engravings and custom printed T-shirts and mugs etc.)

  • If you want professionally made dice, printed by a machine, you need to find a company for advertising. That sounds harder than it is. There are so many websites offering to produce merchandises and would create them for you as a single person customer as well. How many they need to produce and the costs are a matter of negotiation, tho.

  • Some (or maybe all?) copy-shops provide services to print mugs, pens, T-shirt etc. Those places you need to find and contact. They will tell you if they can provide dice as well.

On a sidenote:

If you are going to invest money, you are probably not prototyping anymore, but going into semi-production (too) early.

Prototyping is when you use cut-outs made of paper. Plain, simple, quick (and dirty, but that is prototyping). Write a number on the piece as soon as it changes ownership. For subsequent changes just exchange the old one with a fresh marker and a new number. After a while you have ready made pieces at hand and also a rough estimate of "how many dice you will actually need".

I suspect you are are simulating something like armies? Because of the high number of dice. In this case, think of the hassle to turn "every" dice. Maybe you just want one dice for every (sub-)group/platoon as long as they belong to the initial player and only put on a dice on a marker if this special creature is under "mind-control" or whatever changes the ownership to a different player.

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1 comment thread

Interesting thoughts (2 comments)
Interesting thoughts
trichoplax‭ wrote 3 months ago

These are interesting thoughts, and useful suggestions. Thank you - I will bear them in mind for future designs.

This particular game is abstract, rather than simulating anything. The maximum number of dice that can be changed in a turn is 5, and in most turns it will be less, so the hassle shouldn't be much of a problem.

I appreciate the point about prototyping. The board is currently available online so players can print it and stick it onto cardboard, but since there are hundreds of dice it seemed impractical to print and fold them all. For now I'm using the approach I mention in a comment on the question, of dice with different colour pips for different faces, so the 6 face is more easily distinguishable. I was able to find these in packs of 500 that work out around US$0.05 per dice, and around GBP£0.08 per dice after taxes and shipping to the UK. This is less than a tenth of the best prices I found for dice with a blank 6th face, so I'm happy using these for prototyping.

Antares‭ wrote 3 months ago

Nice! Thanks for the infos. Cool you found a good price!