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Ultimate Geek DiceDeck

Replace dice with a deck of cards

Requirements

<30
1-99
12+

Description


"The Ultimate Geek DiceDeck" presents you with a unique method for rolling dice utilizing cards. The cards are clear and easy to read and look a lot like standard playing cards. They are printed in red and black on a white background just as most standard playing cards are. We designed them this way in order to maintain the true card look and feel, as well as ensuring easy readability. Readability is the primary reason why most standard playing cards are printed in the format that they are.

Dice decks have been around for a while in various forms. However, in reviewing the dice decks currently on the market we discovered issues with all of them. They all seem to have limitations. Perhaps this is the reason that several dice decks on the market are "gimmicky". They often seem to add counters, game pieces other things on the cards in order to sell them as sort of a "swiss army knife" rather than a true dice deck. The biggest problem that limits current dice decks is that cards unlike dice have memory. What this basically means is that once a card is drawn it is no longer in the deck, so with each draw of a card some of the randomness and odds are lost.

For example let's take a look at a regular deck of cards. If you were to give the cards a shuffle and draw a card your chances of drawing a two of spades would be 1 in 52. Now, if you were to draw a second card hoping to draw say the two of hearts, your chances would be 1 in 51. This is inherently different from dice in that every time you roll a die, your chances are the same. For example to roll a two with a six sided die, your chances are always same, 1 in 6. Along with this problem comes that fact that it is easy to remember how many of the same numbers you've already seen. For example let's look at a standard deck of playing cards again. If you shuffle the deck and draw all four twos in the first ten cards or so, you would know that there are no more twos in the deck. Most dice decks on the market try to mimic dice rolling by either placing a either a picture or a number of die on each card, or placing a few dice on each card to help mitigate the issue. However, just adding more dice images to cards does not solve the issue.

This is where "The Ultimate Geek DiceDeck" comes in. In order to solve this we knew that we needed to think outside the box. After many hours we came up with a solution. Why not draw two cards instead of one, and have the first card point to a number on the second card. With this method, it is completely possible roll the same number each and every time, provided the cards fell into the correct order during the shuffle. Every number combination is possible. For example with our four sided dice cards, if you were to draw (roll) four times, you could roll a 4-4-4-4 or 1-2-3-4 or 2,3,2,1 or 1-1-1-1 or a 3-3-2-3 etc...

The reason this works is because each cards points to every other number possible.

To roll a dice is simple.

1) Draw one card, place it on the table.
2) Draw a second and place it on top of the first card.
3) Slide the top card to the right and read your roll as indicated by the arrow.

Note: directions vary slightly for the d20.

That's it. Also, there is no need to shuffle the deck until after you draw the last two cards in the deck.

The uses of this dice deck are virtually limitless.

1) Suppose you only have one four sided dice but five people are seated at the table and they each need to roll a four sided dice. With this dice deck, they each could just draw two cards and keep them until a reshuffle is needed. Each two cards is like having a separate dice. This dice deck replaces a bag full of dice.

2) The unique method of using two cards opens up all kinds of possibilities for other card game designs. Once you understand the system you could easily incorporate this design into your own card game. For example you create an RPG style card game. You could design a card for a character that only points to items that character can use. Like the pointer on the card of a Barbarian pointing to all swords, shields etc... but not pointing to any magic items. Plus, you could get the randomness of drawing all sorts of items. Not to mention the fact, that you could potentially eliminate all dice from a card game and make it an all card game. Custom cards in general are a lot cheaper to get printed then custom etched dice.

3) Cards are quite unlike dice. You don't have the noise of rattling a bunch of dice in your hand. This great for situations where you do not want to disturb others or have limited space. Like in the living room when others are watching TV, on an airplane, a long car trip, or in a coffee shop.

4) These cards are easy to read, some dice are not.

5) Cards don't roll off the table on to the floor, nor do they stack causing a re-roll.

We have spent many weeks developing the number patterns and the design work of each card. Whether you're a board gamer, a board/card game designer, or a card collector I'm sure that you can appreciate all that this dice has to offer.

The All-In-One dice deck includes three decks (fours and eights, sixes and twelves, tens and twenties).

The print and play version can be found here:
Ultimate Geek DiceDeck (PNP version) [www.thegamecrafter.com]

Components

Component Quantity Photo
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Vitals

Average Rating 1 reviews
Publish Date August 18, 2015
Edition All-In-One Deck
Department Games
Tags {{tag.properties.name}}

Why buy this?

  • Go Diceless
  • Replace a whole bag of dice!
  • Create your own game using the mechanics of this deck.

Notes

  • This game does not come in a box.

Accolades

See It In Action

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Ratings and Reviews

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Own It Played It Fun Priced Well High Replay Value Well Written Rules Nice Artwork

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