Wednesday, March 28, 2012



Q Workshop GIC Electronic Dice

Today on the Q Workshop Facebook page they announced that their sister company GIC has developed an electronic dice version which just might be the next big advancement in the dice world. Functianally there is actually only a few things that seperate this from a regular analog D6. It rolls and lands on a number just like any other die. Where it differs is in the ability for the results to influenced. The die will go red if the roll is too short and that decreases the chance that the die is being manipulated. The die will also go red if after the die comes to a stop the die is tipped, again with the goal of reducing the chance of cheating. It should be noted that the "Q" has assured it's Facebook friends that the dice are balanced. That will be interesting to see.

This is all very interesting and it certainly is not a new idea with respect to a digital die, I have one from Radio Shack from the 1980s and I am familiar with several that might go back to the late 50s and therefore what makes this one special. I think it is the fact that the previous dice where novelties with no other purpose then perhaps allowing a player to roll multiple sided dice on the same device. This concept while clever has never been successful. There is something about real dice hitting the tabletop...it's the feel...the sound...the vibration as the dice bounce along. There is also the style of dice...and the "Q" sure has shown us that in recent years. They have advanced our concept of style on dice significantly, they have turned the industry on edge and given us all a whole bunch of interesting collectables. I am looking forward to getting a set of these new electronic dice in my hands. It is my hope they have a nice feel to them both as they roll around in my hand and also how the skid and tumble over my table.

Here is a link showing the die in action.

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