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21 Posts

BoardGameGeek» Forums » Gaming Related » General Gaming

Subject: A Pair Of Dice Which Never Roll 7 rss

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Jim Cote
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Interesting read.

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/dice/
 
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Sterling Babcock
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That is kind of interesting, in an abstract way.

You might write to him and ask him if you can post it as a file under Settlers.
 
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FullContactGEEK
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That is sweet!

Update:
I just walked over to the local office supply store and picked up some rub-on numbers, applied them to some blank dice I had sitting around and sealed them with Future floor finish (which is a clear acrylic paint). Then a fine red Sharpie adds the dots. Very nice little DIY upgrade. I still have to find a blank d10 though.
 
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  • Last edited Sat Jun 17, 2006 3:53 am (Total Number of Edits: 2)
  • Posted Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:54 pm
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Jason Little
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Eden Prairie
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What a trip! Neat... That was a cool thing to read through.
 
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Chris Rogers
United States
San Ramon
California
This hurts my head on a Friday afternoon...kudos to the author for such a thorough treatise.
 
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Chapel
United States
Round Rock
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very cool..I am definitely going to make a pair for my settlers kit. I also like how the red dotes kind of match the theme of the disc as well.
 
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david funch
United States
Clarkston
Michigan
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Wow, great read. I tempted to buy a couple of blank D6s and number em like that. Then I can be a super elitist gamer. Pfft...you add your dice together?

It'd also be neat to get a bunch of D10s of various colors and number them so that a different number is missing on each of em. Then use em to make roll and move games interesting again. Don't want to land on boardwalk? No problem! Gotta move at least three spaces! No problem!
 
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Matthew Fisk
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In the end, I think I would rather just reroll the dice...

:D
 
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  • Last edited Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:28 pm (Total Number of Edits: 1)
  • Posted Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:56 pm
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Timothy Hunt
United States
St Louis
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I know Simon (the author of that article) personally, from when I lived in Cambridge. He's a nice bloke, but some of the stuff that goes on in his head baffles me

I've invited him to participate...

Timothy
 
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David
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Wellington
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Hey cool he's the PuTTY guy! meeple
 
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J. Green
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I think that's about the most interesting, elegant article I've read in a long time. Very creative. Amazing solution to a variant game design problem.
 
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Timothy Hunt
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meowsqueak wrote:
Hey cool he's the PuTTY guy! meeple


Yes, he is. thumbsup
 
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Dave Duffield
United States
Indianapolis
Indiana
I certainly admire the determination and creativity.

Can I make a counterproposal though...

Roll two dice, a D5 and a D6. If the total is 7 or higher, add +1 to the D5 value. I think this provides the same result and is a little simpler.

Basically, my solution is taking the middle diagonal out of the 6x6 matrix and 'squishing' it into a 5x6 matrix. Then if you end up 'below' the diagonal, the +1 expands the matrix back.

Dave
 
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Mike K
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Sylvus wrote:
In the end, I think I would rather just reroll the dice...

I agree. That said, this really is a fascinating read.

Cool article.
 
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Matt Davis
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Upland
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Sylvus wrote:
In the end, I think I would rather just reroll the dice...



But this is so much more elegant. Part of me wishes that there were a way to have one set of dice that you could read in two different ways, one of which gives you the proper probabilities for "no 7's", and one which gives you standard 2d6. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure such would require 180 possible outcomes, which is past the point of being worthwhile. (That's assuming that these dice still are worthwhile. ) But meh. Swapping the d5 without 7 for the d6 with would be easy enough.
 
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  • Last edited Sat Jun 17, 2006 2:34 am (Total Number of Edits: 1)
  • Posted Sat Jun 17, 2006 2:32 am
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Joe Grundy
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This is a lovely article. Thanks for bringing it to our (my) attention.

1) It is really clearly written. A pleasure to read.
2) It is an entertaining foray into mental mathematical/spatial gymnastics. Reminds me of Martin Gardner.
3) It's the kind of thing I wish I had time for
4) It let's me drag my wife over, point to this, and say, "see, I'm not as bad as I might be!"
 
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Daniel Corban
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Newmarket
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That was an interesting article. It seems like a lot of work for the "2 rounds" per game that it would come into play.

I would argue that the robber has a larger unbalancing effect on the game at the mid-point rather than the beginning. I wonder if these players will ever advance any heavier than Settlers if they can't even get through a few potential rolls of no resource production without having to change the rules.
 
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david funch
United States
Clarkston
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Can someone please explain what the "PuTTY guy" is?
 
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Dave Dubin
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pothocket wrote:
Can someone please explain what the "PuTTY guy" is?


There are still a few of us (the Efficiently Encoded Minority) who can be as productive with text-based interfaces as we can with graphical user interfaces. Mr. Tatham took his claymation horse into a surreal world on the other side of the VT100 screen, and wrested an outstanding SSH client for us from the clutches of the evil blockheads. For which we will be eternally grateful.

Dave

 
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Daniel Corban
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Newmarket
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In other words... just Google it.
 
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Timothy Hunt
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St Louis
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I got a message from Simon:

Quote:

For what it's worth, I've now updated my dice webpage with some afterthoughts.
(I still can't be bothered to register with BGG, though.)


Timothy
 
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