Re:How dice changed over 2k years to be more fair (2018)
by simik on Thursday June 11, 2020 @09:01AM
(#23488339)
What's "unbalanced" about the 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 arrangement of numbers? And how is "primes" superior?
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Re:How dice changed over 2k years to be more fair (2018)
by mcv on Thursday June 11, 2020 @09:40AM
(#23488734)
That arrangement is primes. The other arrangement is sevens: 1 and 6 opposite each other, 2 and 5, and 3 and 4.
Both of them can be unfair. Assuming rolling high is better, when 1 and 2 are opposite each other, those faces could be slightly smaller and therefore have a smaller chance of landing on them. This is especially easy with hand-made dice, which are bound to be somewhat irregular.
With "sevens", 1, 2, and 3 meet in a single point. If that point is somehow heavier than the opposite point, you're more likely to roll 4, 5 or 6.
I think I'd actually consider the "primes" arrangement to be superior to the modern one. No idea why that switch was ever made.