094 - On Dice

Zengineering: A Philosophy of Science, Technology, Art & Engineering

Howdy, Zengineers!!

Oh boy. We’ve got a real zinger for you this week. We’re discussing one of our favorite toys; one that’s been with us since antiquity; one that enables so many games; one that truly represents some of the best. We’re talking about die. Or, is it dice? Dies? Dices? You have very pretty colored dice? Let me get that eight sided die. Yeah! There we go.

Dice aaaarre … simple and magical … bump bump … geometric and mathematical ... bump bump bop boop boop bop... can you feel the rhythm? Sorry … got lost in song…. Back on track. Dice are simple because, duh. Look at em. Or are they? Magical because they actually hold their historical roots in myth, legend, sprit, and religion. Geometric because their shapes are grounded in some of the fundamental aspects of our universe. Mathematical because they play a roll in the wonder of statistics, probability, and randomness. You can tell we love dice. Yeah. Love em. So much so, that Brian has a one foot D20 Plush Pillow (twenty sided die) on the chair in his office.

In this episode, we chase down the history, we talk about the science, and we explore how dice truly represent the wonder of life and free will. This was a fun one, if for no other reason than, it takes us back to our childhood. We hope you enjoy the travels and we hope you have some fun dice games, or games that rely on them, to play at home.

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Cheers,
Adam & Brian

Show Notes

• History of Dice: https://www.awesomedice.com/blogs/news/history-of-dice
• Digital Go Dice on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1928372437/godice-your-favorite-dice-games-reimagined?utm_source=TRS_41&utm_medium=FB&utm_content=TRS_41&utm_term=1c04d016-b516-44d2-bb79-4a1032151cf2&utm_campaign=TRS
• Dice Probability: https://wizardofodds.com/gambling/dice/
• High Variance Dice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1oMnZW7Ry8&feature=emb_title

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