Low Probability Dice

Abstract

This is a novel gaming dice invention that incorporates low probability results, called “Low Probability Dice,” invented by Benjamin M. Timp for the purposes of board games, role-playing games, or other dice playing games of chance. By combining different sizes of landing planes, some of the results have lower probabilities of landing face up.

Description

BACKGROUND

[0001] The present disclosure is directed to gaming dice and more particularly to gaming dice that use a combination of incongruent sides in order to produce lower probability results on 2, 4, 6, or 8 corners.

[0002] Dice have been created that have incongruent sides and are practically fair, incorporating balanced landing planes, such as the dice of expired U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,754A that, with other dice, forms the modern basic set for role-playing games and many board games.

[0003] Dice have been created with incongruent sides that have varying landing probabilities such as abandoned U.S. Pal. No. 201090282890A1. That patent details how different probabilities on a single gaming die would result from its shape without citing potential usefulness.

[0004] It would be useful to have dice that have potential for different probabilities on its various planes, affecting either positively or negatively the outcomes for the player(s) during game play. Furthermore, by incorporating low probability results to dice-rolling games of chance, players can introduce novel and surprising results to game play or incorporate modifiers to change rules and / or results to characters, outcomes, etc.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The truncated or chamfered corners of this novel gaming dice design are generally in balance opposite each other to produce lower probability results on 2, 4, 6, or 8 of the planes while always having a balanced core of six practically fair planes of relative higher probability.

[0006] Therefore, the gaming dice becomes 8 sided, 10 sided, 12 sided, or 14 sided dice with lower probability results on 2, 4, 6, or 8 of the sides.

[0007] These as well as other aspects, advantages, and alternatives, will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an example showing a truncated octahedron with six practically fair planes and two smaller planes of lower landing probability than the base six.

[0009] FIG. 2 is an isometric view of an example showing a truncated decahedron with six practically fair planes and four smaller planes of lower landing probability than the base six.

[0010] FIG. 3 is an isometric view of an example showing a dodecahedron with six practically fair planes and six smaller planes of lower landing probability than the base six.

[0011] FIG. 4 is an isometric view of an example showing a tetra decahedron with six practically fair planes and eight smaller planes of lower landing probability than the base six.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the octahedron die body has a base cubic form of six planes and two truncated or chamfered corners that result in two additional landing planes that are smaller than the base six. The die body is composed of plastic or another suitable material that is substantially rigid and lightweight. The die body can be shaped in its final form and manufactured through a 3-D printing, plastic molding, or other suitable process. The die body can also be shaped from its intermediate base form of a cube and reduced into its final form by removing excess portions of material from the corners or points.

[0013] To test the overall fairness and ensure different possibilities of probability combinations, each die variation requires accurate prototyping and testing. For example, by removing material from the two corners or points of a gaming die (as in FIG. 1) that is a standard 14 mm cube so that two corners have triangular landing planes measuring 10 mm×10 mm×10 mm, there is an average landing probability of 3.11% on either two corners, and an average of 15.63% on the base sides 1-6 after 10,000 rolls. Different sizes of landing planes at the corners can be accomplished and made with different probabilities, but the concept of the invention remains the same.

[0014] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented herein. This novel invention is specifically for the use of gaming dice that incorporate different size landing planes to incorporate low probability results during games involving dice. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein and illustrated in the figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are contemplated herein.SIMILAR DOCUMENTSPublicationPublication DateTitleUSD718819S12014 Dec. 2DieUSD436635S12001 Jan. 23Game Playing DieU.S. Pat. No.1991 Feb. 5Dice having eight faces and4,989,875Aprocess of producing sameUSD314018S1991 Jan. 22Game DieUSD246004S1977 Oct. 4Dodecahedron astrological dieU.S. Pat. No.1965 Sep. 28Dice Game with a Tetrahedron3,208,754ADieUSD1001901S12023 Oct. 17Game BallUSD890266S12020 Jul. 14Fourteen Sided Die with PokerPatternU.S. Pat. No.1965 Jul. 20Word game apparatus3,195,895Acomprising die and score cardU.S. Pat. No.1877 Jan. 2Improvement in game devices185,934AUS20190282890A12019 Sep. 19Gaming Die with IncongruentSides and More Sides thanOutcomesU.S. Pat. No.2011 Dec. 13Set of five, fourteen sided8,074,986B1poker dice

Claims

1. Gaming dice comprising:A main die body of cubic form;Having six sides of balanced landing planes when rolled;An additional 2, 4, 6, or 8 sides of lower probability landing planes when tested against the base six planes of the base cubic form;Having numbers, letters, pips, or characters that have meaning during game play.

2. The gaming dice of claim one wherein the die body has the shape of a truncated or chamfered cube at 2, 4, 6, or 8 corners.

3. The resulting die body of claim two is therefore an octahedron of six balanced landing planes and two landing planes of lower probability as compared to the base six of the original cubic form;Or a decahedron of six balanced landing planes and four landing planes of lower probability as compared to the base six of the original cubic form;Or a dodecahedron of six balanced landing planes and six landing planes of lower probability as compared to the base six of the original cubic form;Or a tetra decahedron of eight balanced landing planes and four landing planes of lower probability as compared to the base six of the original cubic form.

4. The ultimate result is therefore gaming dice in which six planes have balanced and equal landing probability that is higher than the truncated or chamfered corners.

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