The History of the Dice

Generally considered the oldest known gaming implements, dice in one form or another date back thousands of years and have only increased in popularity with the huge range of modern board games available. Although the advent of plastics has changed how dice are now manufactured, the basic concept has largely remained the same, and they have been used throughout history where random numbers are needed.

Divination
Primitive societies around the world used objects similar to dice for the purpose of divining the future. These were made from the ankle bones of animals such as sheep or buffalo, and were often marked on four sides. The Romans and Ancient Greeks have been discovered to have used dice made from bones and ivory, as well as various stones and minerals, although they varied in shape and basic design.

The Cube
Based on archaeological finds in tombs, cube-shaped dice were in use in Egypt as far back as 2000 B.C. Cubic dice dating back to 600 B.C. were also found in excavations in China. Both the Egyptian and Chinese types featured markings very similar to the numbers on modern-day dice. There are written references to dice in ‘The Mahabharata’, an ancient Sanskrit epic dating back more than 2000 years, and cubic dice were used along side pyramid-shaped ones in the Royal Game of Ur. This is one of the oldest known board games, and dates back to Sumer in the third millennium B.C. It is believed that cubic dice were introduced into Europe by the explorer Marco Polo, during the fourteenth century, where their popularity spread rapidly.

Probability
Up until the 16th Century, people believed that the outcomes of dice rolls were down to the influence of gods or other supernatural forces. It wasn’t until scientists such as the Italians Girolamo Cardano and Galileo studied dice games mathematically that they began to understand concepts like probability, randomness and statistics. Because of this, dice played an important part in the development of modern mathematics and our understanding of chance.

Development of the Modern Die
When plastics emerged, it was inevitable that the technology would be used to make dice, as it is well suited to producing them on a large scale and lightweight enough to make an ideal material for them. Various new designs have been developed since then, including the 100-sided Zocchihedron, invented in 1985.