About Gamescience Dice
One of our strongest core values at g2 is open, straight-forward honesty and the following paragraphs are something we want you to know before ordering Gamescience dice. Your satisfaction and our reputation rely on you understanding what you are ordering. We would very much appreciate you taking the time to read this before placing an order.
These dice are the most precise RPG dice you can add to your collection. Gamescience states that “no company makes polyhedral dice closer to casino specifications” (casino dice must be exact to a tolerance of .005” - Gamescience dice have been measured with a side to side variation of .002” to .006”). In short, these are the dice you want if you demand the fairest, most impartial role available to gamers. The precision edge both keep these dice truly random since there is no unfairness introduced from curvature variation and also allows for better stopping power so the dice come to a halt faster than other dice.
So what’s the trade-off for this precision? Well Gamescience dice are not polished like other manufacturers dice. This gives them a precision edge, but also very commonly leaves behind mold marks ranging from blemishes and bumps where the mold was connected to scratches on the surface of the die. Testing has shown that these marks do not alter the precision of the dice significantly (or at least less significantly than polishing the edges down and the mold marks off). The marks do however alter the appearance. Appearance and precision are possible of course, but understand that the average pair of casino grade D6s start at $30 and can be even more. Thus, Gamescience dice exist, affordable precision dice for gamers.
In addition, Gamescience dice are hand inked so they do not have fancy painted numbers like other companies. This is actually a positive thing since the dice can be re-inked again and again with nothing more than an ultra-fine marker if the numbers fade.
If you are familiar with Gamescience dice then you already know about the mold markings and hand inking and you know that over time your Gamescience dice grow on you, appearance and precision both. If you are new to Gamescience dice, then we’d say start with one set and see what you think. Just understand up front that we are telling you clearly that these dice will look nothing like the polished dice you are used to seeing. Give them a chance though and we think you’ll find them worth it. As the saying goes, never judge something by its outside appearance.
We here at g2 actually have both polished dice and Gamescience dice in our personal collections. And we find that both kinds work just fine for gaming. Other dice are not necessarily poor really, it’s just that Gamescience dice are the best for a truly impartial roll (for instance our other favorite, Koplow, had a wider variation of .008” to .032” when tested - not as good as Gamescience dice, but better than many other polished dice).
So the decision is yours, if precision matters to you then Gamescience dice are for you. If appearance matters more, then you should probably stick to the polished dice offered by other manufacturers - we’d recommend Koplow in this case since these are some of the best polished dice available. If you are like us, you’ll have some of both in your collection. Please remember we told you right up front to be ready for that unpolished look.