The thing about looking up stuff on the internet these days is that once you look at something once, all the various spyware that clogs up everything reports back to its servers and — suddenly and for no reason — they think that is literally all you want to see, that and nothing else.
I’ve been back to the Nexus Infinity Cube page a few times, and now all I see is weird dice stuff.
So, let’s see if any of them are shitty. But before I get to the new stuff, I did some more research on the Nexus Cube. I did find out that titanium is not as expensive as I’d thought, and it can probably be anodized in the colors they offer. I still think it’s a scam, but the device could probably be delivered at the price they suggest and in the colors they offer. But the AI slop pictures, the laziness in the campaign, and the full page of boosting services they’re using just screams SCAM to me. I saw this on Reddit yesterday, and the comments were not kind to it.
Hey, look, more spinny dice.
The Cardyhedron Fold is three cards hinged together with two dials on each. They can fold together, leaving the right card usable while the others are closed up and held closed by magnets. The dials are free spinning and have all the same disadvantages as the Nexus cube — largely unreadable by anyone else at the table and the values changing accidentally or on purpose if the card is shook.
It’s called (like all of them) an EDC — Every Day Carry — item and it comes with a keychain and a little leather sheath so you can just whip this out and start spinning the dials as you probably need to do every day. SmokyCreation has done several dice-adjacent Kickstarters in the past, including an earlier version of this device, so I have every expectation that they will ship this device, although perhaps not on the insanely ambitious schedule they have for it (June). But, maybe.
If you feel you really need some spinny dice, I’d go for this over the Nexus Cube any day of the week.
The dice in the picture look gorgeous. Someone put a lot of care into painting them. Steampunk Gears isn’t delivering the actual dice, per se, but they are giving you the 3D printer files required to print them on your high resolution resin-based 3D printer. At that point, you can paint them yourself, or use the result to create a mold that you can then use to produce higher quality poured resin dice that would be every bit as durable as commercial dice.
I just look at these and think of what a nightmare they would be to paint. I imagine there’s nothing stopping the backer from getting these files; I am certain they all exist. It’s just that the real work begins once you get the files.
I am probably slow to realizing this, but: are people getting these Kickstarter dice with no intention of actually using them in gaming? Just… to have them, I guess?
The Astronomical Clock D20 Dice are one such. These are nicely molded and enameled objects d’art that resemble decorative clocks of old. Elaborate pointers spin over detailed faces. Two of the dials use Roman numerals for the I-XX values; the third helpfully includes additional Roman numerals on the spinny part for no reason.
Astranova has produced two previous weird dice Kickstarters that seems to have delivered, so I fully expect these will as well.
If you want to be the best cyberpunk in your gaming group, you probably need to pick up Revolution Dice. Two counter-rotating LED light bars spin to form the illusion of floating numbers and graphics. You can use buttons to select the kind of dice and the number of those dice, then actually toss the thing on the table and it will roll the dice.
The graphics are customizable and the designer says there’s no danger of getting your finger caught in the bars; they aren’t spinning with that much force.
Andrew Maurer’s previous Kickstarter was a 3D printer smoke alarm, so this is a significant step up in terms of complexity. He’s offering a wide range of styles and is promising these to be in your hands by June and July.
That seems awfully ambitious. But, if you’re a collector of weird spinny dice, you won’t get weirder or spinny-er than this one.
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