Long dice

Lore & Background

Long dice have been found at Indus Valley Civilisation sites dating to the late third millennium BCE (c. 2300–2000 BCE), alongside cubic dice. These early examples were marked with dot-and-ring figures, linear devices, and Indus Valley signs. In India, long dice (pasa) are used to play Chaupar, a relative of Pachisi, with faces marked 1-3-4-6 or 1-2-5-6; the 1-2-3-4 marking is not a documented standard for older Indian long dice. Similar dice were used by Germanic peoples before the Migration Period, including distinctive ovoid Westerwanna dice (named for the site of their initial discovery in Lower Saxony), typically about 1.5–2 cm in length and marked with dot-and-ring figures of values 1-2-3-4 or 2-3-4-5 depending on the specific die.

Long dice are also used in Scandinavian games: Daldøs (typically marked A-II-III-IIII or X-II-III-IIII) and Sáhkku (with markings including X-II-III-[blank]). These dice may be so short as to exhibit nearly square faces and therefore feature pyramidal ends. A five-faced long die (pentagonal prism) is used in the Korean game of Dignitaries. Owzthat and similar forms of pencil cricket use two six-faced long dice (hexagonal prisms). The traditional English Lang Larence ('Long Lawrence') was sometimes four-faced but commonly appeared with eight faces (octagonal prism), displaying only four distinct values (each on two faces).

Barrel dice are a more recent design, used most often by players of role playing games and wargames. They appear roughly cylindrical and are generally modified antiprisms with 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, or 20 flattened triangular facets, each numbered. Each triangular face alternates in alignment by 180 degrees. The two ends are formed by half as many triangular facets as there are numbered faces, arranged as a pyramid so that it is impossible for the die to stop on one of its ends.

Reader's Guide

Long dice represent a significant and enduring design in the history of gaming, offering practical solutions to the challenge of creating fair dice with odd numbers of faces. Their earliest known use dates to the mid third millennium BCE in the Indus Valley Civilisation, where both cubic and four-faced long dice have been found. The design's persistence across cultures—from ancient India and Germanic peoples to modern role-playing games—demonstrates its versatility. The ability to prevent end-landing through shape (rounded or peaked ends) or rolling technique (rolling along the axis) made long dice reliable for games requiring random outcomes. The teetotum, a variant with a spindle through its axis, further illustrates the adaptation of the long die principle. In contemporary gaming, barrel dice (modified antiprisms) are popular among role-playing and wargame players, offering up to twenty faces. The long die's legacy is also evident in traditional games like Chaupar, Daldøs, Sáhkku, and Lang Larence, as well as in pencil cricket simulations. The article notes that the gambling game played with the Lang Larence is the same as that usually played with teetotums, linking these forms across time and geography.

Did You Know?

• Long dice are designed to land on lateral faces, not ends, and ends may be rounded or peaked to make landing on end physically impossible on a flat solid surface.
• Both cubic dice and four-faced long dice have been found at Indus Valley Civilisation sites dating to the late third millennium BCE (c. 2300–2000 BCE).
• The traditional English Lang Larence commonly appeared with eight faces (octagonal prism) but displayed only four distinct values, each on two faces.
• Barrel dice are modified antiprisms with 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, or 20 flattened triangular facets, each numbered, and ends formed by a pyramid of triangular facets.