A die is a small throwable object, usually a cube with numbered faces, used to generate random numbers in board games, tabletop RPGs, and countless other activities. You roll it, let it land on a flat surface, and read the number on the top face. That’s the core mechanic, but there’s more to using dice well than just tossing them across a table.
The Standard Six-Sided Die
The most common die is a cube with dots (called “pips”) on each face representing the numbers 1 through 6. The faces are arranged so that opposite sides always add up to 7: 1 is opposite 6, 2 is opposite 5, and 3 is opposite 4. Each number has an equal 1-in-6 chance of landing face up on any given roll, assuming the die is balanced.
To roll properly, shake the die in your cupped hand and release it onto a flat surface. The number showing on the top face once the die comes to a complete stop is your result. If the die lands crooked, leaning against another object, or falls off the table, most game groups call that a void roll and ask you to roll again.
Reading Rolls With Multiple Dice
Many games ask you to roll two or more dice at once. In most cases, you simply add the results together. Rolling two six-sided dice gives you a total between 2 and 12, but not all totals are equally likely. A 7 is the most common result because there are six different combinations that produce it (1+6, 2+5, 3+4, and their reverses), while a 2 or 12 can only happen one way each.
Some games treat each die separately rather than adding them. In Yahtzee, for example, you roll five dice and look for matching numbers to form combinations like three of a kind or a straight. The rules of whatever game you’re playing will tell you whether to add, compare, or group your results.
Common Dice Notation
If you’ve seen shorthand like “2d6” or “1d20” and found it confusing, it follows a simple formula: the first number tells you how many dice to roll, the “d” stands for “die,” and the number after it tells you how many sides each die has. So 2d6 means roll two six-sided dice and add them together. 1d20 means roll one twenty-sided die. Sometimes you’ll see a modifier at the end, like “1d6+3,” which means roll the die and then add 3 to whatever number comes up.
Types of Dice Beyond the Cube
Six-sided dice are the default, but plenty of games use other shapes. Tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons use a full set of polyhedral dice:
- d4 (tetrahedron, four faces): shaped like a pyramid, you read the number at the base or peak depending on the design
- d6 (cube, six faces): the familiar standard die
- d8 (octahedron, eight faces): diamond-shaped with triangular faces
- d10 (pentagonal trapezohedron, ten faces): numbered 0 through 9, where 0 usually counts as 10
- d12 (dodecahedron, twelve faces): each face is a pentagon
- d20 (icosahedron, twenty faces): the iconic die for attack rolls and skill checks in many RPGs
For all of these, the reading method is the same: roll, wait for the die to stop, and read the number on top. The d4 is the one exception. Because it lands on a flat face with a point sticking up, you read the number printed at the base of the visible faces or at the top point, depending on how the die is numbered.
Rolling a d100 (Percentile Dice)
Some games call for a roll out of 100. You do this by rolling two ten-sided dice of different colors. Before rolling, designate one die as the “tens” digit and the other as the “ones” digit. If the tens die shows 4 and the ones die shows 7, your result is 47. A roll of 0 and 0 equals 100, not zero. Some manufacturers sell a dedicated d10 already marked in tens (00, 10, 20, 30, etc.) to make this easier.
Getting a Fair Roll
For the roll to be genuinely random, the die needs enough room to tumble freely. Give it a good shake before releasing, and roll onto a surface where it can bounce at least once or twice. Rolling into a box lid or a dice tray keeps things contained without restricting the tumble. Gently placing the die down or letting it barely tip out of your hand introduces bias, which is why most game groups expect a visible, unobstructed throw.
Cheap dice can be slightly unbalanced due to air bubbles in the plastic or uneven material distribution. If you suspect a die is unfair, you can test it by rolling it a large number of times (at least 100) and checking whether any number comes up far more often than expected. For casual games this rarely matters, but competitive players and RPG enthusiasts sometimes invest in precision-manufactured dice for more reliable randomness.
Die vs. Dice
“Die” is the singular form. One die, two dice. In everyday conversation, many people say “dice” for both, and that’s widely understood. In written game rules, you’ll typically see the traditional distinction maintained, so “roll a die” means roll one and “roll the dice” means roll more than one.