Dice Dice Baby – Daft Dice Preview

I’ve been following Chris Urinko on Twitter for a while @Battlejack. I enjoy when he posts, cause I’ve seen some very pretty laser cut pieces. Now he has a Kickstarter running to help make laser cut dice, boxes, towers, and other geeky items. How do they stack up?

Chris sent me seven different dice, with different materials and different themes on them. There are five birch dice and two acrylic ones.

The themes on the dice are ninjas, gears, skulls, Klingon, and ambigram. Each of the dice is themed well. For example, the ninja dice have various weapons on the faces, while the ambigram words are done with fine enough detail that the words are as easily read as if they’d been printed on paper. As pretty as the detailing is on the wooden dice, the accuracy of the laser is really shown off with the acrylic dice. The red ninja die has a mirror finish, while the orange die is translucent.

Daft Dice – Numbers

Daft Dice – Gears

Overall, the dice are absolutely gorgeous. There is no glue holding them together, but it doesn’t seem that way. These are solid dice and they won’t come apart without a lot of fighting. The acrylic dice can be a little hard to read, depending on the angle and lighting in the room, and the birch dice feel a little lighter in my hand than I’d like them to feel, but for custom-made dice, the detailing outweighs the heft of the dice. The reaction when people see them and pick them up is always one of amazement and interest.

Through the Kickstarter project, you can also get other items. The dice towers seem to have great details on them, and the dice holders seem like they’ll hold a good number of dice, whether you want to hold Daft Dice or regular ones. Finally, he is able to make a dice cup with two pieces, where one is bent around and the other is the bottom of the cup. While I’ve not seen these accessories, I have all the faith in Chris’ work. He also has wooden business cards that have a D6 in them that can be punched out and assembled. While a little more expensive than regular business cards, this will have a lasting effect on whomever receives them.

Daft Dice – Accessories

Finally, if you’re feeling particularly frivolous, he’s got two spots for a pair of solid gold dice with diamond pips. At only $10,000 for the pair, it’s certainly a piece that the gamer who has everything else can get.

Golden Daft Dice

So go check out the Kickstarter project, see what piques your interest, and if you have an idea for something that Chris hasn’t thought of, I’m sure he’d love to hear about it!