JP-2026075015-A - Hollowed-out dice

Abstract

[Problem] We want to provide dice with two sides or dice with an odd number of sides. [Solution] By hollowing out a part of a cube, it becomes possible to use cubes of shapes that could not be used conventionally as dice. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Inventors

• 鈴木 厳康

Assignees

• 鈴木 厳康

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20241021

Claims (1)

1. A die characterized by having a portion of it hollowed out.

Description

This invention relates to a small prop called a die, or sai, or sai (hereinafter referred to collectively as "dice"), which is mainly used in table games and gambling. Traditional dice (which come in various shapes such as cuboids and polyhedra) are thrown so that one face touches the floor, while the other face, opposite to the one touching the floor, faces the ceiling. The numbers, letters, or symbols written on this ceiling-facing face are called the "outcome," and by considering this as the result, dice have been used in various table games and gambling. Traditional dice shapes include cuboids or polyhedra, regular tetrahedrons, regular hexahedrons, regular octahedrons, regular dodecahedrons, regular icosahedrons, and regular twisted biheptagonal pyramids with 14 faces (though not frontal), as well as regular prisms resembling pencils. All of these have an even number of faces, and the letter written on the face that faces the ceiling when the die is thrown was applied to the result. While dice come in various numbers and shapes, the characters written on the faces that may face the ceiling after being thrown are called "eyes." On the other hand, the characters written on the faces that actually face the ceiling after being thrown are called "outcome," and the content written on these faces was used as the result of the throw. When a die with an odd number of faces is rolled, the side that faces directly upwards will always be an edge or vertex, and the face of the die viewed from directly above will always have multiple faces. This makes it impossible to uniquely determine the outcome when viewed from above after the die has been rolled. Therefore, it was not possible to create a die with an odd number of faces using conventional methods. A die with two faces could not be produced using the conventional cube method. This is because the die with the fewest faces produced using the conventional method is a regular tetrahedron, which has at least four faces. One possible method is to mark the sides of an object that is circular when viewed from the base and treat it as a die. However, when rolling a die that is circular when viewed from the base, the problem arises because the part that rolls is circular, unlike conventional dice such as squares or polyhedra, regular tetrahedrons, regular hexahedrons, regular octahedrons, regular dodecahedrons, regular icosahedrons, and regular twisted biheptagonal pyramids with 14 faces (though not frontal), or regular prisms like pencils. Because the part that rolls is circular when viewed from the base, the part that always touches the floor is a side without a stopper, so even though the result of the roll is obtained, one has to wait for the die to stop by hitting something or stopping naturally. Similarly, when rolling a die, there is a very high probability that multiple faces will be pointing towards the ceiling when it stops, making it difficult to determine a single outcome or to decide which outcome will be adopted. Furthermore, because of its cylindrical shape, it is susceptible to shaking, and even if the outcome is determined after being thrown, it can be easily altered by shaking the table. For these reasons, conventionally, dice with a circular shape when viewed from the bottom have not been possible. Outline of the invention Problems that the invention aims to solve In conventional methods, when rolling a die with an odd number of faces, the point that faces directly upwards is always an edge or vertex. As a result, when viewing the die from directly above after it has been rolled, multiple faces can be seen. Therefore, with conventional methods, it was not possible to uniquely determine the outcome of a die with an odd number of faces after it has been rolled. In conventional methods, the die with the fewest faces is a regular tetrahedron, which has at least four faces, making it impossible to provide dice with two or three faces. Furthermore, when using a circular die as viewed from the bottom using the conventional method, there were problems such as the long time between rolling the die and obtaining the result, the difficulty in ensuring that everyone watching would recognize the result after rolling the die as unique, and the fact that the result could easily change if vibrations were applied to the floor or other surface after the result had stabilized or after the result had been obtained. This invention solves these problems by hollowing out a portion of the die. For example, if this invention is used with a circular die when viewed from the bottom, hollowing out a portion of the die according to this invention makes it possible to create a lighter area within the die. As a result, due to the difference in weight between different parts of the die, some parts of the die are more likely to point towards the ceiling after being rolled, while others are less likely to. Furthermore, due to the difference in weight between different parts of the die,