Product Code Database
Long diceCulin 1898, pp 820, 825; Murray 1951, p 134; Bell 1960, p 10; Parlett 1999, p 26; Heijdt 2002, p 20. (sometimes oblongFinkel 2004, p 39. or stickCulin 1898, p 827. dice) are dice, often roughly right prisms or (in the case of barrel dice) , designed to land on any of several marked lateral faces, but neither end. Landing on end may be rendered very rare simply by their small size relative to the faces, by the instability implicit in the height of the dice, and by rolling the long dice along their axes rather than tossing. Many long dice provide further insurance against landing on end by giving the ends a rounded or peaked shape, rendering such an outcome physically impossible (at least on a flat solid surface).
Design advantages of long dice include being relatively easy to create fair dice with an odd number of faces, and (for four-faced dice) being easier to roll than tetrahedral Four-sided die (as found in many role-playing games).
Similar dice were used by Germanic people before the Migration Period.Heijdt 2002, p 91. These include distinctive roughly Oval Westerwanna-type dice (named for the site of their initial discovery in Lower Saxony); these are typically about 2 cm in length and marked with dot-and-ring figures of values 2-3-4-5.Heijdt 2002, pp 92–93.
Long dice are used with the Scandinavian games Daldøs (typically marked A---Østergaard & Gaston 2001, p 15. or X---Michaelson 2001, p 21. Note that in both Daldøsa (the Norwegian variant of Daldøs) and in Sáhkku, the "X" is not a roman numeral, but "marks the spot" of a special value: usually just "1", but with an additional privilege.) and Sáhkku (with a variety of similar markings including X-II-III-blankBorvo 2001, p 50.); these dice may be so short as to exhibit nearly square faces, and therefore feature pyramidal ends.
Owzthat and similar forms of pencil cricket (a cricket simulation game) use two six-faced long dice (hexagonal prisms—like segments of a pencil).
Though the traditional English Lang Larence ("Long Lawrence") was sometimes four-faced, it commonly appeared with eight faces (octagonal prism), even though they continued to display only four distinct values (each value being displayed on two faces).Parlett 1999, p 27.
| +Faces of the Lang LarenceGomme 1894, pp 326–27. |
| Take all counters from the pool |
| Put 2 counters into the pool |
| Neither take nor put |
| Take 1 counter from the pool |
This gambling game played with the Lang Larence is the same as that usually played with teetotums. A teetotum is essentially a long die (though not necessarily physically long) with a spindle through its axis, allowing it to be spun and preventing it landing on end. Though many teetotums (for example, the dreidel) are four-faced, they may have any practical number of faces.
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