Die, dice game machine, and dice game system

A dice game machine comprising:

• a die having at least six sides, each of said sides having a symbol specific to the side and having the same size and shape, a one of said sides that has a predetermined position when said die is at rest being an effective side for determining an outcome of a game played with the machine;
• a rotatable cup for accommodating said die, said cup having an upper portion in which said die is able to move freely, a lower portion for holding said die in a predetermined posture, and a base opening having a shape the same as said sides, wherein said upper portion is arranged so that when said cup is not rotating said die falls to said lower portion, and wherein said lower portion of said cup is generally of a truncated pyramidal shape having said base opening at the plane of truncation;
• driving means for rotating said cup and for stopping said cup in at least one predetermined stop position;
• a stationary stage across said base opening, one of said sides of said die contacting said stage when said die is in said lower portion;
• a plurality of symbol identifier magnets on each side of said die for providing magnetic fields that identify the symbol on said effective side;
• and
• a plurality of Hall detection elements on said stage for detecting said magnetic fields on the one of said sides contacting said stage to thereby identify the symbol on said effective side.

A dice game system having a plurality of dice machines, a computer, and a display, wherein:

• each said dice machine comprises:
• (A) a regular polyhedral die having at least six sides, each of said sides having a symbol specific to the side and having the same shape and size, wherein when the die is at rest, one of said sides facing a predetermined direction is an effective side for indicating an outcome of a game played with said system;
• (B) an identifier signal generator provided for each side of said die, said identifier signal generator generating an identifier signal for identifying the symbol of the effective side;
• (C) a rotatable cup that spins around a vertical axis for accommodating said die, the cup having an upper portion, a lower portion, and a base opening, said upper portion having a space in which said die can freely move during the rotation of said cup, said lower portion having a configuration such that when said cup stops, said die is fitted into said lower portion in a predetermined posture, and said base opening having the same shape as each side of said die;
• (D) driving means for rotating said cup;
• (E) a stage disposed across said base opening, said die fitted in said lower portion of said cup being in contact with said stage at one bottom side of the die;
• and
• (F) a signal detector mounted on said stage for detecting said identifier signal from the bottom side of the die in contact with said stage via said base opening when said die is fitted in said lower portion of said cup;
• and
• wherein said computer receives said identifier signal from each said signal detector and displays symbols for said dice game machines on said display.

A die of regular polyhedron shape having M sides, each of said sides having a symbol and having the same shape and size, wherein:

• when the die is at rest, one of said sides in a predetermined position is an effective side for indicating an outcome of a game played with the die;
• said die is made of non-magnetic material;
• and
• said die has a plurality of symbol identifier magnet pins disposed on each side, said symbol identifier magnet pins having a layout pattern representative of a symbol on the effective side.

A die comprising:

• a non-magnetic material of regular polyhedron shape having 6 or 12 sides, each of said sides having a symbol and having the same shape and size, wherein when the die is at rest, one of said sides in a predetermined position is an effective side for indicating an outcome of a game played with the die;
• posture identifier magnet pins in each of said sides;
• and
• a plurality of symbol identifier magnet pins in each of said sides, said pins on each of said sides being in a pattern representative of the symbol on the effective side;
• wherein said symbol identifier magnet pins are selectively mounted at N positions at a pitch of 360/N degrees on a circle having a radius R concentric with the center of each side, where N is the number of edges of each side of said die.