US 5,909,874 A · Icosahedron decimal dice

Abstract

A die of uniformly distributed material comprising a plurality of faces having a triangular shape and a plurality of numbers imprinted on the die. Each of the plurality of numbers imprinted on the die appear on a separate face, wherein each number appears on at least twice on the die. The dice are capable of generating random numbers, including negative and positive numbers, for use with board games, lotteries, stock market determinations, scientific work and other applications where random numbers are needed. For more complex random number generation, the system includes at least two dice having a distinct color and at least twenty faces, and a pattern of numbers imprinted on each dice, each number of the pattern appearing on a separate face of the dice, wherein the numbers have a different color than the dice.

Claims27

Dependent claims

A die of uniformly distributed material comprising:

a die body having twenty equal-sided triangular faces arranged to form an icosahedron shape with a plurality of vertexes, each of said vertexes being formed by a conversion of the sides of five triangular faces, said triangular faces being arranged such that each triangular face is spaced from a substantially parallel opposite triangular face, and
a plurality of indicia on said die body being formed on said triangular faces, said indicia being arranged in two distinct groups with the indicia in a first group being formed in a first manner and the indicia in a second group being formed in a second manner different from said first manner to visually distinguish said first group from said second group, the indicia formed on any triangular face being in a group which differs from the group which includes the indicia on the opposite substantially parallel triangular face, said plurality of indicia including numbers with the numbers in said first group duplicating the numbers in said second group, the sum of the numbers on each opposite pair of triangular faces on the die body being equal to the same number.

A random number generating system comprising:

at least a first and a second die each having a die body, the die body of said first die being colored a first color and the die body of said second die being colored a second color which is different and visually distinct from said first color,
each said first and second die including a die body having twenty equal-sided triangular faces arranged to form an icosahedron shape with a plurality of vertexes, each of said vertexes being formed by a conversion of the sides of five triangular faces;
the triangular faces of each said die being flat faces, said triangular faces being arranged so that each face is spaced from a substantially parallel opposite face such that when a die is rolled and comes to rest on a face, the opposite face becomes a top face of the die,
a plurality of numbers forming indicia on said die body with one number being the only indicia appearing on each triangular face;
said numbers being formed in a color which is visually distinct from the color of said die body and being arranged in two distinct groups each having a plurality of numbers with the numbers of a first group duplicating the numbers of a second group;
the numbers of said first group being formed differently from the numbers of said second group to visually distinguish said first group from said second group, and wherein the numbers appearing on the top faces of said first and second dice, after said first and second dice are rolled, are to be read in a specific order to form a number sequence, said order being determined by the color of each die body.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Icosahedron decimal dice

Life of this patent

Icosahedron decimal dice

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims27