Dec 06 2020

Not all that glitters is Borealis…

Updated 08 Oct 2023

The Original Chessex Borealis

Some of the most sought-after dice in the collecting world are the old Chessex Borealis lines like Aquerple, Clear and Confetti that are made out of a clear acrylic base with colour shifting glitter inside.

Sadly, these three particular lines are no longer made because the EU started using the iridescent glitter material in Euro banknotes and it became a controlled substance. Borealis Clear was discontinued in 2014, Aquerple in 2015 and Confetti likely around the same time, though these are even rarer as they didn’t sell well at the time and never went into full production after an initial limited release.

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Nov 21 2020

Scammer Dice Shops

Updated 22 Jan 2024

Since late 2020 we’ve seen a significant amount of scammer shops pop up on Facebook and other social media. These accounts and stores advertise dice that aren’t theirs, and will not deliver what they promise.

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Nov 14 2020

Chessex Borealis Purple OG vs. Bescon Moonstone Orchid

Bescon recently released some new colours in their Moonstones lines, and as many collectors have observed, the Orchid set is very similar to the Chessex Borealis Purple old glitter dice. While the Bescon glitter doesn’t have the exact same depth and shimmer as the old Borealis glitter, it’s definitely the closest emulation I have seen to date.

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Nov 06 2020

Magic the Gathering Spindowns & Pokemon Dice

Magic the Gathering Spindown Slivers

Magic the Gathering (also abbreviated MtG) uses life counters, also known as spindowns to keep track of life totals.

These are usually 20-sided dice that, unlike most other d20s, have similar numbers next to each other so that you can easily find the right number when you need to count up or down. The 20 face of the spindown die usually has an expansion symbol.

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Nov 04 2020

Chessex Lab Dice 2020-2024

The continuing journey of the Lab Dice

Updated 15 July 2024

Ever since the premiere of the first wave of Lab Dice in 2019, Chessex has continued releasing new test colours under their Lab Dice premise — smaller runs of new designs to test their popularity and make more informed decisions which of them to make available as regular releases. Below are details on the Lab Dice releases from 2020 and beyond.

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Oct 31 2020

Dice Digest — October 2020 (#10)

Time for no. 10 of my Dice Digest — this time on an all new blogging platform that I will be using for these from now on. I hope you like the design and find it easy to navigate and read. Older editions of the Dice Digest are available here in PDF format.

The Dice Digest is likely not going to be the sole content of the blog, but since I have a busy life with D&D playing and a full time job, updates will likely be somewhat irregular.

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Oct 24 2020

Reference Guide: Crystal Caste Silk vs. D&G Marble

In my series of dice identification guides, this time I’d like to focus on two other lines of dice that get easily confused: Crystal Caste Silk and Dice & Games Marble. Both are two-coloured styles with one dominant colour and white swirls, but they do have some features that can help you tell them apart.

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Oct 24 2020

Dice Trading & Selling 101

No matter if you’re new to dice collecting, are a veteran collector, or somewhere in between, at some point you’ve probably run across so-called ISO (in-search-of) or WTT (want-to-trade) posts and requests. It’s almost inevitable to trade dice with fellow collectors if you’re looking for a set you’ve fallen in love with that is no longer available in stores, or have that incomplete set of elusive out-of-print dice that you want to complete.

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Oct 24 2020

Chessex Lab Dice 2019

Every year dice collectors and enthusiasts get excited about new releases, and Chessex dice are certainly no exception. At GAMA Expo in March 2019, we got the very first glimpse of new dice that Chessex was planning to release this year. Back then, they were called “From the Lab”, which later evolved to just “Lab Dice”.

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Oct 24 2020

Getting Dicey with Critical Role

Updated 07 October 2024

Critical Role is a popular live-streamed D&D adventure, where dungeon master extraordinaire Matt Mercer leads a group of LA-based voice actors through epic adventures in a completely homebrewed campaign setting. It is now in its third campaign, with their first one encompassing an impressive 115 episodes, their second one 141 episodes strong and their third one still ongoing.

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