In my favourite dice post, I mentioned the newly-arrived FlipDice from Tanner Yarro’s Kickstarter, but I didn’t go into a great amount of detail, because they deserve a review of their own.
Having bought Tanner’s Infinidungeon on the Kickstarter (the plain version of 100’ of maps which can be anything I need), in September 2022 I received the invitation to his FlipDie Kickstarter. What a cool concept! A die, but shaped like a coin and flipped like a coin. I leaped on the Kickstarter.
Several different designs – how to choose? There was Dragon, Antiqued Gold, Antiqued Silver, Antiqued Bronze, and Seven Realms. In the end I went for Dragon, Antiqued Gold and Seven Realms.
The project was funded on the 28th October 2022, with 17,392 backers pledging almost $2million for more than 150,000 dice! And then the wait. And the wait. And the wait. Precision manufacturing took a lot to get right in mass production to ensure all coins came out fair, and there was a lot of attention to detail in the packaging as well. But at least we were well informed as the process continued, including some very interesting videos from the production line – see this from 10th April with the first manufactured FlipDie off the production line and this one from 13th April showing the manufacturing process.
The first dice shipped at the start of August, to the US, and we started seeing posts from excited people receiving their dice, so I thought they would arrive nicely to go along with an August RPGaDay post for “favourite dice”. And we kept waiting, and waiting… The UK ended up as one of the last to receive the dice, but finally six weeks ago a heavy parcel arrived with my three sets.
I eagerly unpacked the box, and first impressions were impressive indeed – see the three boxes. I love the “Pieces of Fate” branding – very clever, and the artwork is gorgeous. Look underneath, and there is more information about the dice, including showing the internals of the d20.
The boxes feel really well made, and when you open them up, the stunning artwork and attention to detail continues, with a stained glass window style illustration inside the lid and the coins nestled in a faux-velvet frame.
Enough drooling over the packaging. Time to take the dice out of their boxes. As an early-bird backer, my sets included an additional d20, but I think the standard set now is just the standard seven dice.
First impression – these are hefty! It shouldn’t be surprising – they are, after all, almost solid metal, and they definitely feel it, but it is a surprise when used to the normal resin dice. Again, the designs on the FlipDice are intricate and impressive, and having each one a different shape will help to distinguish at the table.
Here are the different designs I received.
Digging into the box beneath the coin tray, there is also a landing mat and a set of cards with a name and a back story for each FlipDice, and here’s where the first minor disappointment comes in. The set of cards is the same in all three sets, despite the dragon dice having a different design, and two of the sets have the same landing mat. A minor niggle, but given the price and the attention to detail of the rest of the packaging it feels like a slip-up.
But the most important question – what are they like to use?
Sadly, this is where they fall down for me. The ball is surprisingly small and hard to spot, and particularly so for me (with mild red/green colour-blindness) since in most of the FlipDice it is a red ball. There are some with a blue ball which I find much more visible, but this seems the exception rather than the rule. Also, given the heft of the dice, they can be a bit difficult to flip, and you REALLY want to make sure they land on the landing mat – here’s the notch one of them took out of my kitchen table when it landed directly on it.
I took them in to my regular session to show them off to the group. They agreed the dice are cool, and they were very interested. But they also commented you need help from the rest of the table in reading the number, since the ball might be at any point and is so small. They also felt pretty unwieldy in practice.
Should you get one? Absolutely yes – a great conversation piece, and such a cool concept.
Will I use them for general play? Not on a regular basis. Too unwieldy and too difficult to read. I’ll stick to the more normal dice for general use. However, I’m going to keep a d20 in my bag – it will be great for occasional major rolls and to get the group’s attention.
The Kickstarter is now long over, and it has all been fulfilled. But if you want your own, we have just been sent a message saying they have done another production run, so you can order your own from the Yarro Studios web site.
