Our culture tends to sometimes take valuable aspects of routine and forget about their potentially rich history or contributions these aspects have made to society over the years. While there are many such topics worthy of discussion, the purpose of this essay is to pay tribute to the evolutionary growth and development of dice games. It shall attempt to shed some light as to the origins of dice games, the various types of dice games, their effects on society and what might be expected from them in the future.
Dice games consist of many variations with different rules, some of which are of the oldest form of entertainment in the world. For example, games such as backgammon date back to three thousand years BC in Babylon. Originally called "Vibhitika," this early version of backgammon quickly became a part of primitive culture and other dice games were quick to follow (Columbus: Backgammon: History).
Dice games continued to be popular at the time of the birth of Christ, and were especially attractive to the Romans. The Romans called their dice tesserae (Roman Board Games) and as you can see in the picture to your left, these dice were very similar to modern day dice. The difference was that the Romans adjusted the numbers on their gaming pieces so that any given opposite sides would add up to seven. The Romans were very keen on playing gambling games. In fact, the Emperor Commodus enjoyed gambling with dice so much that at one point in history he altered the Imperial Palace so that it could serve as a brothel and gambling house to raise money for his depleted treasury. Gambling became popular to the point of forcing the Roman government to make such dice games illegal. The Romans rolled their dice in taverns, brothels, on the street and when such activity became illegal, behind closed doors. The Greeks also played dice games, but they used three dice in their games as opposed to the Roman's two.
As time progressed, dice fever spread further across the globe. Its influence poked beyond the borders of Rome into Africa, the Middle East and Europe. When settlers came to the Americas they brought their dice with them and emulated the gambling games (such as Craps) that were by that time, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, quite popular among the upper class folk of France and England (Craps: The History of Dice Games).
While some dice games, such as Backgammon, were developed many years ago others, such as the role-playing kind, are rather modern additions to the ever-growing repertoire of dice games. For these types of games the dice are often modified to have twenty sides or more. The focus of this genre of dice games is not on competition via points, as is the case in most other dice games. Instead, pen and paper role-playing games are based on adventure and exploration - the dice provide a random element for whether or not such quests are successful (TSR).
But what of dice games now? A surprisingly large number of people persistently continue to play using these game pieces -- in a given year as many as thirty million Americans play dice games. Some play in gambling situations, while others just play games such as yatzee, 10000, craps or role-playing for the fun of it. Socially, the game format has neared the popularity status of chess or checkers, two game types that also hold rich histories. Being so prevalent in our everyday society allows dice and their various incarnations of game play to be easily associated with certain events or memories in the lives of its many players. For instance, a young man may see a dice game and instantly think of his grandmother whom he spent many years playing yatzee with as a child. Gaming of this fashion can be healthy in strengthening companionships with friends and family.
Unfortunately, dice games also have their negative side-affects. Often present in gambling games are dice that, if not used with care, have the potential to create addictions based upon use. This problem, present throughout the history of dice, is commonly hidden or ignored by addicts who have difficulty admitting their problems. Often addicts experience overwhelming urges to keep playing their games, to the point of repeatedly betting the last dollars of every paycheck. This causes all kinds of distress in the home and the workplace, not to mention stress and sometimes even suicidal thoughts concerning debt consolidation (Gamblers Anonymous). To think that such tiny gaming tools have the power to create joy or such pain, depending on whether or not a person is gambling, is quite an influence on a person's life.
Furthermore, the future evolution of dice games naturally creates speculation as to how technology will continue to change and affect methods of gaming. For thousands of years dice have remained nearly unchanging. The number of sides on a dice has perhaps altered depending on the game, but otherwise no difference worthy of mention has taken place with dice technology since their creation. Now, however, with the advent of the personal computer it is possible for gamers to play dice games alone against a computer whenever they want to. Also with the developing technology of the Internet, dice enthusiasts can theoretically challenge other players across the web - playing games against anonymous challengers from all over the globe. Such a vision has already been programmed by companies such as Hasbro Interactive and Hoyle's Games. Who knows where technology will take dice games in the future? As robotics and artificial intelligence technology continue to grow and change, we begin to find the future of dice games limited by nothing but our imagination.
Thanks so much for taking the time to learn a bit about the evolution of dice games over the years. We hope that our readers are now a little more knowledgeable concerning the significance of dice games, their influence over society and the changes they are currently birthing in the realm of technology.
Mark Brady
CS 112
March 4, 2000