Dice are game pieces that have been around for thousands of years. These items have been created in ancient times for use with board based games or games of chance. No one can be credited with creating dice. Some evidence even suggests that dice might have evolved from the use of ancient magical or religious rites where the adherents cast lots when communing with their gods.

Archaeological evidence reveals that dice have evolved over time as people needed a way to move game pieces or to compete against each other. Keep in mind that many ancient game boards and dice did not survive into the modern era. However, archaeologists have excavated enough of these items to get a good idea about how they were constructed and utilized for game play. Here is some basic information about dice and the early materials that were used to make them.

Dice have been excavated from ancient ruins all over the world. They have been most noticeably found in the Middle East and from China. Dice that were used during the ancient era typically date back to about 6000 B.C. and above. Some ancient dice that have been found in these parts of the world have been around for nearly 10,000 years. This prove that the use of dice have been in existence for a very long time.

The dice that were discovered were marked with simple symbols. This helped people to figure out what moves moves a player would have to make during a game or if a player could be another player during a game of chance. The marking resembled a culture's numeric system or some form of that system.

Ancient dice were also designed in other shapes besides the traditional cubed shaped dice that are commonly used in modern times. An Icosahedron is the name of a 20-sided dice that was common in ancient Egyptian and Roman times. These type of dice were used for a variety of different games that existed during that era. Some dice were hexagonal while others had irregular shapes that resembled fragmented pieces of rocks or debris. Keep in mind that that some ancient dice consisted of fragmented game pieces that each contained their own separate markings on them.

Early materials for dice included items such as wood or bone and pieces were cut from rock and other materials. Discovered dice pieces were also made out of onyx, jasper and other common pieces of ancient rocks. Wooden dice were common in some parts of the world but they were not the preferred material used for dice. Wooden dice were popular in parts of the world where stone and other materials were not common. Places such as ancient northern Europe or in the Americas would have used wooden dice. Even though this is the case they were sometimes used by more advanced societies such as those found in the Middle East and in China.

Wooden dice are still used by some people in the modern world but this is rare. Unless a dice is hand crafted; chances are it will be made out of a material such as thermoset plastic.This material is easier to mold and apparently less expensive and more durable than the wooden variety.