Dice Storage & Transport Design incl TTRPG play, dice towers, trays, etc.

Inspired by r/DicePorn/ and dice storage on Esty. I thought I would run a design experiment on what would make the best portable dice and TTRPG storage folio with an integrated dice tower.

My initial interest was perked and the array of options astounding. I focused on a design but at the price I question would it really do everything I wanted. Ans there were some niggling questions. So it lead down this path.

• I compared it to what I currently have for dice storage which are two Sistema 1.7L plastic containers. The box I was interested in was smaller than these ....
  So I wondered if I could make a bigger version, say the same size to fit with my existing containers.
• I started to layout the design in 2d to get a feel for a layout

• I next extruded my 2d design to 3d so I could generate some reference dimensions to check against my lego prototype.
  
  
  
  
• When I was happy with the layout. I build a Lego prototype to test my dice mechanism and storage potential. The original design looked a bit narrow at about 25mm clearance in the storage and dice shoot, so I wanted to %test how 40mm would go.
  
  
  
  
  
• Building a prototype was a really good exploration. especially testing but the 40mm and 25mm slots. It does not sound like much difference but significant differences in usability were found.
• 40mm is easier to load in a handful of dice.
• 25mm is a more compact feel, more secure dice storage and works okay for feeding in one dice at a time rather than a handful.
• leaving a side of my dice tray allows a drive tower to feed into the tray.

40mm Wide test	25mm Wide Test

 

I also did a quick study of how many dice can fit in a 100mm equilateral triangle, 25mm high. Two sets apparently, almost in one layer but definitely within 25mm. All of my storage slots are bigger then this 100mm triangle.





Then I saw a folio and wondered if I could fit a character sheet In somewhere. The only option really is somethign around A5 size sitting on top of the storage with some clearance or recessed into the lid. Any clearance would have to not allow dice to fall in from the dice shoot.

This left me in a bit of a quandary as I like the idea of having a complete all in one box of tricks.  This meant I needed to dive into the design a bit more. My next three steps;

Think about design patters and what makes a good all in one RPG box of tricks.
Document where I have gotten to in my thinking
Seek input to consider things I have overlooked,

Don't forget to scroll down and see the features I think are important in considering a Box of Tricks.

Design Patterns
A quick visual summary and some initial thoughts I had on the various tropes.

Pattern	Thoughts	Image
Simple Tray	There is something to be said for the utility of a simple nested box.
Pen Case	I like the minimalist nature of this ... it might be channelling some old school pencil case memorties.
Slotted Tray	Pencil case on steroids.
Dice Box	For the totally organised
Dice Case	The minimalist solution again.
Modular	The organised minimalist?
Rolled Folio	Olde world charm but nos sure if overly useful. Might work well with a dice towner in a  backpack.
Folio Screen	Screen with built-in dice towers
Dice Tower	Portable. Folding design. Some storage.
Storage & Dice Tower	Removable multipurpose tray. Built-in dice tower.
Hex Slotted	Individual compartments.
Octogon with Dice Tray	Interal perimeter slot for dice storage surrounding a central tray area. About 9x9"outside. 1x1/2"slot around 6x6x1" tray. 100+ dice Storage. Note only 33 around the outer slot.

So what are the design features I like?

• Explicit design features
• dice storage with integrated dice tower.
• single layer. single dice pockets, single dice set row
• dice capture/containment, tray?
• Other item storage. Pens, eraser, mobile phone stand, etc
• storage for papers.
• character sheets
• note pad
• writing surface>
• Other Features
• trackers, hitpoints, initiative.
• Whiteboard areas
• Miniatures
• Status indicators
• Materials
• Solid wood
• Laminates
• Plastic
• Metal?
• Other features
• Rare earth magnets
• decorative hardware, latches, hinges, etc
• felt, cloth, foam
• Implicit design features
• Lightweight
• Does it protect dice from damage?
• robust, wear resistant ?
• Modular 
• remove the bits your don't need.
• customise the layout of compartments.
• Small enough as to not impact other players
• Noise ... pleasant or annoying?
• Feel of materials. Plesant or cheap.
• Sustainability
• Economical use of sustainable materials
• Ethical labour
• Local sourced, slow transport
• Ethically run free-trade business

Catan Hexatower Design Experiment

I was considering purchasing the new Catan Hexatower dice tower by Gamegenic. 

But I had a few questions.

• Would it roll a standard set of polyhedral?
• How many dice can fit inside it?
• How big is it ???
• Would it work with my dice tray?

I googled around and found the dimensions on the product page (102 x 89 x 41mm) and the general consensus was Catan dice were about 20mm which is bigger than most polyhedral dice so I thought it should work okay ... but it still niggled me.

Then I thought.... what do the internals look like. My first thought was it might just work with one internal slot and the hexagon slope at the bottom. I started to draw it in Inkscape to check the dimensions. I guessed a 51mm sided hexagon should be 102mm one way and possibly 89mm the other way. This was confirmed by drawing it up in Inkscape and then I thought... I could just keep going and make this out of cardboard.

Next, I just marked it out on some cardboard and cut out with a scalpel. I added another tab for the internal slot with the same dimensions as the sides. I scored the inside of the folds to make it easier to fold up and just used sticky tape to hold it together.

The first experiment found that the bottom slope of the hexagon was not enough to eject the rolled dice. But then I found the adding a second longer slot from the back of the hex to the mouth was enough to eject the dice.

So all of my questions pretty much answered. I could actually fit 3 sets of dice inside the hex. The dice rolled freely through the hex if you only used 3-5 at a time. It worked okay with my dice tray. The dice pictured below were all rolled 3 at a time consecutively without moving them after they landed.

The only hassle I had with the design experiment was that it is a bit light and unstable. I can only presume the real Hexatown has some ballast in the base which could be easily hidden between the exit slot and base. The external wrapping band might improve stability too.