Board Game Designers Forum

Best thing I have for custom dice is a thrift store. You can usually find a game with custom dice (sticker dice) and then peel'em off. You can get sticker paper that you can run through your printer, and blamm-o, you have custom dice.

If you want to spend the money, try:

http://www.customdice.com/pricing.php

Chessex also does custom dice, but I'm not sure about price or min. qty.

Edit: Here it all is. Min 10 dice, 1.00 per side. Not too shabby.

http://www.chessex.com/Dice/Custom_Dice_Home.htm

A Xyron can make any piece of paper into a sticker. Find some clip art that represents what you want, print it out, run it through the Xyron, and stick it on the dice.

This is expensive if you only use it for a couple of dice. But Xyrons are very useful for all kinds of prototyping needs: applying artwork to hexes, for example.

www.xyron.com

A UK Company: http://www.dice.co.uk/
BGG Thread on this topic: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/225314
Blue Panther: http://www.bluepantherllc.com/

Koplow sell blank dice. Just put stickers on them or use permanent markers (the dice are white).

just to be complete: I posted this over on the 2.0 website. They're not cheap...but they sure are purrrtty!
q-workshop.com

I struggled for a long time trying to make 14 sided dice (just cause I could, no particular game in mind). Tried using sculpy and all kinds of materiels to do it but allways got stuck on one thing.

I couldn't get the markings to look even halfway good.

Finally I had a breakthrough, a local store that engraves awards and signs. You just take a file to them and they will engrave the file on plastic sheeting. I then cut the sides out and put them together to get my master model wich I then made a rubber mould of and cast dozens of them. I had them use the mechanical engraver wich cuts deeper than the laser.

This would be easier with six sided dice. It's not hard to cast your own little parts.

I think Lou Zocchi's GameScience company made (makes?) 14 sided dice. You can't get them blank, but you could probably fill in the numbers pretty easily.

You'd be surprised how often we do this for professionally produced games. Custom dice have become popular lately, but it's still ungodly expensive to try and do a small run for 1000 games or so. Thus, we often print 4color sticker sheets and have them diecut so that the player can put them on a blank cube. It's a ton cheaper than doing custom imprinted dice on a short run title. Of course, there are only so many stock, blank sizes and colors available.

If you befreinded a local sign engraver they might help you out using thier laser sign cutting machine to engrave blank dice, it should work fine. You could do dozens as a sheet, then flip them all and do the next side.

Inking them would be a matter of putting a drop of enamel on them and then wipeing off the excess with a cloth that was slightly dampened with thinner.

Do youu have any pictures? I'd love to see them.
Also, do you have any of these for sale/trade? I collect dice with unusual shapes.

http://www.rpgshop.com/d-and-d-dice-and-bags/novelty-dice/one-blank-colo...

You might try this:

http://dicecreator.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/open-source-dice-making/

Use blank d6's with recessed sides, scale-print the artwork and adhere with scrapbooking sticky squares.

We do custom dice in wood or plastic.

Recently we've developed a full color "direct printing" process for wood and plastic. There's a sample picture in the image gallery.

Suitable for one-off prototypes or volume production. Cheaper than laser engraving, but not as cheap as labels.

SJ

We now offer very inexpensive one-off custom dice if you're still looking.

I do look for Yahtzee Jr games at thrift stores for some of the dice mentioned above.

However, another fast and easy way for personal prototyping that I use is an App called, Mach Dice. It allows me to put any picture I want on the face of 6 sided dice.

I used it most recently for Prince, Pawn or Con.

http://www.bgdf.com/node/6979

Hope that helps.

You can use any dice you have and convert them as you like in the following manner:

Make whatever icons you wish in a computer program. There are tons of cool font icons that will serve this purpose quite well.

Practice print until you get the size/shapes you like [provide cutting outlines for best fit]. Then place your icons to print out nicely on any standard label paper.

Once this is done, then comes the trick. Use a good grade clear packing tape to cover the printed icons, THEN cut them out and place them on your dice. The tape will protect the label paper from the oil in your hands and extend their life quite well [and it's so easy to replace]. And there is a bonus - the tape itself acts as a glass enhancer and your printed colors will pop!

Other than that - if you're just looking at D6 - I heartily suggest BLUE PANTHER's full color wood. THey're fairly inexpensive and they look awesome!

For people who are still looking for 14 sided dice: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/674003445/spherical-d14-and-d18-the-...

I've used a company in China for the past year now. They initially did a run of 1000 (6000 dice) and the quality was excellent, price was much cheaper than any of the mentioned posts here.

http://www.pocketcricket.com.au/

If you need a contact, let me know.