The Ultimate Dice Tower: A Tabletop Gaming Accessory

The concept of a dice tower is fairly simple. There is a hole at the top that you drop dice into. Inside there are sloped shelves, called baffles, that the dice bounce off of to facilitate randomization. At the bottom of one side you have a exit where the dice fly out of the tower onto the playing surface to give you your results. An effective dice tower should have baffles that lead to adequate randomization and should have no spots in which dice can get stuck.

At gaming nights a dice tower will see lots of regular use. The tower may sit in one area on the table or it may be handed player to player. Someone may take a dice tower to a friend's house for a game night. And, of course, the tower will have dice repeatedly dropped inside of it. For this reason a good dice tower needs to be able to hold up to some roughness.

One important aspect of tabletop gaming is creating the right atmosphere for your game, and having a dice tower that's aesthetically pleasing with a great theme to it can help set the tone for your gaming session. This helps ensure players want to use the tower. The best dice towers will have a satisfying noise as the dice tumble through.

Tying all of these elements together in a Lego model is a fun challenge. At the core level, building such a structure out of Lego is not a particularly complicated process. However not only does the creation have to work well as a dice tower, but it also has to be a satisfying Lego model with a fun and creative build experience. Here is why I believe my tower is the ultimate Lego dice tower:

• The dice tower is built with enough interior space to accommodate regular dice. There are three baffles that redirect the dice to ensure an adequately randomized result.
  
• While there a few external details that are a little less secure, the core structure of the dice tower is built in a rock solid way. Each baffle is locked in place by the plates on each side using SNOT (Studs Not On Top). Each side is then further secured in place through technic axles and pins that prevent them from coming loose. This makes the tower substantially more stable than a tower built using Lego bricks in a more standard way.
  
• With the exception of the entrance and exit openings for the dice, you would be forgiven for thinking the tower is just a regular Lego Castle tower. It looks just like the type of remote outpost you might find in the wilderness of your fantasy adventure. Additionally the tower has windows that let you catch a glimpse of your dice as they tumble through the tower making every dice roll even more exciting.
• Lastly, the heavy use of SNOT and the additional of details like the windows ensures that the building experience is exciting. The build never gets too repetitive and keeps things interesting by using fresh and unique techniques throughout.
  

My first iteration of this dice tower was first built nearly two years ago. Since then it has undergone regular use at my game nights. This has allowed me to iterate on the design and ensure that the model is the ultimate Lego dice tower. The piece count should keep it fairly priced compared to other premium dice towers. I hope to see it at more gaming nights soon!