Accessories: Dice Towers

For me, having a dice tower during a naval game actually serves a very practical purpose.  With a bunch of my ships on the table, the last thing I want are players tossing dice all around them.  I'm not saying that anyone would intentionally try to break them; in fact, I'm pretty sure a player like that wouldn't be allowed in our groups.  When the simulated shooting starts though, the die rolls get a little more rambunctious.  We all do it, and I include myself in that indictment.

Why a dice tower though?  Why not just a box, or tray?  Well, according to Wikipedia dice towers have been in use since the 4th Century CE, so it is certainly a period correct piece of equipment.  A tower also helps guarantee that the dice get some randomization to them when rolled.  The most important reason for me, anyway, is that dice towers are just cool.

My first tower was homemade, based on some plans that I found on the Internet.  It worked well, and still does, but is big and bulky.  That means that it's hard to carry with everything else.  It has given many years of faithful service, but I wanted something that is a bit easier to lug around.  The other problem is that I'm not what you'd call a 'woodworking guy,' and the tower shows that.  No one ever said anything about it, and if they had my prepared response was, "the inherent flaws of a handmade item are merely part of its charm."  I guess, if you pare it down to basics, I just wanted something a little better.  That's where Unique Dice Towers came in.

My homemade dice tower. Remember, "the inherent flaws
of a handmade item..." etc., etc.

I told you it was big.

Unique Dice Towers (their website is in the link list)  makes laser cut dice towers out of various woods, and with various decorative designs.  They also sell kits that you can build yourself, and even offer you the ability to customize a tower with your own graphics.  As I'm sometimes cheap, I went with the standard kit made out of 3mm birch plywood.  It has a separate tower and tray, so that it can be folded down for storage.  You could even store your dice in it if you wanted to.  The tower is about 5" tall, 2.6" wide and 1.6" thick, with the tray being 1.8" tall, 2.9" wide and 5.3" deep.  As built, it has no finish, but I may stain it later.

Yes, there is a Plexiglas window in the front.

The open end goes toward the back when closed, so you can
store dice inside, if so inclined.

 
 As the pictures below will show you, compared to my homemade one it is downright minuscule

.

Overall, it's a good product and I could see myself picking up another one sometime in the future.  Check them out!