Revolutionary 60-Sided Dice Eliminate Ties in Games
By Editor • August 27, 2026 • 1 min read
In the world of gaming, the quest for fairness often leads to innovative solutions. Enter Eric Harshbarger, a senior lecturer at Auburn University, who, alongside a dedicated team of mathematicians and computer scientists, has developed a groundbreaking set of five 60-sided dice known as the Go First Dice.
Inspired by a conversation at a gaming convention in 2010, the initiative aimed to create dice that would ensure no ties when determining who goes first in a game. The challenge lay in crafting a design that offered mathematically equal chances for players while preventing duplicate rolls.
After years of research and numerous prototypes, including a 120-sided die the size of a baseball, the team finally achieved success in 2023. Canadian researcher Paul Meyer played a pivotal role in configuring the dice to guarantee fairness. Each die in the set features numbers ranging from 1 to 300, eliminating the possibility of rolling the same number.
The culmination of their efforts is now embodied in a striking sculpture located at Auburn University’s STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex. Crafted from various woods, each piece weighs over 100 pounds and spans three-and-a-half feet in diameter, symbolizing a decade of mathematical exploration.
Source: www.fastcompany.com
