Dice with curved, but non-spherical surfaces, certain of which feature nonuniform display probabilities

Abstract

The current document is directed to gaming dice, including physical dice and virtual dice represented on an electronic display or viewing screen. Certain of the currently disclosed gaming dice have approximately ovoid, prolate spheroid, or ellipsoid shapes that are modified to include planar surfaces. Other of the disclosed gaming dice have angular shapes, including cubes, tetrahedrons, octahedrons, and other regular shapes that are modified to provide nonuniform probabilities of position landings.

1 . A die comprising:
 a die body with a non-spherical, curved surface and two or more planar landing surfaces; and   a result indication associated with each planar landing surface, each result indication prominently displayed when the die rests in a stable position on the planar landing surface with which the result indication is associated.   
     
     
         2 . The die of  claim 1  wherein the non-spherical, curved surface of the die body comprises a portion of the surface of one of:
 an ovoid-shaped solid; 
 a prolate-spheroid-shaped solid; and 
 an ellipsoid-shaped solid. 
 
     
     
         3 . The die of  claim 1  wherein the result indication associated with a planar landing surface is located at a position at the intersection of the surface of the die body and a line normal to the planar landing surface that passes through the center of the planar landing surface and continues through the die body to the position of the result indication. 
     
     
         4 . The die of  claim 1  wherein each result indication comprises a numeral, marking, or indicia that is inscribed in, molded onto, printed on, painted on, and/or affixed to the surface of the die in a neighborhood surface about the result-indication position. 
     
     
         5 . The die of  claim 1  wherein the landing surfaces are symmetrically disposed about a rotation symmetry axis of a solid, with which the curved surface of the die body is coincident. 
     
     
         6 . The die of  claim 5  wherein the landing surfaces have a common shape and size and are associated with equal landing-surface probabilities. 
     
     
         7 . The die of  claim 5  including a number landing surfaces equal to one of:
 2; 
 3; 
 4; 
 5; and 
 6. 
 
     
     
         8 . The die of  claim 1   wherein a first set of two or more of the landing surfaces are symmetrically disposed about a rotation symmetry axis of a solid, with which the curved surface of the die body is coincident; and   wherein a second set of two of the landing surfaces are normal to the rotation symmetry axis of the a solid, with which the curved surface of the die body is coincident.   
     
     
         9 . The die of  claim 8  wherein the landing surfaces include:
 a first set of two or more landing surfaces that have a common first shape and first size and are associated with equal first landing-surface probabilities; and 
 a second set of two or more landing surfaces that have a common second shape and second size and are associated with equal second landing-surface probabilities that differ from the first landing-surface probabilities. 
 
     
     
         10 . The die of  claim 8   wherein the second set of landing surfaces includes 2 landing surfaces; and   wherein the first set of landing surfaces includes a number landing surfaces equal to one of:   2;   3;   4;   5; and   6.   
     
     
         10 . A die comprising:
 a polyhedral die body two or more planar landing faces of a first common size and shape and two or more additional planar landing surfaces of a second, common size and shape; and   a result indication associated with each planar landing surface and planar landing face, each result indication prominently displayed when the die rests in a stable position on the planar landing surface with which the result indication is associated.   
     
     
         11 . The die of  claim 10  wherein the two or more planar landing faces correspond to faces of one of a tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron. 
     
     
         12 . The die of  claim 1  wherein the result indication associated with a planar landing face is located on an opposite, complementary planar landing face. 
     
     
         13 . The die of  claim 1  wherein the result indication associated with a planar landing surface is located on an opposite, complementary planar landing surface. 
     
     
         14 . A virtual die that is displayed on a display device, the virtual die comprising:
 a die body with a non-spherical, curved surface and two or more planar landing surfaces; and   a result indication associated with each planar landing surface, each result indication prominently displayed when the die rests in a stable position on the planar landing surface with which the result indication is associated.   
     
     
         15 . The virtual die of  claim 14  wherein the non-spherical, curved surface of the die body comprises a portion of the surface of one of:
 an ovoid-shaped solid; 
 a prolate-spheroid-shaped solid; and 
 an ellipsoid-shaped solid. 
 
     
     
         16 . The virtual die of  claim 14  wherein the result indication associated with a planar landing surface is located at a position at the intersection of the surface of the die body and a line normal to the planar landing surface that passes through the center of the planar landing surface and continues through the die body to the position of the result indication. 
     
     
         17 . The virtual die of  claim 14  wherein the landing surfaces are symmetrically disposed about a rotation symmetry axis of a solid, with which the curved surface of the die body is coincident. 
     
     
         18 . The virtual die of  claim 17   wherein the landing surfaces have a common shape and size and are associated with equal landing-surface probabilities; and   wherein the virtual die includes a number landing surfaces equal to one of:   2;   3;   4;   5; and   6.   
     
     
         19 . The virtual die of  claim 14   wherein a first set of two or more of the landing surfaces are symmetrically disposed about a rotation symmetry axis of a solid, with which the curved surface of the die body is coincident; and   wherein a second set of two of the landing surfaces are normal to the rotation symmetry axis of the a solid, with which the curved surface of the die body is coincident.   
     
     
         20 . The virtual die of  claim 8   wherein the landing surfaces include
 a first set of two or more landing surfaces that have a common first shape and first size and are associated with equal first landing-surface probabilities; and 
 a second set of two or more landing surfaces that have a common second shape and second size and are associated with equal second landing-surface probabilities that differ from the first landing-surface probabilities; 
   wherein the second set of landing surfaces includes 2 landing surfaces; and   wherein the first set of landing surfaces includes a number landing surfaces equal to one of:   2;   3;   4;   5; and   6.