Wooden Dice Towers, UK made for DND on a game mat

What makes a good dice tower?

There are a lot of dice towers available on the market in a variety of shapes and sizes. But is there a right size, design, or material? What makes a good dice tower? Read on to find out about how big they should be and what they should be made from.

What is the anatomy of a Dice Tower?

There is no fixed shape for dice towers, however, there are some common traits that all dice towers should have: a place to drop the dice, a way to randomise the roll on its fall, and a catchment area to allow the dice to finish rolling.

Clearly the entrance to your tower needs to fit your dice down it, so make sure if you’ve got chonkers that they will fit. As the dice falls down they need their fall to be disrupted in order to maximise the amount of rolling they do. Finally, a good tower will have somewhere to let the dice roll out the bottom that allows you to read the result. You might find, like with ours, they fold into their tray to create a collapsible dice tower that’s great for getting to and from game night. We go a bit further into what makes a good dice tower here.

What size should a dice tower be?

While dice towers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, there is no “right size”. There are, however, a few factors to consider before you buy. You need to make sure that the dice tower is big enough to fit your dice, allow them to roll effectively, and handle the volume of dice you want to roll.

Before knowing what size a dice tower should be, you should be aware of what size they should not be. The standard size RPG dice (for D&D and similar games) are 25mm scale. That means that the biggest die in the set is 25mm at their widest point. Other dice sets can be bigger (or smaller, but that isn’t so relevant here). You need to make sure that you’re choosing one that will accommodate your particular dice.

If you’re looking at dice rolling towers being sold by cheaper sites, they can be a lot smaller than their photography suggests. Try and find photos of them in use, or better yet find dimensions for the product you’re looking at. Similarly, some dice towers are massive and intricate. They look really good on the page but you might find they’re more trouble than they’re worth when the decoration is falling off while you move it and your entire table is covered by just the tower.

You need to make sure that there is enough space for your dice to fit in the top and comfortably roll out of the bottom. This means that you need an opening big enough for them to be dropped into. There also needs to be enough room for the dice to move down the tower and roll meaningfully, as well as to exit at the end. On towers designed to roll onto the table or into a tray you’ll often find the exit promotes more rolling too.

And depending on how many dice you like to drop down the tower, you’ll often have to be discerning on your choice. As I mentioned earlier, those provided by the cheap online retailers are designed to look good on a webpage but can be really small. If you like to drop a lot of dice at once, they might not have the aperture nor the tray space to handle a lot of dice rolling. Similarly, some of the more artistic diorama-style dice towers are only designed for one die being rolled at at time.

We made our own dice towers to accommodate dropping a lot of dice at once, you could easily fit a standard set of dice down the top with loads of room in the tray to roll. In fact, if you get creative and use a funnel you can get at least 3 sets of standard dice down there with space in the tray – so I guess that’s fireball sorted! They’ve been tested up to 30mm scale dice as well, so you can get some chonkers down there! And for you Warhammer players out there, you should know that Warhammer D6s tend to be smaller than the larger dice in an RPG set.

How tall should a dice tower be?

There is no set height required for a dice tower. The most important thing to consider is this: will my dice be able to roll without fuss or damage? If the answer is yes then you have the right dice tower. With that being said, there are some things that you should look out for to make sure your dice tower works for you.

Too Short?

Your dice tower should have enough height that when you drop dice down it they roll meaningfully. Our towers are designed with three angled layers to help the dice roll whilst leaving enough space for a standard set of dice to move through comfortably. You could have fewer but we really wanted to make sure that they rolled well! If your tower is too short you won’t be able to fit in enough planes at the right angles to ensure your dice are getting rolled properly.

If the angles are too flat, your dice is less likely to roll and more likely to come to a stop – so you’ve got to have a decent slope. Because height and landing area can change, there probably isn’t a perfect angle. But anywhere from 34-45 degrees is a good rule of thumb for maximum randomisation and velocity.

Too Tall?

Is bigger really better? If your dice tower is too big, you’ll never be able to use it effectively. The perfect size is one that can be easily used. You can get it to where you need it. And it doesn’t dominate all the space at the table or your shelf.

A tall dice tower does help solve the issues of one that is too short. But don’t forget, the bigger they are, the harder it is to make dice fall through them. And the faster they’ll come out the bottom. So if you don’t want to turn your game table into a dice-fed minigun, aim for something manageable! 

What is the best wood for dice towers?

The real answer is that there is no “best” choice for wooden dice towers. It all comes down to your personal preference. What woods do you like? There are better and worse woods for this sort of thing though, and not necessarily for the reasons you might expect.

Hard vs Soft

Hardwoods like Oak and Cherry are perfect to take a bit more punishment because they are more resilient. Softwoods like Pine are easy to work with (if you’re making your own), and they’re cheap. But they won’t stand up to the punishment of repeated dice rolls. Especially if you’re using metal dice. Sooner or later your tower will be deformed and this could affect the way your dice are rolled.

Do looks matter?

The way that different oiled woods look is the difference between a good tower and a great one. Make sure you choose a wood that resonates with your preference. Darker woods, lighter ones. Grainy wood, burled wood, multiple woods stuck together. All of these can speak to you in different ways. Even the different ways that the lumber is cut can result in a different looking wood.

We currently offer a modest selection of hardwoods but will make to order from any wood that we can get sourced locally or reclaimed. Don’t be afraid to find what you like because your game accessories should enhance your game.

Local vs Imported

Plenty of companies offer an amazing selection of woods from around the world. We think the most important thing is to make our wooden products sustainably. Unfortunately, it is just harder to ensure ethical suppliers outside of the UK/US because different countries have different rules about how they ensure sustainability. It’s a sad reality that corruption comes into these things. Plus, the most ethical supplier located half a world away will incur a large carbon-cost in shipping. It might look amazing, but opting for something made by a local maker using sustainable materials can help keep us all gaming for longer. Read more about our sustainability policy here.

Is there a perfect dice tower?

The perfect make up of a dice tower is the one that speaks to you the most. It should also be designed with gameplay in mind and should last a long time. Make sure when you’re shopping for one that you take in mind what you need it for, how you’ll use it, and how you want it to look and feel.

You find out more about what makes a good tower and how to use them here. You can also shop for dice towers we made that considered all these things here.