Analogue gaming vibe recaptured – 21st Century-style!

Remember the good old days when games didn’t involve a subscription to Sony or Microsoft, there were no wireless controllers, and people didn’t stare blankly at a screen? Back then, you sat with a crowd of friends, rolled some dice, and trash-talked whoever was winning. Gaming was a fun way to unwind with friends.

GoDice has recaptured that retro analogue gaming vibe with its ingenious smart dice. Each dice has an internal battery, sensors and Bluetooth connectivity. They pair up with the GoDice app on a smartphone/tablet (iOS/Android), allowing you to play old-school dice games with a high-tech twist.

Getting some gaming happening is as simple as firing up the app and picking whichever game you want to play. After entering the names of all the players, you’re good to go. When you (or other players) roll the dice, the app keeps track of and tabulates scores based on the rolled result of each dice.

They each have their own colour to track which dice are which. You can also use the app to identify dice as each dice can be illuminated. The app automatically knows, for instance, that the green dice rolled a 6 while the blue dice rolled a 3. For games like Yahtzee, GoDice makes gameplay effortless, social and fun.

If you are a dungeon and dragons nerd, the good news is that there are clip-on D&D shells that fit around the GoDice to give you 100 through to 4-sided dice. You need to add the GoDice facing in the right direction with each dice (the shells come with instructions on how to do this). Rolling for damage becomes effortless. GoDice has launched a bunch of games (there were around 10 available at the time of writing), with new games added constantly.

Considering each dice houses a gyro and an LED plus a Bluetooth radio that transmits continuously to your paired device, their battery life isn’t half bad. That said, they don’t actually use batteries but a tiny super-capacitor instead. Each dice should last for around two hours once charged. They fully charge in about 10 seconds too. Their charger is their carry case. Because it uses AAA batteries, you don’t have to fart about with a power brick and fiddly USB cables. Charging each dice involves pressing the 5 sides of the dice into the bottom of the charger and holding it there until the dice illuminates to show it’s fully charged.

In use, the GoDice worked like a charm. As long as they were shaken before being rolled (which calibrates their internal gyros), they reported the correct results every time. For quick games, they are the business, even if you’re limited to the small (but growing) selection of games available with the app. That said, they retail for $219 – that’s a lot of moolah for a set of dice. Price aside, they’re brilliant!

www.macgear.co.nz