Custom Engraved dice versus Stickering

Well if you WANT CUSTOM d6s from The Game Crafter (TGC) you need to go the sticker route. They don't produce moulds for custom dice.

If you want custom dice (not stickers) the problem is usually satisfying MINIMUM orders of said dice. I could be wrong, but if I remember one place told me I would need to have 10,000 custom dice produced if I wanted CUSTOM d6.

I tried looking through my e-mails but I couldn't find the quote information. I basically said I'd go with normal dice - even if they don't look as nice as custom dice with golden pips...

I think stickered dice are okay. The one thing you need to do is have illustrations in the rulebook so players know how to place the stickers on each dice.

The only problem is if you have MANY dice... Then it could be a challenge to get all of the dice properly (even if you document it well with illustrations and all...)

It don't think there is any *stigma* to stickered dice. On the contrary, they are a low cost alternative to CUSTOM moulded dice. Plus like you said, you can have coloured graphics as opposed to line art used with custom moulded dice.

IMHO I think you should be fine with a game that uses stickers. I don't believe there is any issues at all - except if you have MANY dice. What's many? Maybe more than four (4). If you have like six (6) custom dice with stickers - that's a lot to illustrate in the rulebook. It may take 1 page of the rulebook to show how the stickers should be used on the dice.

But you should definitely consider using stickers and blank dice because it's much more reasonable (in terms of cost), can produce nicer graphics instead of just line art and you end up with CUSTOM d6s... And we know most people like dice in their game! :)

So I say "Go For It!" ;)

Well then I would go with a dice mould and they can make different colours (if you want). 13 dice is A LOT. Putting stickers on 13 dice will probably be expensive (from TGC).

Here's the thing: if you BUY a sheet of Stickers, you get 120 stickers for $2.75. Now it would be a WASTE if you simply printed enough stickers for your requirements. So 6 x 13 = 78. You have 42 additional stickers (7 complete dice) that I would add just in case some dice side gets ruined...

BUT because you have 13 custom dice per game, it would be very easy to satisfy mould minimums. With 1,000 game sets, you have 13,000 dice! That should be enough to pay for the mould. Especially if in your case they are identical.

However you will need to use line art for moulds. Otherwise the image may not appear to be clear... It's a compromise but the dice will for sure last LONGER.

I thought you only had like four (4) or five (5) dice and you wanted them to all be different! Having 13 identical ones changes things a little bit (IMHO).

There's the laser engraving from like Chessex:
http://www.chessex.com/Dice/Custom_Dice_Home.htm

for around $2.50 per 16mm die (500 dice ordered)

Or custom full printed dice form Game Parts:
http://www.gameparts.net/cust_1_dice.htm

for $1.77 (includes setup charge) per 16mm die (1000 dice ordered)

Some custom dice with tampo printing with one side
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1964937/melx
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1186451/eesti-jalgpall
The images may be more complex and multicolored but each additional color per side they must print it again with the same price.

This Dice was originally blank 16mm plastic.

Ask local companies who make promotinal items, maybe thay have these type of printing machines.

Stickered dice are great in the short term. That is what I have been using as my own prototypes, but the do wear down.

If you dont use indended dice then done even consider stickers.

The dice from http://indentedblankdice.com work very well and I have nothing but positive things to say about the company.

The challenge is even those dice with stickers wear out. If the game has great replay value the dice will end up looking bad after a while under the best condtions let alone dirt and spills.

They are a much cheaper alternative to laser or moulded but you need to really weight the good and the bad.

$1.77 per die raises the price of the game (multiplier of 5, the lowest I've heard of) by $8.85 per die. Does not sound practical.

The broader your market, the less likely they are to want to deal with the hassles of stickers. And some people simply cannot do a good stickering job for lack of coordination etc.