When the die goes missing
Every board game box comes with a die, and every household has lost one. It bounces off the table mid-game, the dog runs off with it, or the game got lent out with the die still in someone's coat pocket. Then a perfectly good evening stalls over a small plastic cube.
This page fills the gap. Press the button, read the number, move your piece. If the rules call for two dice, set Count to 2, leave Allow repeats on, and both results appear side by side, ready to add up. Games that give you a fresh roll on a six only need another press.
One limit worth knowing. This covers plain numbered dice. If your game has special dice with symbols or custom faces, the numbers here will not map onto them.
One in six, and why streaks still happen
Each press gives every number the same chance: exactly 1 in 6, or about 16.7 percent. Six is not a power of two, so the page asks the browser for three random bits. That gives eight possible values, and the two that fall outside the range are thrown away. A quarter of all raw draws get discarded and redrawn. It costs nothing you would notice, and it keeps the remaining six perfectly even. The details are on the methodology page.
Streaks are where people get suspicious. After any press, the chance that the next one matches it is 1 in 6. Press ten times and you will see at least one back-to-back repeat about four times out of five. Any three presses come out identical roughly once in 36 tries. Six presses show all six different numbers only about 1.5 percent of the time, which surprises anyone expecting a tidy spread. The page is not stuck. A six is never "due" after a long gap, because nothing in the draw remembers the last result.
Game nights, chores and turn order
Roll-and-move games. Agree before the first turn that whatever the screen shows is the roll, with no second presses unless the rules allow one. The agreement keeps it fair. The tool cannot do that for you.
Chores. Number up to six jobs or six people on a list and press once to see who gets the bins. For a weekly rota, set Count to 6 and untick Allow repeats. One press deals all six numbers in shuffled order, so every person lands in exactly one slot.
Turn order. Give each player a number first, then deal the order in one go. With fewer players, the 1 to 5 page covers five. If the real job is splitting a group into sides, the team generator is quicker.
If the choice is only two-way, the coin flip is faster. For a wider spread, such as a twenty-sided roll, there is the 1 to 20 page, and the random number generator takes any range you type.
All randomization on Spinness uses crypto.getRandomValues() — the browser's cryptographic random source. Learn how our randomness works.
Frequently asked questions
Can this really replace a die in a board game?
For any game that only needs a number from 1 to 6, yes. Each value has the same one-in-six chance a fair die would give. It will not stand in for special dice with symbols or unusual face values.
Why did I get the same number twice in a row?
It happens one press in six. A repeat is a normal result and no sign of a fault. The page keeps no memory of earlier results, so the next press is a fresh draw whatever came before.
How do I roll two dice?
Set Count to 2 and keep Allow repeats ticked. Both numbers show up after one press and you add them yourself. The total is uneven: 7 is the most likely sum at 6 in 36 (one in six), while 2 and 12 each come up 1 time in 36.
Can I press again if I do not like the number?
Every press is a new, independent draw, so nothing stops you. Whether a re-press counts is a house rule. Settle it before the game starts, ideally with the first result standing, so nobody feels the outcome was shopped for.
How do I split six chores among six people?
Number the chores or the people from 1 to 6, set Count to 6 and untick Allow repeats, then press once. You get the numbers 1 to 6 in random order, each exactly once. Nobody ends up with two jobs and nothing is left over.
Does the result go to a server?
The number is worked out inside your browser, with no server round trip for the draw. It stays on your screen until you press again or leave the page.