Infinite Lives

Last night I was sifting through the iPhone’s app store (again), and I noticed a 99-cent application called the D20 Gaming Dice Set.

Seriously?

I tapped at my iPhone, which brought me to a download screen. I don’t really play tabletop games but, sure enough, the D20 Gaming Dice Set is exactly as I’d hoped:

D20 Gaming Dice Set provides a set of dice compatible with most dice based games. The application provides 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20, and 100 sided dice. It will let you roll between 1 and 9 dice at a time.

I love this idea. You’re sitting around a table with friends, and then you suddenly blurt, “Oh, I know what we should do!” And you bring your iPhone out and pass it around, and your iPhone really is a Swiss army knife of technology. And everyone is so impressed with your phone, and therefore, by proxy, with you! And the game is going wonderfully; truly, you are the life of the party!

But then your battery dies before the game’s end, and everyone looks at you a little bit accusatorily. You shrink in your seat, wondering why you don’t simply travel with a spare die. And I pat you on the back and I tell you it all reminds me of that time in NYC when I mocked my friend Dave for using an enormous travel guide with fold-out maps, but then my iPhone’s battery died and I was suddenly useless. In junior high, I once flunked a survival mission—it was “map orientation,” the real-world application of a compass in the wilderness—and even with a map, even today, I am perpetually lost.

Seven types of die? Nine of each type of die? I’m no mathematician, but that’s 63 dice! The D20 Gaming Dice Set is, if nothing else, a moneysaver.

• Direct iTunes link – D20 Gaming Dice Set
• The Michael Litman Experience – D20 Gaming Dice Set goes live on App Store

About the author:  Jenn thinks the Atari 2600, Game Boy Micro, and Apple iPhone are all viable game consoles. Email her at jenn at infinite lives dot net.

See also

Forget Doom! ‘Space Ace’ for iPhone
JitterPic, iPhone’s greatest weekend party app