Bone dice Viking large

Viking-age bone die. The die is handmade from ox bone.

The die is symmetrical and based on finds from York, England. The original is dated to the 10th century. The opposite sides of the die do not add up to 7 like on modern dice.

The Vikings played many different games. Many of them seem to have involved dice, judging by the quantity of dice found in excavations. In York, a variety of types of dice have been found, all differing in shape and design. Many of them were not symmetrical, and that does not seem to have been very important to the Vikings. Perhaps this is because they believed in fate and therefore had a different attitude toward the concept of luck than we do today.