In a 2012 gaming convention dinner conversation, a board game designer challenged mathematician Eric Harshbarger to create dice for determining the starting player without the possibility of a tie. Harshbarger, a senior lecturer at Auburn University, saw this as an intriguing problem fitting for a mathematician.
After years of collaboration with computer scientists and mathematicians worldwide, Harshbarger and his team developed a set of 12-sided dice for two, three, and four players, ensuring a fair outcome with a single roll. However, designing dice for five players proved to be more complex.
Despite the mathematical feasibility of a 1,440-sided die, it was impractical. Through research and collaboration, a set of five 120-sided dice was proposed by an Australian researcher, later refined to five 60-sided dice by Canadian software engineer Paul Meyer.
Meyer’s computational approach led to a successful solution, culminating in the creation of the Go First Dice. These dice, though questioned by some researchers, are designed to be inherently fair based on solid mathematical principles.
The research continues with exploration into the possibility of using fewer sides for a five-player set and potential expansion to six players. Harshbarger emphasizes the unpredictable nature of the problem and the allure it holds for mathematicians, despite its seemingly trivial origins.
