So we are starting off this blog post with a disclaimer. I was contacted on September 4th by Lee Smart, the owner of Mystery Dice Goblin. He inquired if I was interested in reviewing their Mystery Dice Bags that they sell on their family business website. I asked if I was allowed to review the products as I saw fit (i.e. not giving a good review just because I received a free product) and he responded with an enthusiastic “yes of course”. So, I gave him my address and moved onto other balls that I had in the air.
On Monday, September 16th, the following package arrived from England. Had I know this was a husband and wife company in the UK, I might have (jokingly) asked for a bribe with Doctor Who, Monty Python, Top Gear or Red Dwarf. I’ve always been a fan of British TV, humor, culture and even some of the food. Having a local restaurant run by British immigrants is something that I’m very grateful for.
Inside the box were three mystery packs. These are factory sealed bags with an easy tear-off top. Just inside the tear-off top is a zip-lock style closure. So, if you wanted to continue to use the bags for your dice, you could do so without worrying about them escaping and rolling initiative.
So after taking these photos, lightning just struck me brain (or as Jeremy Clarkson would have said: “Sometimes, if you listen very carefully, you can hear my genius.”) Instead of just opening up the bags and putting the dice through the same review as I had with past dice products, I ran upstairs and gathered my geek wife and two geek kids. I had each one of them open up the packages one at a time and we checked them out together. My wife went first and opened up the package that contained these red dice with Chinese dragons on them.
We all thought these were really kewl looking. Everyone took a turn rolling them and seeing how they felt in our hands. They have a good weight and the rolling seemed to come up random. (Sorry, I don’t have the patience to do a complete roll them a 100 times and write everything down test) We then opened up the next package.
The youngest opened the next set. I don’t know what the official name for this set is, but we called it the aquamarine set. The blue and white swirls reminded us of the ocean. This set was slightly smaller than the red Chinese dragon dice that we opened first. Because of this size difference, there is a slightly less weight to them. Rolling them did feel natural and random. My oldest then opened up the next package.
The oldest proclaimed that mother would love this set as she loves the color purple. The numbers were using a different font than the previous two sets and there was a sparkle to these dice. I had seen this gothic type font on the Dice Legends sets that I reviewed prior. They had the same size and weight as the aquamarine set. They also rolled the same as well. Just as random and they felt good.
When we had opened up the sealed bags, I wondered if I could smell something? But further inspection didn’t reveal anything olfactory wise. I wonder if the muscle memory in my head thought: “A sealed bag has been opened, what food does it contain?”
In the picture above I lined up the D20s from the new dice sets with some previous dice I had reviewed in the past. The Mystery Goblin Dice are along the top. On the bottom row from left to right are the North-to-South Designs Gaming D20, the Dice Legends D20, the D20 from the Dollar Tree set and the D20 from my Chessex set that I’ve had for quite some time. Apparently I haven’t reviewed this last set yet. Comparing the weights they were pretty similar. At the last SaltCON, my wife and I were talking to a local dice manufacturer who had some sets with similar size and fonts. The colors could vary widely depending upon what material was used in the manufacture. While they had kits to make your own dice, we quickly passed, not needing yet another hobby to divide our limited time. So, we are grateful to those who have been bitten by the dice manufacturing bug. I wonder if these kits include the molds with the fonts and styles?
According to the Mystery Dice Goblin website, the price for these three mystery sets would have been $25 plus shipping. Had I paid that price, I would have been very satisfied with the purchase. I don’t know how much the shipping would have cost, but if you live in the UK they offer free shipping for any orders over 15 British pounds. I was told that the package was shipped on the 6th and it only took ten days to arrive at my house in the states. Coming from England, that is a quick delivery.
Oh and as a thank you to my family for helping me review these dice, I’m going to give them the packs that they would like. I know that they will enjoy them.
Having gone through this experience, I think I’m going to add a new item to my Frequently Asked Questions. I am more than willing to review and item sent to me as long as I have the freedom to review the product as I see fit. If I like something, I’m more than willing to tell others about it. If there are things that could be improved, I don’t mind saying these things as well.
Do you have any questions about the Mystery Dice Goblin packs? Feel free to ask me about them. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.