<p>You could take any two normal dice of different colors and denote one as the positive die and one as the negative die. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-18T03:07:49.690Z
Yup. This gives a triangular distribution rather than a bell curve approximation, but it is quick, easy to find dice for, and is close enough that it's often suggested as a drop-in replacement (using d6s) for the harder-to-acquire four Fudge dice. +1
SevenSidedDie
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-13T18:37:00.527Z
If you lack dice of different colors, you can just roll them both and flip a coin (heads positive, tails negative) or a third die (even positive, tails negative). A bit more of a pain, but considering the absurdly high number of plain Jane white dice floating around my house, it would be reasonable.
corsiKa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-26T16:29:25.920Z
@SevenSidedDie If you want a bell curve approximation, just take a hundred dice instead of two.
Joe Z.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-26T17:57:56.623Z
@JoeZeng [50d6 - 50d6](http://anydice.com/program/1e6a) actually gets you a narrow bell with long flat tails—not a nice distribution at all. For a nice bell curve approximation you only need [2d6 - 2d6](http://anydice.com/program/c89). Everyone knows that adding more dice gives a nicer bell when you're summing them, but that intuition absolutely does not hold when subtraction is involved.
SevenSidedDie
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-26T18:24:52.123Z
Whoops. I forgot that about subtraction.
Joe Z.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-26T18:25:32.437Z
In that case, use a hundred dice and subtract 350 instead.
Joe Z.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-26T17:35:40.453Z
2012-07-26T17:35:40.453Z
Neal Tibrewala
<p>Probably the most commonly available ones are called <strong>Fudge dice</strong>, as used in the Fudge/FATE roleplaying games.</p>

<p>A Fudge die is a six-sided die with the following sides: minus, minus, blank, blank, plus, plus.</p>

<p>Games generally have players rolling a couple of Fudge dice together and adding them up, which creates a curved probability distribution centered around zero. 3dF, for example, gives you a range from -3 to +3, with 0 as the mean, median, and mode.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudge_%28role-playing_game_system%29#Fudge_dice">This Wikipedia article</a> has more information.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-10T19:29:00.067Z
2012-07-11T12:55:16.423Z
2012-07-11T12:55:16.423Z
Alex P
<p>Are there dice that have both positive and negative numbers, where the average result is zero?  I'm imagining a die labeled something like: -2, -1, 0, +1, +2.  I feel like I've seen dice like this, but I'm not sure what they'd be called or how to find them.</p>

<game-accessories>
Dice with an average roll of zero?
Joe
# Dice with an average roll of zero?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-07-10)

Are there dice that have both positive and negative numbers, where the average result is zero? I'm imagining a die labeled something like: -2, -1, 0, +1, +2. I feel like I've seen dice like this, but I'm not sure what they'd be called or how to find them.

**Tags:** game-accessories


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2012-07-10. Score: 14 | Accepted answer

Probably the most commonly available ones are called **Fudge dice**, as used in the Fudge/FATE roleplaying games.

A Fudge die is a six-sided die with the following sides: minus, minus, blank, blank, plus, plus.

Games generally have players rolling a couple of Fudge dice together and adding them up, which creates a curved probability distribution centered around zero. 3dF, for example, gives you a range from -3 to +3, with 0 as the mean, median, and mode.

[This Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudge_%28role-playing_game_system%29#Fudge_dice) has more information.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2012-07-26. Score: 6

You could take any two normal dice of different colors and denote one as the positive die and one as the negative die.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Yup. This gives a triangular distribution rather than a bell curve approximation, but it is quick, easy to find dice for, and is close enough that it's often suggested as a drop-in replacement (using d6s) for the harder-to-acquire four Fudge dice. +1  
> **username_3**: If you lack dice of different colors, you can just roll them both and flip a coin (heads positive, tails negative) or a third die (even positive, tails negative). A bit more of a pain, but considering the absurdly high number of plain Jane white dice floating around my house, it would be reasonable.  
> **username_4**: @username_2 If you want a bell curve approximation, just take a hundred dice instead of two.  
> **username_2**: @username_0Zeng [50d6 - 50d6](http://anydice.com/program/1e6a) actually gets you a narrow bell with long flat tails—not a nice distribution at all. For a nice bell curve approximation you only need [2d6 - 2d6](http://anydice.com/program/c89). Everyone knows that adding more dice gives a nicer bell when you're summing them, but that intuition absolutely does not hold when subtraction is involved.  
> **username_4**: Whoops. I forgot that about subtraction.  
> **username_4**: In that case, use a hundred dice and subtract 350 instead.  

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