Electronic Super Dice Kit

Speaking of issue #62 of Dragon (June 1982), here's another advertisement from that same issue that stuck in my memory.

Now, electronic dice rollers were very trendy at the time, as evidenced by the existence of Dragonbone. They're yet another example of a transitional technology that is quickly superseded but that, for a time, manages to find a place in the market. For about a decade, starting in the mid-1970s, there were electronic versions of all sorts of things, spurred on by the decrease in the prices of integrated circuits, microprocessors, and transistors. Given that, I'm not at all surprised by the appearance of dice rollers like this.
What strikes me as unique about this advertisement is that, unlike Dragonbone, this was a kit to build your own "ultimate gaming aid" rather than a finished consumer product. I recall seeing "build your own radio" kits for sale in the Sears catalog and, of course, at Radio Shack, so it's not as if something of this sort was completely unheard of. However, at $19.98 (close to $65 in today's debased currency), this is very expensive for a do-it-yourself dice roller. Dragonbone was "only" $5 more, which makes me wonder if they had many sales. My guess is probably not, but there's no way to prove or disprove it now.
Regardless, the ad is yet another data point for the past is a foreign country file.

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Published on June 03, 2024 12:00
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