What Is A Dice Tray? And What Is It For?

Here is an example of yet another thing big game people use that I didn’t even know existed for years. We usually use the lid to a box or some other container as our dice tray. But many use dedicated dice trays for the games. So let’s take a look

What is dice tray? A dice tray is a small, shallow container used to capture dice when being rolled. They are typically used in board games and any other dice games—to contain the dice in a specific area and prevent them from knocking down game pieces.

Detailed explanation

Dice trays are basically dice towers, without the tower (if you want to learn more about dice towers, we have written a great article on them here). At the base of each dice tower a small container catches all the dice that descend through it. So if you remove the tower, you have a small, flat container that is designed to catch the dice directly from a player’s roll.

Dice trays are meant to catch the dice from each roll throughout the game. However, they aren’t meant to eliminate dice manipulation by cheating players. Players still roll the dice onto the tray with their hands. So a player attempting to gain a favorable dice roll could still accomplish this unimpeded. If players are looking to discourage dice manipulation, they should look into a dice tower.

As is probably clear by now, a dice tray is used with dice games. Consequently, the more dice in the game the more need there may be for a dice tray. Games that use dice sparingly probably wouldn’t use one because the tray would take up more space than it would be worth.

How big are they?

Dice trays don’t have one specific standard size or shape. Generally, though they come in four shapes; square, octagonal, circular and rectangular.

The square containers are anywhere from 7-10 inches across.
Octagonal (or hexagonal) dice trays tend to be around 10-12 inches across.
Circular dice trays are usually 8-10 inches in diameter
Rectangular dice trays can be anywhere from 5-8 inches wide and 10-12 inches long. Some can be smaller than that.

The height of dice trays are pretty uniform across all shapes. The most common height is around 1.5 inches. Some are slightly less shallow at 1-1.25 inches, while others are a bit deeper at 1.75 inches. It’s rare to see dice trays any deeper than that.

What are they made from?

The structure of dice trays are generally made out of just a few materials. One of the most common materials is wood. Trays are constructed with a thin wooden surface at the bottom with thicker wooden sides measuring about 1.5 inches tall—creating edges on all sides. Another, less common material used to make dice trays is plastic. They follow the same pattern as their wooden counterparts.

The last major material that is used to make the structure of dice trays is leather or PU leather. They are usually fairly rigid, flat surfaces that dice can be rolled on. But if the players want to contain the dice, each side can be lifted up at nearly a 90 degree angle. The corners are snapped together to keep the sides securely in place and ensure the dice stay in the tray. These trays are usually much thinner and lighter than the others.

The inside section of almost all dice trays are usually lined with a soft material, such as velvet. It is always placed on the inner surface and is often also adhered to the walls of the dice tray as well—though not always. This enables the velvet to absorb the noise that is usually created by the dice as they hit a hard surface, like a table. Instead, the dice make a soft, muffled noise that doesn’t annoy anyone. This also helps while playing games during kids nap time. The velvet is lined on the harder surface underneath, which makes it so the dice still land on a definite side and not somewhere in between like they sometimes do on carpet.

When to use dice trays

Playing with excited players

Everyone has played a dice game with someone who gets way too excited when they get the dice in their hands. They seemingly rev up and roll the dice—which then fly across the table, onto the floor and basically into the other room. Dice trays are a great way to contain these beasts into the 10”x 10” tray you make them use. They roll the dice into the tray and voila, the dice hit the walls of the tray and stay here in this galaxy.

Playing on small surfaces

If you’re like me, board games tend to start wherever you are. Which often leads to playing on less-ideal surfaces that are usually too small. Or maybe the surface you normally play on is simply too small for the game you enjoy. Whatever it is. Having a small dice tray that can be passed around on each player’s turn can alleviate the problem of trying to find a free space on the board to roll all those dice.

Playing with many game pieces

Some games have dozens of game pieces that are spread all over the table. And more importantly, the location of those game pieces is important to the gameplay and outcome of the game (risk is a good example of this). And when someone rolls dice that knock over game pieces, it can be frustrating to try to figure out where they all go. A dice tray can fix this problem because the dice all roll in the same place, protecting the game pieces from these relentless dice attacks.

Playing with lots of dice

Some games just simply have a lot of dice. And each player may roll those dice multiple times in a given turn. Trying to roll those dice, especially if any of the problems above apply as well, can be difficult. Having a place where dice can be located and rolled can be very helpful. It simplifies the passing of the dice to the next player to take his/her turn. It also keeps all the dice in one place so that players don’t have locate the dice at all places on the table on each roll. Seeing as how some games require multiple rolls per turn, this can be very helpful.