Dice dice. The transition from dice to playing cards occurred in China around the Tang dynasty, and coincides with the technological transition from rolls of manuscripts to block printed books. In Japan, dice were used to play a popular game called sugoroku. There are two types of sugoroku. "Ban-sugoroku" is similar to backgammon and dates to the Heian period, while "e-sugoroku" is a racing game. Dice are thrown onto a surface either from the hand or from a container designed for this (such as a dice cup). The face of the die that is uppermost when it comes to rest provides
Dice pool the system goes into. They also provide players with a physical representation for the modifiers, as real, concrete dice are added to the pool (or taken away from it). Some people also find rolling a large handful of dice fun in its own right. The other thing dice pools allow is opening up a lot of design space for game designers; if something other than the number on the dice is important, the number itself can be used to add richness to the system. West End Games's "Ghostbusters" role-playing game by Greg Stafford, Lynn Willis, and Sandy Petersen featured a