Anyone who wants to play Dungeons & Dragons actually needs only three things: dice, players, and rulebooks. In prison, you have almost unlimited access to at least two of these necessities. Only dice are difficult to come by, as an ex-inmate explains, giving insight into how popular the tabletop RPG actually is in jail.
Despite strong competition, Dungeons & Dragons is the most played role-playing game in the world, at least according to the developers themselves. And of course, the system is understandable and particularly well-suited for beginners.
For many, it might still be surprising that D&D is apparently often played in prisons, at least in the USA. A user explains this on Reddit, and the comments also indicate the popularity of the system.
Only one thing is a problem for the user: dice, as they are forbidden in prison. They could be used for gambling. His solution: Just make them yourself. However, creativity is required …
This is how the user made the dice: Usually, dice are made of plastic, formerly also bone, today increasingly metal or wood. Having a knife for carving in the cell is rather difficult, depending on the prison and the reason for the conviction.
The user cottoneyedtoe explains how he simply made his dice in jail – with toothpaste, his ID, and a very hated table:
Take extremely bad toothpaste. Spread it on the table you hate the most in your life, because this stuff will do unimaginable things to it. Spread [the paste] with your ID or a credit card you also hate, as thin as possible. Let it dry for 1-2 hours; you want to scrape it off like ice cream from those frozen surfaces you see.
Roll it into a ball, tear off pieces, and pretend it’s clay. In prison, I put them under the door where there is a draft to let them dry overnight. The next day, I did my best to shape them.
Then leave them for three weeks, take a pencil and draw dots or numbers. We made a D12 two weeks before I was released. It rolled terribly, but it was wonderful.
cottoneyedtoe on Reddit
Does it really work? Compared to real dice, those made of toothpaste were of course terrible. However, at least the dice were edible, even though he doesn’t necessarily recommend trying that.
Additionally, cottoneyedtoe couldn’t make a D20, the most important die for D&D, as it didn’t work. Here he and his group had to compensate with a modified D8 in combination with a modified D6.
After all, D&D is a social game where you have to collaborate. Especially for rehabilitation, users can easily imagine the game:
D&D is a great game for inmates. It can help with mental issues that people face when they are locked up for too long. It’s frustrating that you can’t buy dice or use cards, because the guards freak out from what I’ve heard.
AnomalyInquirer on Reddit
Even several other users report similar experiences from their time in prison with D&D and other ways to roll – such as drawing from card decks. A user, who claims to have been a prison guard in Canada, insists that the game is banned there because it supposedly promotes violence and gang formation. He would have liked to have introduced the concept of TTRPGs to the inmates.
The creator explains meanwhile that certain tensions within the group could easily be resolved outside of the game, such as a situation where one player made advances toward another player’s female character.
Especially the dice and the creativity that was displayed to play D&D in jail deserve recognition from the community – even though the dice probably have no significant use beyond a certain curiosity factor. Because just like “real” dice, they will likely never function: Player records all 6,842 rolls of his 5-year campaign in Dungeons & Dragons, and now presents the results
Since he and his fellow players were all together, his group had a big advantage over many others: they could play for 3 hours every day. The basic rules for D&D 3.5 and all the additional rulebooks were simply on the app that was preinstalled on the prison tablets.
“D&D is a great game for inmates”
The post on Reddit received over 10,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments within a few hours. In particular, the fact that D&D is even played in prisons surprises users – but somehow it makes sense.
After all, D&D is a social game where you have to collaborate. Especially for rehabilitation, users can easily imagine the game:
D&D is a great game for inmates. It can help with mental issues that people face when they are locked up for too long. It’s frustrating that you can’t buy dice or use cards, because the guards freak out from what I’ve heard.
AnomalyInquirer on Reddit
Even several other users report similar experiences from their time in prison with D&D and other ways to roll – such as drawing from card decks. A user, who claims to have been a prison guard in Canada, insists that the game is banned there because it supposedly promotes violence and gang formation. He would have liked to have introduced the concept of TTRPGs to the inmates.
The creator explains meanwhile that certain tensions within the group could easily be resolved outside of the game, such as a situation where one player made advances toward another player’s female character.
Especially the dice and the creativity that was displayed to play D&D in jail deserve recognition from the community – even though the dice probably have no significant use beyond a certain curiosity factor. Because just like “real” dice, they will likely never function: Player records all 6,842 rolls of his 5-year campaign in Dungeons & Dragons, and now presents the results
