Well almost. No 1s or 2s, but two 4s and two 5s.
https://www.livescience.com/62273-cheating-medieval-dice-norway.html
A modern-day cheater at dice told me that, in games where you want to roll as high as possible, it is better to replace the one with an additional five than with an additional six, because rolling lots of fives raises less suspicion than rolling lots of sixes. Maybe our Medieval Norwegian reasoned similarly.
Quote from: Andreas Johansson on April 15, 2018, 05:18:50 PM
A modern-day cheater at dice told me that, in games where you want to roll as high as possible, it is better to replace the one with an additional five than with an additional six, because rolling lots of fives raises less suspicion than rolling lots of sixes. Maybe our Medieval Norwegian reasoned similarly.
Perhaps used in a matched pair with a standard die, either to bend the odds in multiple dice games or to substitute when making a key throw.
Cunning!
The two five-faces are next to each other on the dice and would be noticed easily if cheating was the intent.
Then again in a gloomy mediaeval Norwegian pub you might get away with a quick switch.
I reckon it's from a chariot racing game, I've seen similar with non-standard dice.
David Brown