Some guys are serious about their man caves. They want everything in there – from the bar, to the furniture, to the decorations, to be man-related – no duvets, no frilly lampshades, no ruffly curtains. A man cave often features posters of scantily clad women, sitting on ritzy cars, and, ideally, holding beer. Look around and you’re likely to see ashtrays with beer logos, a model car collection on shelves, and a refrigerator packed with beer. If you’re a guy with a man cave, and you want everything there to reflect your manly personality, don’t forget about games. When the guys are all sitting around, having a few with you, y’all might want to roll some dice. None of those little, white, dainty dice – yours will be much more manly than that! When you make a quick trip to the hardware store – or maybe your garage – you can easily make big, chunky, manly dice that your guy pals will love to throw around.
A hex coupling nut is a heavy piece of metal, a few inches long, and is perfect for making a man-cave die or dice. The coupling nut has six sides – one for each number on the die – but rolls in a much different manner than a regular die. The hex coupling nut is tubular, with long sides, and each of those will become one side of the die.
At the same store, you can find caps for the coupling nut but those are optional. Without them, the hex coupling is open on each end. With the caps, the die has a more finished look, but is also heavier. If you’re using caps, attach one to each end, and the assembly is finished.
You can make the numbers on the sides of the special die in a crude way, or you can take a little more time and make them nicer. One way is to simply cut long strips of notebook or printer paper, and cut them all to be the same size. Spell out “one”, “two”, and so on – with one number on each paper strip – then tape one to each side of the hex coupling nut.
Make a much nicer set of numbers by going online, or using your print program. Choose a font, colors, and even background shades. When you’re happy with them, print the sheet out, and cut out the six strips. Tape one number to each side of the hex. Place tiny pieces of Scotch tape on the papers to hold them temporarily, then wrap the entire hex with clear packing tape, once.
Hold your hand, palm up, and lay the hex on it, horizontally. Roll the die across the table and, when it stops rolling, the number facing upwards is your number. You’ll use the die (or dice) often but make sure you have the table for it. Of course, you would never have a glass top table anyway, right?