about
Chessex is probably the biggest singular dice manufacturer accessible to North Americans. They’ve been making dice for decades and have a relatively consistent and well-documented set of products (many of which are no longer produced today).
I collect complete, full-size polyhedral sets (no singles and no mini- or mega-hedrals) in either the common modern mold or the German factory mold.
Sets are loosely stored by the most sensible way according to my own memory and access needs. Some notable (controversial?) choices:
- Test sets from 2018 and earlier are stored with their group (e.g., Translucent Navy is in the Translucent box)
- Lab sets are stored in their own boxes even if they have become full-release sets, because I bought the lab sets!
- I store two of the same set in the same compartment…sometimes. Depends how I feel. Usually they get separated if the distinction is in the plastic vs in the ink.
- Usually I only bother collecting dice with different plastic (e.g., I don’t feel the need to own both Rosebud and Bubblegum) but again, depends how I arbitrarily feel!
borealis
In roughly 2015, the glitter used in Chessex’ borealis dice (and Crystal Caste’s fire opal dice) started being used in Euro banknotes and became a controlled substance. Chessex used up their glitter supply and switched to a different type without changing the product code, making the distinction between ‘old’ and ’new’ glitter something invisible to all but collectors. Some sets do not have a ’new’ glitter version if they were discontinued prior to the manufacturing change.
In 2020, the borealis line was completely discontinued and then re-released under new product codes with the inclusion of ’luminary’ particles which glow in the dark. I think these are icky, so I don’t collect the luminary versions for now.
Complete except for borealis red.
New glitter and luminary sets.
festive, vortex
All full-release festive sets complete 🎉
Overflow vortex sets get chucked in this box because…swirly.
Complete except for vortex brown.
velvet and phantom
Velvet sets complete 🎉
Phantom sets complete except for phantom purple.
lustrous, leaf, marble
All sets complete 🎉
frosted
New mold sets complete except for frosted light blue.
gemini
Gemini sets were allegedly released in sets of 6 according to the memories of dice collectors much more experienced than I. This fits so nicely in my collection boxes, so my Gemini sets are sorted by their release date even though it creates a lot of gaps in the boxes (for now…)
Gemini releases 1 (from early 2006), 2 (from late 2006), 3 (from 2007).
Gemini releases 4 (from early 2009), 5 (from late 2011), 6 (from 2013).
Gemini releases 7 (from early 2015), 8 (from late 2021), and test releases. Gemini release 8 included many sets that were originally lab sets, and those are stored with my other lab sets.
opaque, translucent
Colourful opaque sets, including the 2006 deep red/blue releases and 2024 pastel release.
Dusty opaque sets (I have a soft spot for these boring dice, and burgundy is an honourary member).
In 2018, Chessex discontinued all of their translucent dice and immediately re-released them all under new product codes. Supposedly these sets are slightly different from their previous version, but I haven’t verified that yet!
speckled, pound-of-dice
Some speckled sets were released in sets of six based around a theme. Some releases are better than others, when it comes to how well their dice names and colours suit the theme.
Mostly, I take issue with the ‘Fall’ line (Sun, Carnival, Squash, Blue Velvet, Cobalt, Dalmatian), where 3/6 dice don’t seem very autumnal to me! Second, I think the ‘Combat’ line (Stealth, Recon, Napalm, Section 8, Arctic Camo, Urban Camo) should be retconned to include Desert Camo and Jungle Camo (originally just ‘Camoflauge’). These are my opinions. I haven’t organized these boxes very well anyway so I don’t know if and when those opinions will come into play.
Speckled Flowers, Tropical Paradice, and Celestial lines. I consider Speckled Sun to be an honourary member of the Celestial line 😤
Speckled Elemental, Combat, Nature lines. This box is kind of a mess. I don’t have enough pieces of these lines to commit to organizing it.
Chessex releases “pound of dice” products which contain misc. speckled and factory seconds. Each pound also contains an exclusive set, which end up with unofficial fan names organized by the speckled dice collecting community.
PoD sets relased in 2019 - 2024 (the range in which I’ve been actively collecting).
PoD sets released in 2007 - 2014.
lab
Chessex began producing limited-release runs of experimental sets in 2019 (right when I started collecting). Some of these have graduated to being full-release versions either with or without minor changes to their manufacturing. I bought all these sets as lab releases, and it’s satisfying to see them all together even when some of them are just normal sets now.
Waves 1 and 2 released in 2019. Wave 2 included eight sets (instead of the customary 6 in other Chessex releases), which really messed up how these sets get stored for me.
Waves 3 (2019), 4 (2020), 5 (2021).
Waves 6 (2022), 7 (2023) and 8 (2024).
scarab, nebula, misc
Inexplicably, Chessex has some sets that simply do not belong to any larger group even though they look like they should! Wild Purple should be a Festive, Pearl White should be a Velvet, Luminary Sky…I dunno, probably should have been a test set at some point.
Old mix scarabs (the older, richer-looking variant), new mold nebula, and all those misc. sets.
Cirrus, Ghostly Glow, Easter, Mother of Pearl, Glitter sets, the 2024 Advent Calendar releases, and all my precious old mold nebula sets.