Geekerati Media Presents
Go First Dice
Permutation-Fair · No Ties · Equal Probability · 2–5 Players
Players
2 Players
3 Players
4 Players
5 Players
Players
The Roll
Go First Dice were invented by Eric Harshbarger and Robert Ford in 2010, originally proposed by game designer James Ernest. Every face value across the entire set is unique — making ties impossible. More remarkably, these dice guarantee a mathematically perfect ordering every time.
Go-First Fair Each player has an equal chance of rolling the highest number.
Place-Fair Each player is equally likely to end up in any position — 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on.
Permutation-Fair The strongest property. Every possible ordering of all players is exactly equally likely. The 3-player, 4-player, and mixed 5-player sets all achieve this.
These properties hold for any subset — two players from a four-player set are still perfectly fair against each other.
| Set | Dice | Numbers | Fairness | Discoverer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Player | Three d6 | 1–18 | Permutation-fair | Robert Ford, 2010 |
| 4-Player | Four d12 | 1–48 | Permutation-fair | Ford & Harshbarger, 2012 |
| 5-Player (5d60) | Five d60 | 1–300 | Place-fair | Grime & Pollock, 2023 |
| 5-Player (Mixed) | d20+d36+2d48+d54 | 1–206 | Permutation-fair | Harshbarger, 2023 |
Sources: Ford, Grime, Harshbarger & Pollock, “Go First Dice for Five Players and Beyond,” Recreational Mathematics Magazine, 2023. DOI 10.2478/rmm-2023-0004 · Eric Harshbarger, ericharshbarger.org/dice/go_first_dice.html