Do you remember in arithmetic, or geometry, or maybe art class, when you had to construct a three-dimensional polyhedron from poster-board, cardboard, or half a manila folder the teacher handed you for the project? Remember that brief moment of satisfaction you felt when you got it done? You may have played with your new toy for a moment, tossing it from hand to hand. But after the feeling of accomplishment faded, it was boring as paint. You couldn’t throw it out; the teacher hadn’t come around to grade you on it yet. It went home with you after school, where it eventually got crushed and thrown in the trash.
Wouldn’t it be nice if, once you got your polyhedron constructed, it was actually good for something? Polyhedrons make a nifty gift-box, if you’re giving a gift that small. But once the gift-receiver tears it open, it becomes rubbish. The multi-sided Cthulhu Dice are lovely, but like regular dice, they have just numbers on them. ‘What if’ I asked myself, ‘I created a multi-sided divination-die and gave the user more interesting answer-options than just numbers? And it was something the user could use repeatedly, not just once? And it was something the user could print out, assemble and use?’