I bought a set of clear Gamescience dice on vacation last year, and was a bit disappointed at the time, but as I didn't have much gaming going on at the time, I didn't think much of it.

Now that I'm living with someone who owns real tools, and I'm gearing up to do some proper gaming, I pulled them out of the box to give them a proper look and maybe take the file and sandpaper to them to clean them up.

And they fucking suck. They are a mess. In addition to the oft warned about sprue marks, there are some out right failures on several of the dice. One has what looks like a big fingerprint on it, as if someone had tried to grab it while the plastic was still hot. Another has black streaks running into it from the sprue mark.  

Two of the dice were improperly filled in the mold, and so rather than a sprue mark there's a cavitation in the die surface, essentially a chunk missing out of the dice because the plastic ran out.

There's only three dice in the set that I would call acceptable and even they've got white marks where the die was cut off the sprue.

It's well past purchase date, and apparently the company is in the process of being sold to yet another owner, so I doubt replacement is possible, or even desired.

I just wished to express the fact that these dice rather failed to live up to the hype.

I have some new ones I like, and some I picked up 20 years ago are still great. I still swear by them and advocate their use.

However--I have seen a few of the flaws you're talking about out in the world. Absolutely sucks that you got a bunch of them in one set.

Customers get the dice they deserve from Gamescience. That's why I think they are awesome!

That's a shame. I've got around thirty Gamescience dice and they consistantly get complements for their (imagined) perfection. I know better since I slaved away on them for days, and I am bitterly aware that I was never was able to correct a host of problems.
 
I dunno if it's still this way, but when I looked into the GS a few years ago quite a few places were selling defective sets of GS at a 50% discount. They were described like you said but I never bought any and don't know anything else about them.

The set I got is a mixed bag.

A couple of the D6s are a joke - a couple of the number sides are practically dished in ("precision" in a pig's eye), and the d% are just fucking terrible; the numbers are too shallow to take a proper coloring in on the 10s die and the 1s die has circular machine marks around each number that are prominent now that the die is colored.

The D8, D12, D4 and D20 and 2 of the D6s are on the other hand wonderful.  The color varies, too.  I got a set of "powder blue" and some are clearly darker than the others.  

SCI, I AM DISAPPOINT.

I am a GameScience defender.

1. Don't judge GS dice until you've seen them.
2. So what if you've seen them?  You can't judge them until you've rolled them.
3. What do you mean you've rolled them, I never had that problem with my GS dice.  You must be rolling them wrong.



In all seriousness, a friend of mine bought me a set for my birthday.  They're opaque white with gold inlay, and they are quite the set.  There are the slight imperfections on them, but as Zocchi notes, it's because they're precision cut, not molded.  I'll probably take an exacto knife to them to smooth out the edges, but I'm not too worried at this point.

Sorry 'bout your bad set.  Contact the company and get a refund?

So have you tried contacting the company to see if they'll help make the situation right?
I've received defective stuff from a number of gaming companies and the real mark is how they are to deal with when I have an issue.
If you'd rather just go on a website and complain about it I suppose that's another option... but I won't have much of a concern about it until the company has been given a chance to correct its errors.

I've never used, or even read thing on these dice-but I agree if they're fucked up get a refund, or something like that. I mean you wouldn't let some sell you a pair of shoes and ship only the left one right?

My gamescience dice (originally ordered through Amazon) are awesome. All I did was take an X-acto knife and carefully cut off the "beard" at the point where they were held to the molds, and painted the numbers in with a Staedtler pen for technical drawings:



They work great at the game table.

I don't think the same quality control is used by the new guys. I recently picked up a couple sets of the odd dice, in case I want to run some DCC in the future. The faces had some anomolous grooves that made them a little tricky to ink. I got the job done, and they weren't as bad as what J describes, but they weren't pristine.

Definitely send  them back. Tell them if they want to ride the coattails  of the brand, they have to maintain the quality that built it. I'd hate my favorite dice to take on that "better back in the day" characteristic that so many of my things have. Makes me sound even more curmudgeonly than I actually am.

Ok, a few points.

1. I purchased these almost a year ago. I don't even have the original packaging or the receipt.

2. The new owners, Gamestation.net only have a 30 day return policy.

3. I didn't buy it from them anyway, I bought them from a shop in Portland.

4. Gamescience itself doesn't even have a full page at this point, and provides no contact information except the toll free number for Gamestation, so contacting them is out.

5. I'm not grog enough to be best buds with Lou, and he doesn't seem to own the company anymore anyhow.

6. I'm not going through the effort if trying to convince a new company to refund a sale they didn't make just to satisfy some forum fanboys.

I posted the thread out of annoyance, and as an alternate viewpoint to the "Gamescience are the best" line that even I in all fairness have fallen for in the past. They may have been great then, but I can't say as my present experience leads me to conclude their greatness now.

Quote from: j arcane;5078356. I'm not going through the effort if trying to convince a new company to refund a sale they didn't make just to satisfy some forum fanboys.

RAWR THESE STUPID FANBOYS how dare you idiots make suggestions on how to rectify my problem!!!

DON'T YOU KNOW YOUR OPINIONS ARE [size=16]WRONG???[/size]

Quote6. I'm not going through the effort if trying to convince a new company to refund a sale they didn't make just to satisfy some forum fanboys.

So basically whining for whine's sake? Here, let me point you to a proper place for that:

http://forum.rpg.net/forumdisplay.php?4-Tangency-Open

Tis a sad day when I share an opinion with a Cisgendered Bigot formerly known as Racist Right-Wing Bigot.

Hells, I don't really give a damn about the dice, as long as they roll. First time I heard about those "Gamescience Dice" - personally, I'm rather about to invest in a few sets of metallic dices. One golden, one copper and one silver. Not actually made out of gold or silver, of course - just coloured that way.

QuoteI just wished to express the fact that these dice rather failed to live up to the hype.

As a consumer, I spend large sums of money on many gaming items but ONLY after I investigate thouroughly it is sold as advertised.  One group of people that I avoid when buying gaming products are fanboys because when it comes down to it, they are always supporting something regardless of the flaws because they are too caught up in themselves to admit they are wrong sometimes.

Game Science dice stink, plain and simple.

Quote from: Rincewind1;507859So basically whining for whine's sake? Here, let me point you to a proper place for that:

A little, but also in the interest of providing consumer feedback on a product that may not be as advertised, in a forum where many people inclined to purchase such a thing will see it.

As for a return, I'm simply trying to be realistic. Time is money, and I'm not inclined to spend that time trying to con a company into granting me a return on a product they never sold me, especially not over $12 and some forum whiners looking for points to score.

QuoteHells, I don't really give a damn about the dice, as long as they roll. First time I heard about those "Gamescience Dice" - personally, I'm rather about to invest in a few sets of metallic dices. One golden, one copper and one silver. Not actually made out of gold or silver, of course - just coloured that way.

In shopping around for a replacement set, I did consider metal dice, especially now that Crystal Caste makes some in full 16mm size, but IME metal dice are a bit heavy and as such don't really roll well.

I've been looking at the stuff out of Q-Workshop. They make some wicked looking dice, and the prices seem pretty fair for such detailed work. Thinking either the Dwarven set in gray and black, or the Atomic set in the fluorescent that glows in the dark.

Quote from: Ancientgamer1970;507861As a consumer, I spend large sums of money on many gaming items but ONLY after I investigate thouroughly it is sold as advertised.  One group of people that I avoid when buying gaming products are fanboys because when it comes down to it, they are always supporting something regardless of the flaws because they are too caught up in themselves to admit they are wrong sometimes.

Game Science dice stink, plain and simple.

I like to get feedback from actual users of any product before I purchase, and forums are generally a good place for that.  This site does lean pretty grog though, and a lot of grognards have old memories of Gamescience and old Lou, so while I got a few negative comments, mostly it was all praise.

So next chance I got, I finally bought a set that looked nice in the shop, and they let me down.  Incidentally, my friend at the time bought a set as well, one of the mixed color set, and I seem to recall him being a bit un satisfied as well, but I can't recall details.

I just thought I would share that experience, both to vent and to offer useful feedback, as I said above.