Charon Productions: Dice Bag

Introduction

We all have dice, thus the need to have something to put them in.  You can put them in a Crown Royal bag that you stole from your parent’s basement bar circa 1985 or you can pony up some dough and get a real dice bag.  There are a lot on the market (more reviews to follow), but this particular review covers the dice bag made by Charon Productions.

The Bag

The Charon Productions dice bag is made from a shiny black vinyl, so it definitely has a slick look about it.  It measures approximately 6.5 inches by 3.75 inches.  On the side, near the top, is a loop of the same material as the bag and in that vinyl loop is a metal ring.  It is a different design for a dice bag, than I have seen.  It is a good thing that included was a small instruction sheet on how the bag is secured, for there is no drawstring.  How you secure this bag is once you put dice in it, you put the top of the bag through the metal ring and bang zoom the bag is closed. 

I grabbed a bunch of Chessex dice from my big bin of dice and started filling the bag up.  The Charon dice bag holds 40 dice on the high end, and about 20 comfortably.  If you are a dice horse this bag might be a bit small, but I think for most gamers it holds more than enough dice.

With the bag filled I designed a number of tests to put the dice bag through the paces.  I performed each test fully filled (40 dice) and half filled (20 dice).

Test 1: The Five Foot Drop

No problems the bag stayed secure. 

Test 2:  The Fifteen Foot Drop

After free fall from the second floor of my house to the first, I ran down the stairs and found the bag to be secure.

Test 3: The Side Impact

I tossed the dice bag against one of my couches with modest force, no problems.

Test 4:  The Squeeze

This test was basically grabbing the bag around the middle and squeezing.   20 dice in the bag yielded no problems, the ring held and the dice stayed inside the bag. With 40 dice inside, the metal ring did slip off with a lot of squeezing (e.g. pinching the bag so the sides touch).  I am certain this was more pressure than usual use would generate, so I was not too worried.

With only one marginal failure in the testing, I was happy that I had a good bag to lug around dice with.  The only thing I might have liked to see is the bag made out of leather.  Vinyl is not as sturdy as leather and wear marks could show up over time.  Also smooth leather might hold the ring slightly better than the vinyl already does.. 

Synopsis

Charon Productions’ dice bag is good looking and distinctive.  It performed well in my testing to ensure it did exactly what it was designed to do; hold dice.  It is a great addition to my stable of dice bags and will see use in up coming game sessions.

Minutiae

This was a review item sent to me by Charon Productions, where you can also order the dice bag if it is not in your local RPG shop.  Also they have a yahoo group, which has a ton of pictures of the bag and its instructions.