Roll 2 Dice
Two six-sided dice is the most common roll in gaming, full stop. Adding a pair turns a flat single-die result into a curve, so the middle totals come up far more often than the ends. That curve is why so many board games hand you exactly two dice and no more.
Press Roll to throw the dice.
Press Space to roll again. Type notation like 2d6+3 or 4d6dl1 straight into the box.
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Rolling 2 six-sided dice gives totals from 2 to 12, out of 36 equally likely outcomes. The most likely total is 7 at 16.67%, while 2 and 12 each turn up only 2.78% of the time. The average roll is 7.
- Minimum
- 2
- Maximum
- 12
- Mean
- 7
- Median
- 7
- Std deviation
- 2.42
- Most likely
- 7
- Its odds
- 16.67%
2d6 probability distribution
Each of the 2 dice is flat on its own, but the totals are not. There is exactly one way to roll 2 and one way to roll 12, while 7 can be built several different ways, which is why the chart leans on the middle.
| Total | Ways | Probability | This or lower |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 2.78% | 2.78% |
| 3 | 2 | 5.56% | 8.33% |
| 4 | 3 | 8.33% | 16.67% |
| 5 | 4 | 11.11% | 27.78% |
| 6 | 5 | 13.89% | 41.67% |
| 7 | 6 | 16.67% | 58.33% |
| 8 | 5 | 13.89% | 72.22% |
| 9 | 4 | 11.11% | 83.33% |
| 10 | 3 | 8.33% | 91.67% |
| 11 | 2 | 5.56% | 97.22% |
| 12 | 1 | 2.78% | 100% |
When you'd roll 2 dice
Reach for two dice whenever a game wants movement, a target number, or a resource that should land near the middle most of the time. Craps is built entirely on the pair, Monopoly moves you around the board with it, and backgammon uses each die as a separate move rather than a sum. Catan turns the same curve into a map, putting the best numbers on the best land.
Games that use 2 dice
- Craps
- Monopoly
- Backgammon
- Settlers of Catan
Rolling 2 dice: questions
Why do so many games use two dice instead of one?
One die makes every result equally likely, which feels arbitrary. Two dice cluster around the centre, so players can plan around a typical roll while still getting the occasional shock. That mix of predictability and surprise is what makes the pair so useful to designers.
What are doubles?
Both dice showing the same number. Games treat them specially: Monopoly gives you another turn and sends you to jail on a third double in a row, backgammon lets you play the number four times instead of twice, and craps has its own names for each pair.
Do I add the two dice or read them separately?
It depends on the game. Monopoly, craps and Catan use the sum. Backgammon reads each die as its own move, so a 5 and a 2 lets you move one checker five points and another two, or the same checker in two steps.
Are two dice better than one for random picks?
Not for a fair choice. If you need every option equally likely, use one die. Two dice weight the middle heavily, so options assigned to 7 come up constantly while anything on 2 or 12 barely appears. Save the pair for when you want that bias.