Originally made just to test out designing and printing hinges, the Dice Jail became very popular online and became my first commercially licensed product, now being sold in some game stores across Ohio. The idea of a dice jail is nothing new, the term being from banter used when playing Dungeons and Dragons to describe what a person may do to dice that continue to not roll in their favor. “I’m going to send this dice to dice jail!” is used a lot, and there are many other people who have made their own 3D printed designs to bring this banter into reality. My design struck a cord with those on the internet though, as eventually I had someone reach out and request a commercial license to sell my product in their local game store.

As said by those who reached out, my design went a step beyond as it was simple and easy to make. No fancy gimmicks or additions that complicated the printing process. It was quintessentially the idea of a dice jail. It also made use of something we call in the community as “print in place” meaning the box printed assembled and ready to go straight off the plate. No time was needed to put anything together, simple hit print, wait about 20 minutes, and your dice jail was ready.

This project had me learning the proper terminology and channels to go through to get a commercial license made and agreed on. It taught me how important decent photos, the use of tags, and attractive titles can be to turning a simple little hobby project into something that you’re getting paid for. To this day, it is still one of the most popular designs I’ve made, as it continuously gets more downloads and prints online.