Flying Buffalo Inc Pizza Dice and more

Unfortunately, Rick passed away a few years ago. However, I can still remember the phone call I made to FB, Inc back in 1978 asking quite a few question concerning Tunnel & Trolls RPG rules and his solo dungeons. He was so nice when he found out I was calling from Grand Forks AFB and in the service.  So nice, I put in for a station in Az, which we got in 1980 (Luke AFB, Az). 

Back in March of 2017, Rick Loomis (owner, head Buffalo herder, and grand wizard) of Flying Buffalo, Inc came up with a Kick Starter for new Pizza Dice. The dice you roll to see what type you get and toppings.

Over 20 years ago, Rick came up with the idea for Pizza Dice (and other dice)

• 2 dice-
• one for meat toppings
• one for veggie toppings.

Only problem I see is no Anchovies on the dice, dang).  The dice sold for $2 and are "HOT", meaning they sell well.

Next is the Fast Food die. This is the life blood of any gamer, but particularly so for those who play pnp games.

Fast Food die, the energy pellets for those who play Tunnels & Trolls, Huzzah!!

• the types of fast food on the die are"
• burgers
• pizza
• tacos
• chicken
• fish
• Noodles

It just dawned on me - you know whats missing? Come'on, guess! Why it's a Drink die to go with the Fast Food/Pizza dice.  It could have beer, coffee, soda, water (yuck), Kool Ade or something that is not carbonated and iced tea. Yeah, there is 6 items right there!

He also had thought up an adventure set of dice (five dice that allows one to randomly create a dungeon run on the go or allowed ).  Each set had 5 dice-

• Door Die - 
• is it a lock door?
• Trapped?
• Magic locked?
• Or is it open?
• Treasure Die -
• Gold
• Silver
• Gem, 
• Weapon
• Magic weapon
• Scroll

• Weather Die
• Windy
• Sunny
• Rain
• Cloudy
• Snow
• Stormy

• Trap Die
• Six different types of traps
• Corridor die
• Door
• Stairs
• T-intersection
• Right
• Left
• Straight

• Monster Reaction die
• Happy, Sad, Angry, etc.

•  Grimtooth die for death and mayhem
• Grimtooth is the FBI mascot.  Got to have one of these. 
• 1 to 5 for "how dangerous is that trap?"
• And Grimtooth for "Death"

Nuclear War Die he has been adding to his N. War games seems forever. (yes, I am the proud owner of the first one- glow in the dark)

• Nuclear cloud as the "1". Nice 

Skip ahead 20 years and Rick needed more dice (things do well and sell out, right?  :)  ). Unfortunately, his dice maker who hand-made the dice, then silk screen the designs and print on them, finally retired.  Rick being as resourceful (I tend to call him a rascally weasel), did his homework and figured out he needed $4000 plus kick starter fees and have a mold made for his dice. 

Instead of having the designs silk screen on the die (wears off, don't ya know) the new dice are deeply engraved and inked. Very nice.  It's possible a laser is being used, for the engraving is sharp and deep. Technology can be wonderful in this day and age and it seems last months technology is outdated within 2 weeks.

Rick must have come to the conclusion that a mold was the only to go. I am thinking about this as I have no idea but seems logical to me. The new mold had either 10 or 12 cavities for 10 or 12 die. Why not make more?

And that is what he did.

• He added these for the 12 dice- (see photo above)
• Corridor die to the adventure set
• Body hit location (whether Monster or Player)

And that's the story.  I think it surprised him at the response his kick start received - 269 backers and $4782.  With that encouragement, he added a stretch goal (I told ya he was a rascal). Unfortunately, the time he gave for having this done and shipped out was 6 months (He knows the gaming die business), however, I believe this was the first time Rick had dealings with a company that used "China". Turns out he needed to add 1 year.  

And I believe people were wanting their money or the dice so Rick offered to refund anyone's money because of the long wait.   I have no idea if any one took him up on this or not. I didn't. Heck, I even bought one more bag for a total of 36 dice.

note - Rick informed me, no one took him up on the offer of refunding the money.

This is why when I find a Rick Loomis kick start, I usually join it. Only one time this year that I didn't and I kick myself in the butt every day. He has a 110% record for providing his product. Not many in the Kick Start program has as good of rating as Rick.  And he is so dad-burn honest, it ain't funny. 

All I can do is say "Thank you Rick".

The bun would recommend any die that FBI sells. They are good rollers, have a good weight, and it seems in my testing, they are very good number generators. Better than a computer.

Note updated. I totally left out a section about the old dice and the silk-screening. All I can say is Mea Culpa.  Thanks to Rick for noticing this and his gentle correction.

I found some Death Head dice and took a picture along with Lou Zocchi Polyhedral dice when he sold them in sets of 4.  Here's the pictures. I believe the year was late 1981 or early 82 when the Death Head dice appeared.  I have around 60 or so of them, collected thru out the ages.   The first ones had square corners. The later ones rounded. One can never have too many dice.

And here is a photo of Lou Zocci Polyhedral dice = the first set in 1977 (I was back from Korea) and the 2nd set in 1980 0r so.  At that time 4 came in a set of this soft plastic. One 4-sided, One 8-sided, one 12-sided and one 20-sided.  If you look at the 4 sided on the left, I used these so much, I wore down the edges, lol.  Also had to ink them myself.

Hope you enjoy this.

-ab

Note - Since Rick passed away, his Sisters took over the company.  Not sure what happen (they probably needed the money) sold the company to someone in the UK in 2021.  However, they are not producing his dice and I believe that these are now collector's items and never to be seen again.  Hopefully, someone will produce the dice again.

And I apologize, but this review may contain references to graphics that are no longer on this blog. Long story, but it was Google who removed them.