iPhone: the $100 dice roller
![joel-evans.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/c715d3ed6c372201d9730794836139590a7f19e9/2014/07/22/5a83d976-1175-11e4-9732-00505685119a/joel-evans.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
The other night I went to play a game with my son. We were both disappointed to see that the dice were missing and almost put the game away. That's when we realized that we could probably download a dice roller on the iPhone. When I say "we" I really mean my five year old, since he immediately said,
"Dad, can't we just get one on your iPhone?"
When I was his age the game would have been unplayable, but thanks to modern technology, my $100 iPhone (technically $200, since it's the iPhone 3GS) can be turned into a dice roller.
This isn't the first time that my iPhone has saved the day when it came to playing a board game. Another time was when we couldn't find the instructions for how to play a game. One google search later and not only did we have instructions at our fingertips, but about a million variations of game play, too.
There are a lot of dice rollers to choose from--both paid and free--but we settled on Virtual Dice. While some of its competitors had better 3-D effects, my son liked the realistic sound effects that accompanied the dice roll.
Of course, I use the iPhone for a lot more than just dice rolling, but it's nice to know that it can serve a simple purpose, too, and save the day.
Has your smartphone or specifically your iPhone saved your day? Share your stories below.