Once again the time has come for Grinnell College’s annual Die League, where members play beer die, a drinking game known for its massive rule book and intense competition. Rishabraj Verma `24, current league co-commissioner, said the league seeks to increase accessibility for students not affiliated with athletics, as the game was previously associated with sports teams.
Currently in the fifth week of play out of nine, teams choose whether to participate in weekly or bi-weekly matches that will determine their rankings for the playoffs. Eight out of the 29 total teams will qualify for the elimination round in the hopes of winning the season.
Pranav Bhandari `26 and Shayak Nandi `26, winners of last year’s season, called their team “Fresh off the Boat,” last year as a reference to their previous standing as first-year international students. Playing together again this year, their team name is now, “Fresh off the Dub.”
“The sport, the competitive aspect — I think that is an underrated aspect of the game,” Bhandari said.
Matches are played with two teams of two players who sit across from each other on a long table. Teams take turns throwing the die to bounce it off the table while the opposing team tries to catch it. Bhandari said coordinating catches can be tricky since members must communicate well to avoid crashing into each other.
Fresh off the Dub’s strategy involves Nandi tossing and leaving room for Bhandari to catch.
“So we never end up interfering with each other on the catching sites,” Bhandari said. “I think that stands out for us a lot.” And while Nandi and Bhandari said they hope to win again this year, they said die is very unpredictable and their win depends on how well their opponents play the night of the match.
“It looks like a simple game but there’s just enough room for there to be lots of creativity. If you play any of the good teams, they all feel different,” Nandi said. He and Verma also described the many different strategies for tossing and catching and the importance of knowing your opponent’s weaknesses, such as learning what they cannot catch.
“You get competitive, so it is like a sport that you’re playing,” Verma said. Similar to when he plays basketball or football, he gets “in the zone” while playing die.
“Most people don’t care. They think it’s a silly game,” Verma said. “But after you get a certain level of good and the competitiveness comes into play, you start caring and you apply strategy.”
While Verma, Nandi and Bhandari agree they joined the league for a fun and inclusive community, they also understand there are barriers to access.
Interest and involvement in die culture on campus mostly circulates through word of mouth and connections with friends and people who own off-campus houses, Bhandari said. To get involved with the game, one would need to know someone else involved to get invited to the hosts’ houses.
Traditionally, Verma said athletes would oversee Die League and other off-campus events. Recently, non-athletic groups have occupied larger spaces in off-campus life, so more students not affiliated with sports teams are getting involved in the game.
Bhandari said he would encourage students new to campus to get involved with the league in an interest to not let student culture die at Grinnell. To students who want to get involved, he said, “come find us.”
The three members also discussed some of the silly rules of the game that make it more fun. In die, players are not allowed to say the number five and must say “biz” instead. There are certain rules of play that make players drink their beer in fifths. Other rules are inclusive of everyone around, such as when a die falls on the floor with “biz” facing up, called a social, everyone must drink.
“At the end of the day, die is a drinking game, and all drinking games have something silly about it to make it more fun,” Verma said.
