homemade dice tray and bowl half done point

In one and two dice board games it may not that big of a deal, but with a board game like Pirate’s Cove or Axis and Allies you really need a larger, quiet place to throw the dice.  The dice can also be loud even with two so I thought I’d look into getting a dice tower.  I looked around and they were a bit pricey and the cheap acrylic ones were ugly and loud (from research.)  Someone mentioned a dice bowl and tray to me so I found those also, but again, a little pricey (ok, I’m cheap), though not as bad as the dice tower.  Being the cheap person I am, I went to wal-mart and bought a $7.96 wooden bowl.  It was big enough to accommodate a lot of dice.

That bowl only solved the problem of dice flying everywhere on big throws and knocking over pieces but the noise still was still present – very loud - when the dice hit the wood.  The bowl solved the same problem the tower did as far as space, but the dice noise needed canceling.  It was driving me crazy.  The solution was easy.  I bought a couple of dollars worth of self-adhesive craft foam from Michael’s.

It was a little difficult putting in the foam because the bowl is rounded, but I managed to get it done cutting out small strips (except for the bottom.)  I also have self-adhesive felt but the foam is good enough for now.  The truth is the foam was hard to put on the rounded corners of the bowl and I’ll probably keep the up the search for the perfect flat bowl.  For now it’s great.  Big and quiet and not the board game box top.

My next dice tray is coming from the Goodwill or Salvation Army.  I’d like to find a flatter bowl and try again, see what I can find.

Finished (sort of) dice tray:

Finished Homemade dice tray

What do you use?