Why Your Too Many Bones Chips and Dice Wear Out: Causes and Fixes

Quick answer

Most Too Many Bones chip and dice wear comes from three things: shuffling and stacking chips against each other, dice hitting hard tables, and storage that lets components grind together. Fix the surface and the storage first, and most light scuffing stops getting worse. Deep dents, cracked dice, and worn printed faces are the point where you stop repairing and replace the affected component instead.

Your Too Many Bones components are built to be handled, not preserved behind glass. Chips get shuffled, stacked, and dragged across the table; dice get rolled hundreds of times in a single session. That use is the point, but it also means wear is normal rather than a defect.

The useful question is not whether wear happens, but which wear you can slow down, which wear you can fix, and which wear means a component has done its job and should be replaced. This guide separates those cases so you do not spend an evening polishing chips that need a different solution.

Symptom: light scuffs and dull edges on chips

This is the most common complaint, and it is usually cosmetic. When chips are shuffled, stacked, or slid across a table, the edges rub against each other and pick up fine scratches. The printed face may look slightly less glossy, but the chip still reads clearly and still functions exactly the same in play.

If the scuffing is only on the rim and the artwork is intact, you are looking at normal handling wear rather than damage. The practical response is prevention rather than repair: change how you shuffle and where you play, and the rate of new scuffs drops noticeably.

• Shuffle chips in smaller batches instead of one large pile.
• Play on a mat or cloth surface rather than bare wood or stone.
• Stack chips flat in storage instead of tossing them loose in a bag.

Symptom: dice that land crooked or show flattened corners

Dice wear shows up differently from chip wear. A die that has been rolled on a hard table for a long time can develop slightly rounded or flattened corners, and those corners change how it tumbles. If a die starts landing on the same faces more often or wobbles instead of settling, the geometry has changed.

You cannot restore a die's shape at home. Once corners are visibly flattened or a die has a chip missing from an edge, the honest fix is replacement of that die rather than repair. Before that point, a dice tray is the single most effective way to slow the process down.

• Roll on a padded or leather surface instead of directly on a hard table.
• Keep dice out of the same loose bag as heavy chips to avoid edge impacts.
• Check dice periodically on a flat surface; a die that rocks is already worn.

Symptom: printed faces that fade or flake

Fading and flaking are different problems. Fading is gradual and usually comes from sunlight, skin oils, and repeated rubbing. Flaking is physical: a small piece of the printed layer lifts at an edge, often after the component has been dropped or scraped.

Fading cannot be reversed, but it can be slowed by storing components out of direct sun and keeping hands reasonably clean during play. Flaking can sometimes be stabilized by pressing the lifted edge flat, but do not apply household adhesives to game components; the risk of damaging the printed face is higher than the benefit.

• Store components away from windows and direct sunlight.
• Avoid stacking heavy boxes directly on loose chips.
• If an edge lifts, stop picking at it; further handling makes it worse.

Symptom: chips that stick, warp, or no longer stack flat

A chip that no longer sits flat has usually been exposed to heat or moisture, not to normal play. Leaving components in a hot car, a damp basement, or a room with strong temperature swings can cause the material to move. Once a chip has warped, it will not flatten back to its original shape reliably.

This is the clearest case where the cause is storage rather than gameplay. If several chips from the same box are affected, treat the storage location as the problem and move the whole collection before replacing individual pieces.

• Keep the collection in a stable, room-temperature, dry space.
• Avoid storing games in garages, attics, or cars.
• If one chip warps, check the rest of the box immediately.

When to stop fixing and replace instead

Repair makes sense for cosmetic wear and for slowing future damage. It does not make sense once a component stops doing its job. A die with flattened corners, a chip with a lifted printed face that affects readability, or a warped chip that will not stack are all replacement cases.

The good news is that replacement does not always mean buying a whole new game. Expansions and upgrades let you refresh the parts you actually use. If you want a travel-sized way to keep playing Too Many Bones without exposing your main set to constant handling, the 20 Strong: Too Many Bones Deck is a compact option built around the same Gearloc flavor, with a catalog price of USD 9.98.

• Replace single dice rather than a full set when only one is worn.
• Replace a chip only when its face is no longer readable.
• If most of a set is worn, compare the cost of replacement parts against a new expansion.

Wear diagnosis: match the symptom to the right action

• Rim scuffs, artwork intact: Normal handling wear from shuffling and stacking on hard surfaces. Change your shuffle method and play surface; no replacement needed.
• Flattened or rounded dice corners: Repeated impacts on hard tables have changed the die's geometry. Replace the individual die and start rolling in a tray.
• Warped chips that will not stack flat: Heat or moisture in storage, not gameplay, has moved the material. Move the collection to a stable, dry space before replacing anything.
• Lifted or flaking printed faces: Physical damage to the printed layer, often from a drop or scrape. Stop handling the damaged edge; replace the chip if it is no longer readable.

Components that help you protect or refresh your set

• Control 'Ur Roll Bonded Leather Dice Tray (The Elder Scrolls): A compact bonded leather dice tray that snaps into action when you need it and folds flat when you don't. Rolling inside a tray keeps dice off hard tables and away from the floor, which is the simplest way to slow the corner wear that eventually forces a replacement.
• Too Many Bones: Unbreakable Adventure Map: An edge-stitched adventure map that gives you a visual way to track progress, compatible with Too Many Bones: Unbreakable. A dedicated play surface keeps chips and cards off bare tables, reducing the edge scuffing that comes from sliding components across hard surfaces.
• 20 Strong: Too Many Bones Deck: A Bonesian take on the 20 Strong game system with Gearlocs, Backup Plans, Lockpicks, Encounters, and a Tyrant to topple. If your main set is showing heavy wear, this deck gives you a smaller Too Many Bones experience you can travel with, so your full collection stays home and out of harm's way.

Most Too Many Bones wear is slow, predictable, and manageable once you know which symptom you are looking at. Protect the surface, control the storage, and replace only the pieces that have genuinely stopped working. Your Gearlocs will keep rolling for a long time.