h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When I was able to take some time off a while back I packed a rucksack and took a pack of dice with me. Four of the dice were just spares, but I placed a red and a white one in a plastic cup with a folded bit of loo roll in the base to deaden the noise (the rattling of the dice get irritating after a while if you don't).
I simply let the dice decide every choice for the best part of a month. The rules were simple and loosely based on the Luke Rhinehart book 'The Diceman'
1) Never dice for something that endangers your life.
2) Never dice for something that endangers the life of another person.
3) Never dice for an outcome you are not prepared to accept.
4) Once you have thrown the dice act immediately to fulfil the choice.
There were a couple of other rules that I added along the way as I refined the dicing to suit my journey (like stop dicing before I overran my alloted holiday time).
The red die was always the main die, the other would only come into play if required by the circumstance. The spare dice likewise if circumstance demanded it.
At a juction, odd numbers meant turn left, even turn right.
At a crossroads, 1 & 2 meant left, 3 & 4 straight on, 5 & 6 turn right.
For a side junction, odd meant stop, even carry on.
The same for bus stops, stations, pubs, cafes etc. Odd stop, Even keep going.
The only time I allowed the dice to be overridden was in the evening if I might have found myself without a bed for the night by not stopping at a b&b etc. Although I carried a tent I intended it to only be used if the dice took me to somewhere remote, otherwise I would use hotels or similar.
I was on a fairly short trip so the cost was not a big issue. A longer trip would have brought the tent into play a bit more. I also found that the large amount of walking was giving me blisters, so when I stopped for the night I would dice for the number of days to stay (1 dice only). The most the dice dictated me to stay was for 4 days in Weymouth. Everyone should try this at least once, you might be surprised where you end up. Take your passport with you unless you're not happy with foreign travel(in which case refer to rule 3). You might also make some new friends too. I was accompanied from week 2 by a girl who was waiting to go to Uni and wanted to join me. We ended up going out together for about a year!

Oh I like this

It would also be fun (though probably more expensive) to use a map and a pin. Choose a random spot with a pin on the map, and then go the most direct way there possible. Spend an allotted amount of time in each destination, and then head off.

Or, everytime you need to make a decision, you could approach the nearest person, and ask what they'd do, and then do it yourself.

Any of the 3 would be very fun.

This sounds great - a huge leap into the unknown and having to make the best of whatever situation the dice/ pin or stranger lands you in.


My friends and I used a similar method to decide where we'd go out of an evening. We'd open a dictionary randomly and with our eyes shut, point to a page. Whichever letter came up, would decide which nationality the restaurant would be. Like 'i' for Italian or 'm' for Mexican. If money was no object you could do the same to decide which country to visit...

A couple of guys I know on the FTO car club forum I use are actually going to the states soon to do this on holiday...they're blogging the whole trip to let everyone in the club see what they get up to

http://www.dicetrip.com/

I also keep 2 packs of playing cards mixed up on the shelf at home which I assign 53 choices to see which of the many tasks I should spend the evening doing. If I get the joker then it's off to the pub.