The Timestop D-20 and the Games We All Play
The Timestop D-20 is completely unique, and one of the most charmingly niche watches I’ve encountered in a long time. The conceit of the watch is relatively simple: it’s a straightforward digital watch with a design that seems to be inspired by classic Casios and other simple, affordable watches that have been ubiquitous for decades. It’s technically, I suppose, a “multi-function” watch, but rather than a robust array of calendars and chronographs like you’d find on a G-SHOCK, the D-20’s signature complication is a random number generator. The name D-20 is derived from the tabletop gaming world, where a 20 sided die might be regularly incorporated to keep the action moving. The watch, essentially, is meant to replace physical dice, and can simulate a number of common scenarios you’d need to replicate in a live game, including rolling multiple dice simultaneously, and rolling dice with multiple sides. Timestop has produced a helpful video that breaks down the various features of the watch, and if you’re a serious gamer (and even if you’re not) it’s worth a watch. I’ll say upfront here that I’m not a big board game guy (with one key exception that I’ll get to momentarily). So you might think that the D-20 could be one of those watches that just sort of missed me – something I could certainly recognize as cool or fun, but not really connect to in a meaningful way. What I’ve found though in my short time wearing it is that it has, in a small w...