| “ | So clever, so dapper, ya betta' believe this dice is loaded. Hi-de-ho! | „ |
| ~ King Dice death screen |
King Dice is the secondary antagonist of the 2017 run-and-gun videogame Cuphead. He is the evil, sleazy, and treacherous manager of the Devil's Casino and the right-hand man of The Devil.
Personality[]
King Dice is an extremely sleazy, deceitful, untrustworthy, and manipulative individual. While normally relaxed and cheerful in a sadistic way, he can be as cruel and abusive if he wants to be. He also tends to speak using stereotypical New York Gangster slang, saying phrases such as "Scram", or "Big cheese".
Very arrogant and overconfident in himself, King Dice believes that no one is allowed to mess with him and that he can easily triumph over anyone who tries to, which ultimately leads to his defeat.
Appearance[]
Biography[]
King Dice first appears when Cuphead and Mugman enter the Devil's Casino, and comments that they seemingly cannot lose. He then smirks as The Devil enters the casino and beats Cuphead at Craps after he bets his soul. The Devil then promises to free Cuphead and Mugman from their debt if they collect the Soul Contracts from his other debtors, and sends King Dice to make sure they complete the deal by blocking the passage to the other areas of Inkwell Isles. If Cuphead and Mugman face one of the debtors on simple difficulty, King Dice appears and reminds them that they can only get the Soul Contract by facing the debtor on regular.
After Cuphead and Mugman complete the second island, King Dice and The Devil then have a conversation regarding Cuphead and Mugman's success. While admitting that the brothers are doing a good job, King Dice states that he believes that they are up to something, although The Devil assures him that if they try anything, he will be waiting.
Once Cuphead and Mugman collect the final contracts, King Dice confronts them at the Devil's Casino. Initially complimenting them for successfully completing the deal, he then angrily states that their success has caused him to lose a bet, and that they are going to play a "game" before seeing The Devil.
Battle[]
King Dice takes Cuphead and Mugman to a giant Roulette wheel and creates a pink dice for them to roll. Each space has an effect on the fight at hand, from extra health, to starting over the roulette table. If Cuphead and Mugman land on one of the nine number spaces, King Dice swallows them and takes them to an area where they must fight a boss that is determined by the number they landed on. If Cuphead and Mugman manage to land on ten/fin, they will fight King Dice himself, who attacks by unleashing waves of anthropomorphic playing cards from his hands, some of which are pink heart cards that can be parried, and the rest are black club cards, red diamond cards, and spades cards. These 3 cards deal damage no matter what. After a short battle, Cuphead and Mugman defeat King Dice and make their way to the Devil. After the Devil is defeated for good, it is unknown what happens to Dice.
Trivia[]
- In the last phase of King Dice's boss fight, his eye color is shown to be green as he laughs wickedly.
- This is similar to the Coachman's horrifying smile and evil laugh in the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio, as their eye colors are almost similar, and both have an identical white glimmer cutting to the center pupil.
- King Dice's theme song "Die House" is sung by Alana Bridgewater, who also sings during the games end credits.
- His design is heavily based on the late famous jazz singer Cab Calloway. In addition to this, if the player is defeated by King Dice in his boss battle, he says "Hi-de-ho" in his defeat quote, a phrase commonly associated with Calloway.
- King Dice seems to be a foil character for both Cuphead and Mugman, as while all three of them are cartoonish humanoids that are into gambling, Cuphead and Mugman act more innocent and wear simple clothes, while King Dice acts more arrogant and wears a tuxedo.
- It is unknown what happened to King Dice afterwards, but it is implied that he was either free from The Devil or was still injured after being defeated.