Electronic Dice Circuit using IC CD4017


Dice are very well known in all parts of the world as there are plenty of games played using it. The purpose of dice is to pick a number randomly and play game proceed based on the picked number. But when using primitive dice there is a chance that player can cheat the opposition with spinning techniques. The above provided circuit can be used to avoid cheating since it depends on the push of a button.


The working of the circuit starts with a astable multivibrator using a simple 555 timer IC. This gives out series of clock pulses as output. And the frequency of the output pulse depends of resistor and capacitor connected to the IC 555. You can choose the resistor and capacitor connected to the 555 of your wish but make sure the frequency is high enough to dodge the human eyes.

The IC 4017 forms the next part of this circuit. IC 4017 also known as Johnson counter is capable of counting the incoming pulses fed to its CLK pin and with each increment in clock cycles the high signal output goes from Q0 to Q9. That is during the first positive edge of the cycle the ouput Q0 pin gives logic high and Q1 during the second edge and it goes on till Q9. This logic forms the backbone of the above circuit.

Six LED’s are arranged from 1 to 6 where each LED’s positions represent the number that can be drawn out of the die. Current limiting resistors of 470 ohm was added to limit the current and protect the circuit from damage.

Initially when the Spin switch is in open state the output of  ICC 555 will be high and static. But the moment the button is pressed the LED’s started running due to the high frequency input from the 555. And when spin button is released, a random LED’s gets lighted and the position of the number represents the number drawn out of the die. And you can play the game with the number drawn from it.


  • Pick Resistor R1,R2 and C2 is such a way that the output frequency is high and the running of LED’s  is barely visible to the eyes.
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Frank Donald

Frank Donald

Junior Network Engineer at Tata Communications
Frank Donald

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