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The Deadly Double Dice Game: Pearl Harbor Conspiracy? Or All In Good Fun?

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If you're at all familiar with Reddit, you're probably not surprised to learned that there is an entire subreddit devoted to helping people figure out what something is.

It is, naturally, called r/whatisthisthing.

Recently, a Redditor named Justin Bailey, and his mom, Linda Taubert, posted this to the subreddit, hoping to get some insight into what he found.

Justin and his mom discovered that the game they found in their family’s basement, with dice showing the numbers 12 and 7 facing up, was connected to a conspiracy theory involving coded messages, an issue of The New Yorker magazine and the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Roger Paul Craig, creator of The Deadly Double, circa 1940 (Courtesy Priscilla Cole)
Roger Paul Craig, creator of The Deadly Double, circa 1940 (Courtesy Priscilla Cole)

Ben and Amory decided to help them figure out what the heck was going on with this game. And, of course, they started... by playing it. (Justin and Linda kindly agreed to mail it from Wisconsin to Boston.)

From there, the Endless Thread team went down a series of fascinating rabbit holes. From speaking to the owner of the world's largest dice collection, to a former FBI agent, to the daughter of The Deadly Double's mysterious creator.

So was this game really a conspiracy to alert Japanese spies and sympathizers  about the Pearl Harbor attack? Or was it just a fluke?

No spoilers this time, my friends... you'll have to listen to find out.

Related:

Headshot of Meghan B. Kelly

Meghan B. Kelly Multi-platform Editor
Meghan is the multi-platform editor for WBUR.

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