In Ocean’s 13, they fixed the dice at the factory by adding some powdery substance to the liquid mixture before it went into the molds. I don’t remember them explaining just what they were pouring in or exactly how it was supposed to work. Not that the movie made much sense anyway, but I wonder what the idea was there?
Okay, some more details. The show was an episode of The Mentalist, so it’s not like it was a documentary or how-to demonstration. It was a TV drama. Thus my very large dose of skepticism.
The Mentalist was not playing craps, or casino rules. He was playing Backgammon at a gentleman’s club (the fancy social club kind, not the one with dancers). So it is likely if the technique is possible he had the environment in which to do so (table top game, one on one). Of course, they didn’t give any hints as to how this might be possible. He states, “It’s all in the wrist.” They did not demonstrate any special way of holding or throwing the dice - it looked like a standard one hand cupping two dice and rolling out of the palm. Since it is a TV drama, and the writers can do anything they want, it doesn’t matter if what he was doing bears a resemblance to what the actual technique would be. My question had to do with the plausibility of having a technique at all that would look like a fair throw.
I can see how trying to spin the dice horizontally and have them glide along a surface might produce the ability to improve the odds of the outcome. I think I’ve done that before. I can understand how casino rules are made to keep that kind of thing (and pretty much any kind of thing) from working. It is plausible that one could affect a nonchalant air while throwing dice in said manner and look reasonably natural. However, it is fairly obvious if you are looking.
SeanArenas said:
I think you misunderstand. Yes, someone who has the ability to slightly improve the odds to a game of chance is not going to show the consistency of hitting every time, or calling his shots. That is not the claim in this sentence. This sentence is stating that demonstrations under casino-like conditions have not demonstrated improved odds compared to chance. That is a measurable outcome, regardless of how effective or ineffective the technique is for any one throw. The aim is not the one-off big score, but rather a pattern over time of improved odds.
Not in my circle is any of this true. Certainly not the singularity of “dice”. “Roll a die” is still very common in game instructions, and “roll a dice” sounds as bad as “trap a mice” does to my ears.
I admit to being a bit of a language prescriptivist, but it seems to me that some sort of standard has to be maintained.
Powers &8^]
Only if they’re running on AC or crudely rectified DC.
More likely to roll snakeyes or boxcars? You might want to choose different faces. :eek:
I have a loaded die I bought at a garage sale for the novelty. It is very crudely weighted with a lump of lead on the 1 face. I sometimes manage to make it not roll a 6.
I’ve heard of weighted polyhedral dice but have never seen any.
Someone explained the basics of controlled dice throwing to me once. Personally, I don’t particularly enjoy gambling, but I found myself in a casino with nothing to do and nowhere to go for a couple hours. The tables were cheap so I put down $60 and gave it a try.
-
I picked the intersection of a couple of lines on the table to set my dice before each roll. (at the edge of the ‘field’, in case you’re wondering.)
-
I set the dice to be oriented the same way each time.
-
I picked a spot for the dice to land, between the pass bar and the wall.
-
My throw had enough force for the dice to bounce in the target spot, hit the wall and land. I also threw the dice so they didn’t spin in the air. Over the course of the throw, they only spun for a short distance after hitting the wall. Needless to say, I tried to throw with the exact arc and force each time.
Result - I had a hell of a roll. Walked away with my original $60 and another $85 on top of it. If I weren’t a conservative gambler, I might have made a lot more.
Observations - The guys working the table clearly knew what I was doing. They tried to throw me off, each time returning the dice to me in a different spot and a different orientation. But they didn’t *say *anything. They just made me reach in different spots each time, probably making it harder for me to develop a sense of kinetic repeatability. (Yes, I just made that term up.)
Have I tried it again? No. I still think gambling is boring, even when I do win. And I’m not dumb enough to think this is anything more than coincidence. It did make the game slightly less dull for me, and I used the $85 to buy my wife and I a nice steak dinner. If I were to play craps again, I’d definitely see if I could repeat the performance. What the hell.
Most? You really think so? I can’t remember ever seeing “dice” as a singular in print–at least not from native English speakers. I rarely hear “a dice” spoken by an educated adult, either, although it’s common in kids, so it may change in a generation or two if their teachers don’t fix it.
I agree that “a dice” sounds just as wrong as “a mice.”
In statistics class at high school, we spent one period doing this practical experiment with dice. We had a thousand dice - just bought from the store - on a tray. Tray is covered and vigorously shaken. Lid taken off and all dice showing a 6 were removed. We’d record how many, and at first it was pretty closed to 1/6th each time. We’d later plot the variation from the 1/6th, and the variance formed a bell distribution. All good stuff.
But we got down to the last 50 dice and we could not make them roll a 6. We’d pick 2 or 3 off at a time, but often it was none. After an hour, starting with a thousand, there was 30 we could never make roll a 6. They had 6 on them. We’d take them and roll them individiually and they just never came up 6.
How to load dice? Buy a large set, and find which are already loaded for you.