Dice
In the movies you always see gamblers picking up the dice and rolling them together in their hands before letting them fly down the table as they yell some good luck chant that is “guaranteed” to win them the money. While that might work well in Guys and Dolls, it would never be allowed in a casino. In fact, when you play the tables in a casino, you are only allowed to handle the dice with one hand.
Dice are actually precision instruments manufactured to very strict specifications. They are inspected for any flaws such as nicks of chips before being put in to play. Rubbing them together or other rough handling can damage dice. If the dice are thrown off the table they have to be checked before being put back into play. The average life of a pair of dice is only about eight hours.
Dice Construction
Dice are cubes about three quarters of an inch square. One alone is called a die. Each die has spots called "pips" totalling a number from one to six on each side. If you add the corresponding sides you will get the number seven. The side with six pips will have one pip on the opposite side. Two and five are on corresponding sides as are the three and four. Since each die has six sides and the game is played with two dice, there are 36 (6 x 6) combinations that can be made giving totals of two through twelve.
Below are some definitions of the terms used in the casino dice world:
- Cull: A reject is also called a cull among manufacturers.
- Cellulose Acetate: The plastic material that is used to make casino dice since the 1950's.
- Cellulose Nitrate: The plastic material that was used to make casino dice before the 1950's.
- Edges: The edge determines the ability of the dice to grab the cloth of the table and rotate as they are thrown. Most current casino dice are "razor edged".
- Foil: The "paint" used to color the lettering and logo of the dice. These foils can be regular, pastel, or metallic colored and can be combined to form new colors.
- Glo-Spot: Special paint that's invisible until subjected to ultraviolet light. Used as security.
- Logo: Markings on the dice that identify where they are (or were) used.
- Pair: Two dice that are of the same size and style.
- Reject: A die or dice that cannot be shipped because they are not perfect in some way.
- Single: A die is commonly called a single in casino collectible parlance.
- Stick: How the dice are shipped to the casino. A stick can take many forms, foil wrapped pair, foil wrapped stick of 5 or 6 dice, cardboard box, plastic box, dated, etc.
- Serial Number: A number imprinted on the dice that indicates a certain issue.
- Spots: The "pip" that indicates the number of each side of the die. There are unlimited varieties of spots, but the main ones are solid and bulls-eye.
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