Dice control machines

1 July 2014

By Frank Scoblete

Here is an interesting concept. Could a machine be built that would allow it to prove either that dice control exists or to disprove the whole notion? The machine would have to set the dice and throw the dice the same way each time to see if it could reduce the appearance of the seven or increase the appearance of certain specific numbers.

Those who believe such a machine could be built refer to baseball pitching machines and golf machines that mimic aspects of those particular games.

If such a dice-control machine were tested it would have to exhibit an SRR [the SRR is the seven-to-rolls ratio with random being one seven per six rolls on average] that decidedly showed general control in reducing the seven and/or show axis control that indicated the machine could keep the dice on axis in order to give it an edge.

Keeping the dice on axis is a simple idea. If you use the “Hardway set” with 2:2, 3:3, 4:4 and 5:5 on the faces with 1 and 6 being on the ends, the axis is the 1:6. An on-axis throw would show any of the pips except for the 6 or 1. If the throw showed a 6-pip or 1-pip that die would be off axis.

Now can the dice-control machine pass the three SmartCraps tests for axis control? Those tests come as a part of the SmartCraps programming. Can the machine show a winning SRR? If it doesn’t do these things does that mean dice control is not real?

Can a machine prove the unreality of dice control? Proving a negative is usually the hardest thing in the world. For example, prove there are no UFOs. Prove there is no Bigfoot stomping around the forests of the Northwest. Prove fairies don’t exist.

Certainly, pitching machines have it easy. Set the machine up so it throws the ball over the plate and that’s that. Of course, such pitching machines never throw the ball perfectly time after time. Sometimes the pitch is somewhat high; sometimes it is somewhat low; sometimes it is outside; sometimes it is inside. I know of no pitching machine that is better than a major league pitcher – except it can be programmed to pitch a ball that is faster than any pitcher can throw. Still even with such speed, the ball can go outside, inside, up and down or some combination of these elements.

I know of no machine that can figure out how to pitch to top-flight major league hitters by varying what it does based on the batters’ strengths and weaknesses as they are being exhibited at that specific moment. Major league pitchers do just that batter after batter.

If you wanted a machine to play golf it would have to understand each hole and how to angle its shots to handle those holes. It would have to do long shots, short shots, putts and the like. No machine that I know of can do those things without a person setting the machine time and again.

Dice control machines would have a rough time of it too. Each table is different. Some are bouncier; some are hard; some are in between. Some pyramids are larger than other pyramids. Controlled shooters have to make adjustments on the fly when they confront such changes in conditions. Craps tables (even in the same casino) are different – sometimes lengthwise; bouncewise; crew-wise. For example you have big-bellied stickmen who bend over the table necessitating the dice controller leaning out farther over the table.

It isn’t easy.

Certainly good dice controllers must establish a winning SRR and elite dice controllers must have passed the three SmartCraps tests that show a strong on-axis skill. If humans can do this maybe humans can invent a machine that is capable of doing this as well.

I guess the bottom line is really simple: Can humans establish winning SRR’s? The answer to that is “yes.” Some have. Can humans establish a winning on-axis percentage? The answer to that is “yes.” Some have. Unless would-be dice controllers enjoy lying to themselves, such ability can be tested. You pass or fail the tests. There is no escape. Short of being Pinocchio, you can’t lie your way to the truth.

For the machine to work as designed, it would have to be tested too. The end result would be whether the machine is capable of doing what humans have already proven they can do. Pitching machines exist because pitchers have already demonstrated what they can do. Golf machines exist because golfers have demonstrated what they can do.

Those of you who wish to become dice controllers have to work hard and then put yourself through the testing. Talking for or against dice control is the easy exercise; successfully doing it is the hard exercise. A machine that could duplicate or surpass a human’s skill would be some contraption.

The raging opinions on the topic of dice control are certainly interesting to read. But most people expressing their opinions have little or no knowledge of the proofs that exist for the efficacy of controlling the dice. Should a machine be built that could actually control the dice, the critics would say, “Yeah, the machine can do it but people can’t.”

Still, who knows? Maybe someday such a machine will be built but I doubt it would prove anything one way or the other. In fact, the proof is already in the pudding.