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BGonline.org Forums
Latest and Greatest Baffle Box
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: Latest and Greatest Baffle Box (Bob Koca)
Date: Monday, 25 June 2012, at 7:15 p.m.
Bob, I would have to roll dice through both boxes a few hundred thousand times and keep records to answer your question, but I am confident you get a terrific and fair tumbling of the dice with 3 baffles that are covered with a felt that does not allow the dice to simply slide along the baffle, and if you watch closely you will see the dice get quite a tumble as they go through.
Cheaters can find a way to cheat any system, and we must simply be vigilant about watching for abnormalities in the way people hold their dice, cups, fail to shake or appear to be "placing" dice into the box. A player's reputation is a far better flag relative to cheating. But short of cheating, any good baffle box used with cups will certainly give you a fair roll without concerns.
Remember, the major advantage of the box is, in my opinion, not just to stop cheaters, but rather to ensure everyone of random rolls as much as possible and to reduce cocked dice and dice being thrown on the floor.
For those who like the feeling of shaking the dice in the cup and rolling the dice, you still get that feeling and pleasure, you just drop them into the box instead of the board.
I love knowing that when I roll two doubles in a row to win the gammon that I don't have to worry about my opponent wondering if I didn't shake enough, or if I might have found a way to take advantage of him.
I know players all over the world who strongly objected to using a box who, after getting used to them, love it. Now that I've used the box for several years, I can't tell you how annoying it is when I have someone who refuses to use the box and then rolls improperly (doesn't shake, doesn't drop the dice from a reasonable height or give them a very good roll on the board, rolls the dice out of the cup and through his fingers in a way that the dice could be manipulated, lays his cup on the surface when he rolls which makes it easy to place a dice that is palmed, or he keeps throwing the dice too hard so they are cocked or off the table). It seems like the very people who object to the box are the biggest offenders.
On an entirely different level, the box, to me, makes the game seem more proper. More organized that seeing people roll with a huge variety of styles, each one deciding for himself how much to shake and how hard to roll.
I do like and use Stick's suggestion of the opening roll not using the box, so that there is no question of who rolled which die and no question if one die happens to hit the other and change the roll.
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