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BGonline.org Forums
What Would the Ruling Be?
Posted By: Jake Jacobs In Response To: What Would the Ruling Be? (Steve Mellen)
Date: Friday, 6 February 2015, at 4:14 a.m.
Steve, to cheat in the manner described the player perforce involves the director. How many rolls per match do you think he might get away with it?
There is a certain player who has been accused of tipping dice after the roll. He has large and nimble hands, plays quickly, and so gets those hands down on the board blocking the view pretty fast. His fingers move around the board lightly touching its surface, various checkers, and perchance the dice, as though they were attached to an agitated tarantula. His reputation among European players is unsavory, and the ones that are convinced he cheats seem to outnumber those who stick up for him.
For my part, I have played him in matches and in chouettes many times. I have been called to monitor his matches by players convinced that without a monitor he would work his magic. I have never spotted him trying any move, and have always found him a perfect gentleman with impeccable manners over the board. And he plays well and has his own stable of wealthy pigeons to pluck, so it isn't surprising that he would be a winning player.
But it would not surprise me at all if someone with his moves (if not him personally) might get away with murder if I wasn't around.
One might object that busy hands may be happy hands, but unlike the Declaration of Independence the Rules of Backgammon do not guarantee the pursuit of happiness. Think of it like the runner taking a lead off base. The more one allows, the more of a lead they take. And how distracting and wearying is it when you are thinking about what the opponent is up to, instead of focusing on your own moves and cube actions? Calling the director on a tipped die sends the runner back to the base. (Picking him off is unlikely.) Call twice and the eyes are on him.
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