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Why we should publicize our illegal moves

Posted By: Phil Simborg
Date: Wednesday, 25 February 2015, at 3:34 p.m.

In Response To: Why we should publicize our illegal moves (ian dunstan)

Many years ago, before I started making baffle boxes, Carol Cole game me a rough prototype of a dice tube. I loved it. I felt it answered all the problems about shacking, switching dice, cocked dice, dice on the floor, etc. etc.

I immediately contacted Perry, who owns a factory in China, to see if he could mass produce an improved model inexpensively, and he could, and we decided we would go into the dice tube business and sell it to every backgammon player in the world.

But Perry is a more careful and smarter person than I am, so he asked that we test market it first. I brought it to tournaments and while everyone saw the advantages, hardly anyone wanted to use it. They simply didn't like change. They like shaking the dice and rolling them.

So I went back to designing baffle boxes so at least people could still shake the dice and they end up on the board, and as you can see, there are still many people that hate the baffle box. Those of us who love them, really love them. Those of us who hate opponents who don't shake, or roll improperly, or throw the dice all over the floor or cock the dice roll after roll after roll, love the baffle boxes. But not everyone feels that way.

Almost everyone who is "forced" to use one, like the players in my Chicago Chouette (they are forced because I bring the board and dice and score pads and set up the game and if I'm going to do all that every time we play then they better use my frigging box), they get used to it and like it. In fact, many of us feel somewhat "naked" without it.

If I had my way we'd use an electronic roller, and again, I love the dice tube (I own three)...but it's hard to get people to change their habits.

As Joe Russell has stated on this forum, and I agree, the box actually saves time and I would prefer to use it for speedgammon. Malcolm has 6 boxes and likes to put one at each end for each player when he plays.

What about Stick's comments about not knowing who rolled in a streamed match. He's right. For a few seconds, if you turn your head or walk away, you might not be sure who rolled, but in 2 second or so you can figure it out. The plusses far outweigh the minuses in my opinion, and the strongest reasons I have ever heard against the tube or baffle box is "I don't like it." Or, "I like the feel of rolling those dice on the board." You can't argue with either of those statements, as they are based on someone's personal feelings and opinions and not on objective criteria.

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