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BGonline.org Forums
Dealing with dice that appear cocked (Long)
Posted By: Colin Owen In Response To: Dealing with dice that appear cocked (Long) (Phil Simborg)
Date: Sunday, 22 July 2012, at 1:16 a.m.
In terms of deciding when a seemingly motionless die should be defined as cocked, it clearly makes sense to want to protect against the possibility of outside interference - particularly from one of the two participating players. Not to do so could possibly affect the integrity of the rolling. But is it not also the case that to pick up a die too soon - that may have been just about to shift of its own accord - also compromises that integrity? A random roll is a random roll even if we had to wait somewhat longer than normal for it to occur.
There seems agreement that, if both players agree it's cocked then, if it falls before it is lifted, it should nonetheless still be defined as cocked. Commonsense really. But is it not also commonsense that the opposite scenario should also be true - that is - that if neither player has yet claimed the die is cocked then, if it falls, it should stand! (If there was clear evidence of outside interference, particularly by one of the players - witnessed by tournament staff - that would be different.) Why should a die be automatically defined as cocked - whether after one second or five - when neither player has yet claimed that it is?! For a player to have timed protection against outside interference causing a die to shift, then he should have to activate this by claiming it's cocked. If both players are happy to wait, then let them!
Deciding whether there was outside interference is a subjective issue. But is it any less subjective than deciding if the proposed 1 second had elapsed? Was it 0.9 seconds, or 1.2? Setting this limit at comfortably beyond the average time for a die to shift will avoid virtually all such grey areas. Waiting for just two seconds, rather than one, means there will be very few such close calls - particularly if the time starts, as it should, from the claim by either player that it was cocked. It would still leave relatively little time for an unscrupulous player to try to move the table; something that I maintain should be rather obvious.
Phil discusses in a post today how, basically, we should not assume that the players are dishonest. Is it not consistent with this that if a leaning die shifts within 2 or 3 seconds of seeming to come to rest, then it almost certainly did so without deliberate interference?
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