A spattering of precision dice

Most of this post was originally penned by our great friend Robert, a backgammon player and collector in the Pacific Northwest. We thought that it would be useful to our readers to share some of Robert’s extensive knowledge. What follows are pieces of an exchange we had with Robert back in November of 2009. We hope you enjoy it.

Here we will address precision dice, dice cups and rigged dice, because in a fundamental sense they pertain to the same issue, which could be characterized as minimizing “external risk”, to be distinguished from “internal risk”.  First, a word about “internal risk”.  Backgammon, at its core, is the challenge of decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and in the face of the inevitability of risking having a checker or group of checkers hit at some point during the game.

It’s barely conceivable that if a player threw nothing but the appropriate doubles on each and every throw of an individual game, then as to that specific game the player might possibly be able to run his 15 checkers around the board without ever leaving any individual checker exposed.  The possibility could, in practical terms, ever exist, but even so it is so remote as to never be a factor over a series of games. A player must determine when and to what extent he will accept the risk of being hit (and thus sent back to the bar) in exchange for the potential to advance the balance of his checkers, confine his opponent’s checkers, and possibly hit one or more of the opponent’s checkers.

These are the risks that are inherent in the game, and hence (in our parlance) the “internal risks” of backgammon.  Expertise in backgammon consists in managing those elements of internal risk.  The players who pride themselves on their backgammon skills revel in those elements of internal risk, and insist of doing everything in their power to assure that the dice produce utterly random rolls.

More after the jump!

As many of our readers may be aware, a great number of backgammon games are played for money, or for a money prize in a tournament setting.  It should come as no surprise that when money is at stake (and occasionally, considerable sums of money), some players will resort to devious tactics to enhance their prospects for winning.  This brings us to “external risk”.

There are well-documented instances in international competition of individual players playing with doctored dice.  In one of the best introductory books on backgammon every written, “The Amazing Book of Backgammon[,] Learn How To Play This Classic Game of Speed, Skill and Strategy” (Chartwell Books, 1995, now out-of-print), the British professional magician Jon Tremaine devotes an entire chapter to well-known cheating techniques as well as an introductory essay on “The Facts of Life”.  Here is a pertinent extract (from page 18):

“Before we go any further there are one or two facts of life that you should know about.  Dice can be ‘manipulated.’  There are a handful of people around who can throw dice ‘to order.’  I am not joking . . . it’s a fact.  As a member of the Inner Magic Circle of London you can take my word for it.”

Tremaine then gives “three simple rules” to keep the novice out of trouble:

“Rule One:  Never allow your opponent to throw from his hands.  Insist that he uses a dice cup or shaker.  If he refuses . . . find another opponent. [Italics original]  Rule Two:  Use shakers that have a ridge inside about half an inch (12 mm) from the top edge.  The ridge effectively trips the dice as they leave the shaker, making manipulation from the shaker impossible.  Oh yes! I know people who can even manipulate out of a shaker, but not if it has a ridge.  Rule Three:  Use small dice.  They ‘mix’ better in the shaker and roll further.”

Now precision dice, as we expect you know, have each of their six faces filled with material of the same weight as the matrix of the dice themselves, in consequence of which each face weighs the same as every other face.  Precision dice also feature rounded, “ball corners” to promote better “action” as they roll across the board playing surface, thereby promoting truly random rolls.  (Even precision dice are not “proof positive”.  Some tournament directors have reported instances of doctored precision dice, some with extra weights embedded into one face or another, or in a particularly notorious instance, where the “2-face” was doctored to become a “5-face”, thus investing the particular dice in question with two “5-faces” each and no “2-faces”.  In a bear-off race, how would you like to face those particular doctored dice?)

The bottom line is, for casual play among friends, any dice will suffice and dice cups are nice but non-essential.  But for anyone contemplating serious backgammon play, even if not for a money stake, no serious opponent will agree to play with you if you do not have (or agree to use) precision dice and dice cups with trips.  Only with such equipment can the “external risk” of cheating be discouraged (if not entirely eliminated) and the game confined to addressing the manifold elements of “internal risk”.

Men's Journal, November 2009

We can finally say goodbye to 2009 with a long overdue update to our press section. 8 new magazines were added, including the well known “Men’s Journal”, where our backgammon set was the opener for the entire section.

The press archive only covers magazine and newspapers, but we’ve been fortunate enough to have attention from some great blogs too. Thanks everyone!

Our precision dice come in lots of colors. A free upgrade with every purchase!

It doesn’t matter if you’re playing in a casino or casually. We feel that precision dice are a must for every backgammon game. Unfortunately, most manufacturers only include rinky-dink standard dice with their games and customers are reluctant to spend up to $50 for a pair of precision dice.

We’ve decided that, as gaming fanatics, we simply can’t let this trend continue. As of today, all backgammon sets will be upgraded from standard dice to precision dice for free. We’re also now offering precision dice in our store, and we’re selling them for a fraction of our competitors’ prices.

The bottom line is that the key to our success has proved to be our dedication to making customers happy, and offering you more than any typical store might. So check out some of our precision dice and pick up a pair if you’ve been using a pair of standard dice. Otherwise, if you end up purchasing a game from Zontik Games, we’ve got you covered – precision dice be sent to you set free of charge, regardless of whether they’re included by the manufacturer.

Dal Negro Backgammon in Blue

Happy New Year to all of our blog readers and customers. As a reward for all the hard work in 2009, we welcomed the new year in the sand. To review, 2009 was far and away the biggest year for Zontik Games. We hope that our customers find as much success as we hope to achieve in the coming year.

As you can see from the photo above, we’ve just returned from playing a few games of backgammon on the beach. You’ll notice that we’re using our popular Dal Negro Backgammon Set in Blue. Surprisingly, it makes for a great travel set despite not being originally designed as one!

Geoffrey Parker Prestige Backgammon Set

The Geoffrey Parker backgammon sets are perhaps the finest in the entire industry. Among all products in our backgammon sets & boards category, Geoffrey Parker backgammon sets are king.

Standing in front of one of the backgammon sets, you’ll notice a few things immediately. The quality of materials and the perfection of the hand inlaid points elevates the board from a collection of luxury materials to a real work of art. It’s larger than it appears in photos, and it’s heavier than one might expect. Everything about Geoffrey Parker sets seem larger than life, as though they’ve been hand made for royalty or an aristocrat.

Pictured above is a Geoffrey Parker Prestige set customized by one of our favorite clients, Robert. You may recognize the color scheme from the Prestige’s product page. We ended up using Robert’s set as the example in our shop because, in truth, of all the customized sets we’ve sold, this particular one has been our absolute favorite.

We hope you’ll have the pleasure of owning or playing on one of their sets.

European Poker Chips

As you may have seen from our tweets last night, Zontik Games had a poker night. We learned two important things: #1 If you’re going head to head with the boss, fold and #2 European poker chips are as great to play with as they are to look at.

We used a set of european poker chips from Dal Negro, who (as we’ve said before) are top notch. They actually supply european casinos with their poker chips and cards, and you can feel it in the high quality of the chips.

Zontik Games stock european chip sets in beautiful cases, as well as elegant “poker bags“.  Dal Negro does, of course, make other types of chips, like these very beautiful acrylic poker chips. Check out the entire line of dal negro poker products in our gambling games section!

Executive Golf Set

Fore! Our executive golf set by Renzo Romagnoli puts the putting green in your office. We’ve managed to find the best of the best, and as it turns out, there is indeed a best executive golf set – and we’ve stocked it.

When we decided to stock this hand-made Italian golf set, we were impressed with its gorgeous leather bound case, suede interior, and wooden handle. High quality, and beautiful, check it out in our shop.

Crisloid Red Tabletop Cork Backgammon Set

When deciding on a backgammon set, make sure you choose a surface that makes sense. There are a whole slew of surfaces out there, here are examples of a few that we carry in the Zontik Games shop:

• One of many cork backgammon sets from Crisloid. The Crisloid tabletop sets are actually what’s pictured in the photo above, and it’s one of our bestsellers.
• Here are some wood backgammon sets from Neroulia, which come in a multitude of types.
• A billiard cloth backgammon set from Geoffrey Parker and a leather backgammon set from Genesis Naylor.
• And a different kind of fabric backgammon set. This Dal Negro set is actually a very vibrant colored bookcloth, and it joins the Crisloid set as one of our bestsellers.

If you’re just getting your feet wet in the backgammon scene and you’re not yet ready to commit to a major purchase but still want to have an “industry standard” set, the Crisloid cork backgammon sets are perfect for tournament or chouette play.  The larger sets have greater “presence”, but they are more awkward to carry.  The smaller sets fit a greater array of tables, and are more “user-friendly” for younger players.

Until we had started carrying high quality leather and billiard cloth sets, cork was our favorite playing surface. Of all the cork boards out there, Crisloid produces the highest quality. Contrary to what you might think, cork backgammon sets are actually less prone to extreme bounces from the dice than leather surfaces (in this sense, billiard cloth is the best surface). Additionally, the points are screened on rather than sewn or appliquéd on, which means that the backgammon checkers slide smoothly over the surface.

Generally, billiard and cloth surfaces are much more preferable to wood and cork because they’re much quieter. However, backgammon sets with a wooden playing surface (like Neroulia for example) are very popular in the Middle-East and adjoining Mediterranean countries (in particular Greece, Turkey, Israel and Egypt). In the United States, we’ve heard several players remark on the pleasant “clicking” sound made when the checkers meet the wooden frame during a move.

Of all the surfaces, we prefer billiard cloth, it’s extremely quiet and the checkers slide very easily. Our Geoffrey Parker billiard cloth sets are made of a fine woven 100% wool in Yorkshire mills in the north of England. Amazingly, to design his sets, Geoffrey Parker collaborated with some of the world’s best tournament backgammon players. His boards are as close to perfect as you can get.

Say hello to our new blog

If you’ve been here before, you may notice that this blog has been redesigned. We’ve got so many things planned for the next few months, we figured that it would be wise to get our blog up to snuff.

As time goes on, we’d like to make this blog a more important part of our communication with customers. We’re growing, we’re getting more emails and phonecalls, and this blog is one place we’d love to be able to point to for answers. Plus, there is always something new happening here, whether it’s a site update or product addition or price drop. Perhaps the best part of having a blog is being able to use all the product photography that never makes it to the product page. We hope to post lots of eye candy, so grab our RSS feed and add it to your feed reader!

Dal Negro Poker Set

Poker has clearly made it into the limelight and our gambling section is a reflection of that, as it’s primarily occupied up by poker sets. Some days, we hear about how backgammon sets are going to be the new poker, or the next poker, or some variation. Some days we hear the phrase “sells like poker,” or “big like poker.”

We’re getting bigger – this month we’ve sold more game sets ever before, and nearly twice as many games as last year at this time. Part of the growing process is narrowing your focus on the right products. Zontik Games has a respectable gambling section, but as time passes, we’ll start focusing on bringing in more of the great games that are “big like poker” (like for instance, more Poker).