Dice "Chip" Switch
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The purpose of switching dice is to plant any of various types of crooked dice. Most people suspect a switch to happen during the actual roll. Although that is one way to switch dice it is not the only method. The fact is a dice mechanic has the opportunity to switch dice any time he touches them. One such opportunity is at the beginning of a hand, when the shooter is given a choice of five dice, and must choose two for the roll(s).
In this case I perform a switch during the initial selection of two dice. To better illustrate the switch I switch a pair of red dice into a green pair (for a game the cheat would use the same color dice, obviously). The dice used are regulation casino 3/4 inch size dice.
The entire switch consists of two maneuvers:
- During the selection many craps players are known to rattle and roll the five dice in order to see which two may be the "lucky" ones (nonsense). I use this action as a cover for the actual switch, which happens at the end of the selection of the "lucky" dice (the "lucky" dice are easily recognizable on this video due to their green appearance).
- Now I have to ditch the original two dice, so that I can shoot with a clean hand. To cover the ditch I toss a chip "for the boys" (this is commonly accepted to be for good luck - more nonsense). In the case of this video the actual ditch happens off camera. For this particular ditch I would need to have a special pocket sewn inside a jacket, and to perform the ditch correctly I would have to have been standing by an actual craps table. Since it was not practical for me to do this for this small video I chose to simulate the ditch by reaching off camera. However, such pocket is commonly called a "web" (by gamblers), or a "booster bag" (by shoplifters). Furthermore, I wanted the video to focus on what happens on the table, i.e. the switch, and not the ditch.
Once the dice are switched all that remains is to roll - this is the easy part. However, the job of the dice mechanic does not end here. Later he will have to perform yet another switch to clean up, i. e. to take the crooked dice out of the game so that they are not discovered.
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