Dice cups
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A Dice Cup is the simplest and oldest way to prevent cheating while gaming and has been used since ancient times.
Using a dice cup ensures that a cheater cannot manipulate the dice by secretly stacking or otherwise arranging them before throwing, but offers no protection against loaded dice.
Dice Cups were usually made of leather; but cups made of other materials such as wood, clay, and various metals are not uncommon.
High quality pieces often have a lip around the inside of the cup's mouth which the dice must hit and roll over when thrown. This is supposed to prevent players from surreptitiously stacking the dice in the cup and simply sliding them around instead of shaking them for a truly random roll. In fact, many games have rules that require a player to shake the dice cup as an extra measure to ensure fairness.
Using a dice cup is a requirement in many dice games. A notable exception is the game of Craps, which is traditionally rolled out of hand.
Similar devices are the dice tower (Latin: turricula), where the dice are placed in the top of the tower and roll down over inclined planes to a bottom landing area where the number is read; and the dice cage, also commonly known as a "Bird Cage", which is used in casinos for the game Sic Bo.
See also:
Dice Tower
Dice Cage
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category: Accessories