Dice cup randomizers.
Leo Bueno
On 18 Feb 1998 04:05:06 GMT, bo...@bigbang.astro.indiana.edu
(Chuck Bower) wrote:
>
> Good cups have "randomizers" built in--ribs, bumps, and/or contstrictive
>lips. Also, the inner volume needs to be large compared to the size of the
>dice.
I took a cue from Chuck and built in (I hope) some randomizers
into my dice cup. Here is what I did. I am writing this in case
some of you want to try it.
My backgammon board came with a pair of cheap vinyl on cardboard
elliptical cups, inlaid with a a felt covered cardboard layer
which comes off just from a light tug. I have always seen other
players with these types of cups, so I assume it is standard for
low-end boards ($20-30 range).
I pulled off and threw away the felt inlay, thereby increasing a
bit the size of the cup.
I purchased about two feet's worth of the small, ridged rubber
tubbing material used to secure window screen mesh to the screen
frames (look at the inside of your window, door, or patio screen
and you will see what I am talking about; gray and black were the
colors they had at Home Depot store).
I then cut and trimmed with scissors a piece long enough to go
around the inside of the cup, just below the line demarcated by
the vinyl and the cup material (about 1/2 inch from the top of
the cup).
Once I was sure the tubing was just right to go around precisely,
I slid it down a little bit and applied glue where I wanted to
set the tubing. I moved the tubing back up to the glue. I used
a Krazy Glue type adhesive. I then added a little glue all
around the joint between the tubing and the cup.
The tubing now forms a "lip" at the boundary mentioned above,
between the vinyl and the material.
I then cut a second piece of tubing and glued it across the
narrow center of the bottom of the cube.
Tweezers helped a bit to properly juggle and place the tubing.
So, now I have dice cups with a lip around the inside and a rib
across the bottom.
Here are the results I have observed.
The rib on the bottom makes it nearly impossible to shake the
dice from side to side without making them tumble; it trips the
dice as they go across it. The lip forces you to actively flip
the dice out of the cup, and trips the dice as they come out,
putting some spin on.
OK, now, did I do this right?
P.S.: See, Chuck, I do heed your comments. :)
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