Equipment

Forum Archive : Equipment

 
Dice cups

From:   Leo Bueno
Address:   leobueno@accesspro.net
Date:   22 February 1998
Subject:   Dice cup randomizers.
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   34f03694.3062915@news2.accesspro.net

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.   :)

==================================================================
Snail-mail: P.O. Box 440545, Miami, FL  33144-0545 (USA)
Test De Cubanidad: http://www.accesspro.net/leobueno/cubanidad.htm
Castro Fall Poll: http://www.accesspro.net/leobueno/adiosfidel.htm
Miami Backgammon: http//www.accesspro.net/leobueno/gammon.htm
==================================================================
 
Did you find the information in this article useful?          

Do you have any comments you'd like to add?     

 

Equipment

Bakelite checkers  (Albert Steg, Nov 1998)  [Recommended reading]
Board design  (Chuck Bower, Feb 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Board design  (Adam Stocks, July 2002) 
Board design  (Gregg Cattanach, Dec 2000) 
Board design  (Michael Poche+, Dec 1998) 
Board design  (Albert Steg, Jan 1998) 
Boards  (Bert Van Kerckhove+, Aug 2002) 
Boards--Custom-made  (N Merrigan, Mar 2003) 
Boards--Dal Negro  (Erin+, Jan 2004) 
Boards--Features to look for  (Matthew Mueller+, Dec 2000) 
Boards--Hardwood Creations  (Ben Fairbank, May 1998) 
Boards--Tak Morioka  (Gregg Cattanach, Feb 2002) 
Boards--Tak Morioka  (Ed Zell, Jan 1999) 
Boards--Zavoral  (Robert Zavoral, Oct 1999) 
Buying a tournament board  (Chuck Bower, June 2011) 
Care of backgammon boards  (Ken Bame+, Mar 2009) 
Checkers  (Mike O.+, Feb 2003) 
Checkers  (Chuck Bower, Nov 1997) 
Dice  (Gregg Cattanach, July 2004) 
Dice cups  (David Montgomery, Nov 1999) 
Dice cups  (Leo Bueno, Feb 1998) 
How much to spend on a board?  (Ian Shaw, Apr 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Leather boards  (HGM+, Dec 1999) 
Luxury boards  (Paul Vianna+, Feb 2010) 
Meyer Dice Tube issues  (Stick+, July 2010) 
Meyer Dice Tube usage  (Justin Nunez+, Feb 2011) 
Meyer Dice Tube--Why I hate it  (Bob Glass+, Dec 2010) 
Moderately priced boards  (William Womack+, Feb 2010) 
Precision dice  (Patti Beadles+, Jan 2001) 
Precision dice  (Larry Strommen, Feb 1998) 
Precision dice  (Chuck Bower+, Feb 1998) 
Replacing cork on backgammon boards  (JP White, Apr 2003)  [GammOnLine forum]
Suppliers--BG Shop  (Michael Nelson, Jan 2002) 
Suppliers--Backgammon boards  (CKT, July 2004) 
Suppliers--Backgammon boards  (Ian Shaw+, June 2002) 
Suppliers--Where to buy dice  (Andrew B.+, Jan 2008) 
Suppliers--Yenigun  (yenigun, Sept 2005) 
What finish to use on a cork board?  (JP White+, Apr 2003)  [GammOnLine forum]
What is "standard size"?  (Daniel Murphy, Mar 2001) 
What is "tournament size"?  (Rodrigo Andrade+, July 1999) 
Woodworking--Finishing a board  (M Moore+, Jan 2008) 

[GammOnLine forum]  From GammOnLine       [Long message]  Long message       [Recommended reading]  Recommended reading       [Recent addition]  Recent addition
 

  Book Suggestions
Books
Cheating
Chouettes
Computer Dice
Cube Handling
Cube Handling in Races
Equipment
Etiquette
Extreme Gammon
Fun and frustration
GNU Backgammon
History
Jellyfish
Learning
Luck versus Skill
Magazines & E-zines
Match Archives
Match Equities
Match Play
Match Play at 2-away/2-away
Miscellaneous
Opening Rolls
Pip Counting
Play Sites
Probability and Statistics
Programming
Propositions
Puzzles
Ratings
Rollouts
Rules
Rulings
Snowie
Software
Source Code
Strategy--Backgames
Strategy--Bearing Off
Strategy--Checker play
Terminology
Theory
Tournaments
Uncategorized
Variations

 

Return to:  Backgammon Galore : Forum Archive Main Page