Frank Scoblete didn't mean it when he said "dice control."

[Alan Mendelson]

Frank Scoblete the well know author and proponent of "dice control" recently joined the discussions on the Wizard of Vegas forum and he just wrote that to him "dice influencing" and "dice control" are the same thing.

They aren't to me.

I think that dice influencing -- meaning either increasing or decreasing the appearance of certain numbers -- is possible. I think that dice control -- setting and throwing the dice to hit certain numbers -- is not possible.

Let me give you an analogy:

I have seen roulette dealers spin the wheel and throw the ball and target a section of the wheel and hit that section. In fact, I was at a demonstration of this at a Vegas casino several years ago. But I don't believe that a roulette dealer can pinpoint a particular number on the wheel and hit it on command.

I'll give you another analogy:

I think a major league pitcher can throw 100 fast ball strikes in a row. But I don't think that a major league pitcher can throw 100 fast ball strikes in a row at exactly 96.33 mph for each and every one of them.

And that to me is the difference between dice influencing and dice control. But with one caveat: I still don't believe anyone has the ability to influence dice with any consistent measure. But with dice control, I say it doesn't exist.

But now Frank said in a post to me on WOV that he has been using "dice control" to be the same as "dice influencing."

Well, that changes everything. Now, I consider what Frank has been talking about is at least possible. Before when I thought dice control meant actual control to the point that you ordered the dice to show a particular result as in a hop bet (throw a 3-3, throw a 4-4) I labeled that as impossible.

[regnis]

Alan-I don't think Scoblete or his minions ever claimed to be able to control the dice to that extent--i.e. to hit a specific number, although they do have a designed set and/or throw for specific numbers, other than in stories about historic rolls they have had. They do claim to be able to delay the occurrence of the dreaded 7--which is all any of us can hope for. I don't think any of us can "control" the dice to where we can hit a certain number any time, but I absolutely believe that a grooved swing and a certain dice set gives a better opportunity than just some wild flinger, and I, in my day, rolled 10's and 8's and hard ways at an inordinate rate. That doesn't mean there weren't bad rolls because you just can't control every bounce, but the goal, even as Scoblete et.al. stated in their original hype, was to delay the 7 a few rolls. But if you got in the groove............

[Alan Mendelson]

regnis, I certainly agree that the whole goal of dice influencing has been to limit the appearance of the 7 or increase its appearance on the come-out or for darksiders. But only Scoblete called it dice control which is what set him apart from all the rest.

It's hard enough to believe in dice influencing but to call it control really pushes the envelope. I told Frank that if had used influencing instead of control over all these years I would have had a totally different reaction to him. And now, I have to rethink everything about his claims.