Wooden Game Set with Brass Goblet — Handmade Dice Set

A wooden game set with a brass dice goblet — the shaker, the dice and the board in one piece.

Details

• Handmade wood construction with brass goblet
• Hand-applied finish
• Complete set, ready to play
• Suits a games room, study, bar, cabin or yacht

Why a shaker

The dice cup exists because of cheating. A skilled hand can roll dice from the fingers with a controlled spin — the technique is old enough that Roman writers complain about it. A cup forces the dice to tumble against the walls and each other before they land, which destroys any control the thrower had.

The best cups have a ridged interior lip for exactly that reason. Casinos still require dice to strike the far wall of the table for the same reason: bouncing off something is what makes a roll genuinely random.

Dice sets travelled well and were standard aboard ship, where a long passage left crews with a great deal of time and very little to do with it.