DESPATCHER
The top and bottom surface of fair dice should make, added together, seven;
top, 1; bottom, 6; top, 2 ; bottom, 5; top, 3; bottom 4. The dots
marking the numbers should not project from the surface; and, when
twisted between the thumb and finger, after the manner of a teetotum,
they should spin, which they will not do if they are either loaded or
unequal. Now, the dice called "Despatchers" have their number, or pips,
varying according to the favourite main, or chance required. For
example, those for calling "nine is the main," should have the middle
pip on the sides marked three and five taken out, by which arrangement
it is evident that the main dice could not by any possibility be
thrown, but the player must have seven, eight, four, five, six, or ten,
for his chance. He can only lose by throwing crabs, viz. aces, or
deuce, ace and twelve.
Again: "Despatchers" for calling "eight is the main," are thus described:
6 pips at the top, 6 at the bottom. 4 pips at the top, 4 at the bottom.
3 pips at the top, 3 at the bottom.
On the other side:
6 pips at the top, 6 at the bottom. 4 pips at the top, 4 at the bottom.
3 pips at the top, 3 at the bottom.
With two dice thus marked, it is possible to nick eight, by throwing
twelve, by which the caster would lose; but this can be obviated by
taking the odds against the nick; and if it is not nicked, the amount
risked on the odds can easily be regained by taking or betting the
usual odds on the issue of the main and chance, which, by the
impossibility of throwing eight, is reduced to a certainty. The
principal caution in the manufacture of these dice consists in putting
the same number, if it appears twice on the same dice, at opposite
sides—that is, if one 6 be at top, the other should be at bottom,
and so on. That these nefarious instruments, made to secure any main,
are frequently resorted to in private play, there is not the smallest
doubt, especially when the "pigeon" is well primed with wine for the
occasion. If the simple precaution be taken of examining whether the
top and bottom pips on each die, added together, make seven, they are
not "Despatchers," but thus far, fair ones.
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