Over the long centuries of the existence of backgammon, swindlers have come up with many ways to deceive an opponent thanks to “secret” dice. Here are just a few of those ways:

* Wrong shape. If you sharpen a cube on one side, then the ground edge and the opposite one will fall out more often than the others.

* Displaced center of gravity. Outwardly and to the touch, the zara may look like a perfect cube, but excess weight under one of the faces will cause the opposite face to fall out more often than others.

* Dice with… mercury 😦 A groove is machined inside, where a drop of mercury is poured. The inlet is sealed, of course. Mercury flows from one end of the groove to the other. It is enough for a dishonest player to hold the bone in the right position for a couple of moments before throwing it so that it stands in the same position when thrown. Accordingly, the fraudster has to choose between two opposite positions, for example, 1 and 6.