Game cheaters are alive and well and pursuing their strategies with the zeal of professionals.

History of Cheats

Stories of loaded dice and marked cards intersperse the histories of various gambling games. Those who have mastered these devices have been plying and perfecting their skills for centuries. Ancients recount mixing up the rules of games to put off tricksters. Dice games often required a dice cup be used to shake the dice, thereby making the throw as random as possible.

Loaded Dice

Loaded dice have been documented as being used in ancient Rome. Loaded dice are those that have been tampered with in such a way as to weight them so they fall consistently to the advantage of their owner. Middles of dice are typically drilled out and backfilled with a substance. Common dice fillers are mercury or wax. Other techniques involve weighting certain faces of the dice.

Modern Precision Dice

Casinos these days use precision dice manufactured from a very hard transparent cellulose acetate plastic. The transparency guards against loading the inner areas of the dice with any sort of substance. Besides this technique, most casinos employ a serial number system whereby serialized numbers are embedded beneath the surface of casino dice.

Marked Cards

Cards are marked using a number of different techniques such as juice, luminous markings, and tints. Luminous markings are invisible to the naked eye, but a filter put on a lens of a pair of sunglasses will clearly reveal the marks.

Juices and tints are literally liquid shading solutions that are applied to the design backs of commonplace card decks, such as Bee, Bicycle, and Kem cards. These shadings are so subtle that no one other than the person who made the marks can see them, and even that takes practice.

Card Sharks

Card sharks are a modern reality. Online web sites and books are readily available that appeal to the craft of cheating at cards from using marked decks, bad deals, and trick shuffles, among many other deceitful tricks.

The Psychiatrist’s Classification

The psychiatrist’s definition of a gambler who makes a habit of cheating is, “antisocial.” The fact is that there are some who still can and certainly try. Loaded dice, marked cards, palming dice, card sharking, and other trickery to gain an edge are all modern pursuits.