DICE (OF. de, Fr. Sp.. Pori., It. dado, die, from Lat. dotus, p.p. of to give). 'Elie origin of dice is variously ascribed by some authors 0, but 111(11*(' authentically to Psalinedes of Greelbe. p.c. 1244. \Vitliont ques tion, the game- played with them are the simplest and most universal games of ellance in the world. The dice exhumed from Thebes differ in no respect from the six-sided rubes of bone or ivory in to-his, with spots ranging on each side from G to 1, the of the spots on the op posite sides of a cube always making 7. Dice arc thrown nearly universally from a cylindrical hollow (base, but among the negriN•s, in the game of craps (q.v.). they are fast from the hand. 1\lostly they are thrown from the box upon table. but it was not uncommon in song parts of England until quite recent times to throw them into a bowl. and in a game much affeeted in the army, the dive are placed upon a strip round the top of a howl. and the bowl twirled round, the force of the twirl dislodging the dice into the bottom of the bowl, where they are counted. According to the purposes of the cast, any number, from "ne to live dice, are east. The highest aggregate numbers exposed on the top of the dice when they settle, in one or more throws, as agreed, win. There are a variety of other purely dice games, such as 'round the spot,' wherein only those spots which lie round a centre spot are counted. such as three or live—
the first counting two, and the other four; 'mul tiplication.' in which the first throw is three dice, the highest being left on the table and the two thrown again, the highest being again left, and the last one thrown again; and 'draw poker,' played with live dice, each player having one throw, and the privilege of a second. In the first throw all the dice are thrown, but the player need not take them all up: he may select only those which are satisfactory to him, or leave the whole. The throws rank as in the card game of poker (q.v.), beginning with the lowest: one pair. two pairs, triplets, a full hand, four of the same; the highest throw is rive alike. `I'ingt on' is played with a single die, each player throwing as often as necessary to get the sum of the spots equal to, or as near as possible. not over, 21. 'Ace in the pot' and 'help your neigh bor' are other combinations of throwing the dice, or, in other words, 'casting the (lie.' Unscrupu lous gamblers adopt the practice of loading dice, by plugging them with lead on a particular side, so that the highest number may turn up, by gravitation, as the dice roll out of the box.