The stories of the Schnozring Trilogy are set in the Central Oith Universe, a place and time both similar and distinct from our world and time. While writing the Schnozring Trilogy, I produced a fair amount of material that didn’t make it into the final books and some that might make it into the next books. I thought I’d present some of that material here, partially to get some of the stories out and partly to provide some color to the Central Oith Universe. Today I’m going to cover Roll Seven, a dice game that originated with the Dwarves. It was first mentioned in The Schnoz of the Rings, Book I of the Schnozring Trilogy, p. 126. The mention of Roll Seven came in a list of gaming opportunities at Barn Adoor, the Great Schnoz’s hotel and gambling casino in Soredoor.
Roll Seven
Roll Seven is a traditional dwarf gambling game. It is played with two six-sided dice, marked with one to six dots. The object of the game is to roll a seven in four tries. If the dwarf rolling the dice rolls a seven in the allotted four tries, he wins. If not, he loses.
The dwarf tossing the dice (called the thrower) has about a three percent advantage over the dwarf not rolling. To reduce the thrower’s edge, if the thrower rolls two one-spots (known as dragon eyes) on the first roll, he loses. The advantage is still to the dwarf rolling the dice but by less than one percent. In casual games, it is traditional to take turns being the thrower, so the edge is rotated. Traditionally, the thrower shoots until they lose. Then the dice are passed to the next thrower.
Roll Seven is often played with a game set that consists of some wooden stairs with four steps, a dragon figurine, and a dwarf figurine. The game starts with the dragon at the bottom of the stairs and the dwarf at the top. The shooter, representing the dwarf, rolls the dice. If it is a seven, the dragon has been slain, its figurine is laid on its side, and the dwarf is triumphant. For each turn where a seven is not rolled, the dragon moves up one step. If the shooter fails to roll a seven in four tries, the dragon reaches the top shelf, the dwarf is cast down, and the dragon occupies the top stair, the victor. If the shooter rolls dragon eyes on the first roll, the dwarf loses, and the dragon assumes the top shelf, the winner.
A more elaborate setup is used in dwarf bars, gambling halls, and casinos. In a casino, the stairs can be several manfeet1 high, and the dwarf and dragon figures can be a manfoot or taller. In muni2 establishments, the dwarf figurine is sometimes replaced by a knight. In front of the stairs is a flat area onto which the thrower rolls the dice. On either side of the shooting area are stations for other players. Usually, there are seven stations on each side.
In the casino game, the house wins all bets if the dwarf rolling the dice rolls two sixes (known as troll butts, after their imagined resemblance to butt cracks) on the first roll. Another difference in the casino game is that if the person rolling the dice rolls dragon eyes on the first roll, the dwarf loses, but the dragon does not win. The thrower continues to throw until the dragon wins, then the next thrower steps up. The patrons seated at the betting stations take turns being the thrower, starting on the left-hand side and moving toward the right.
Each betting station has boxes into which one places money to make bets. One can bet on the dragon, on the dwarf, on rolling a seven on the next roll, on not rolling a seven on the next roll, on rolling troll butts, or on rolling dragon eyes. Bets on the dragon or the dwarf pay even money. Bets on a seven on the next roll pay 5-1. Bets on not seven must be placed in multiples of five and pay 6:5. Bets on troll butts or dragon eyes for the next roll pay 34:1. If the thrower rolls troll butts on rolls number 2-4, the seven and not-seven bets lose, but the other bets remain unaffected.
In most of the bars and gambling dens of Minor Tetons, the minimum bet is one chicken3, and the maximum bet depends upon the prosperity of the local establishment. In the Golden Nuggie™ hotel and casino in Ember4, the Seaside Paradise of Central Oith, the high-bettor tables have a minimum of one golden goose and a maximum of one hundred geese.
1See Appendix II, Money and Measures of Central Oith, in The Schnoz of the Rings, p. 288 1st edition, p. 291 2nd edition. The basic unit of length in Central Oith is the thumb, which is 1.525 inches. The different races of Central Oith, Men, Dwarves, Elves, and Halfbits, all use feet of different lengths. Men use a foot of 7 thumbs or 10.675 inches. This is called a manfoot to distinguish it from the other “feet.”
2Muni = a member of the race of men. This is an elvish word that has been adopted in Common Talk. The term “manfoot” was adopted a couple of millennia before “muni” migrated from the elvish. So “manfoot” is the preferred form, not “munifoot.”
3Again, see Appendix II. Weight in Central Oith is based on the shoe, which is 2.4 lbs. One thirty-seventh of a shoe is a shot. Coins called Golden Geese contain one shot of gold or 1.069 ounce avoirdupois. Silver pigs are minted with a shot of silver and are worth one-nineteenth of a golden goose. Bronze chickens are worth one-seventeenth of a silver pig. At the time of publication of the 1st edition of The Schnoz of the Rings, geese, pigs, and chickens were worth approximately $1220, $64.22, and $3.78, respectively. Note that if you bet one chicken on troll butts and won, you would win two silver pigs.
4Ember is a country. Going south along the coast of the Great Western Sea, you would encounter Gonner, Del Mar, Ember, and Grim. The Golden Nuggie™ Hotel and Casino is in Umber, the capital city of Ember. Ember is first mentioned in The Schnoz of the Rings, Chapter 3, and again in Chapter 4 as “the Corsairs of Ember.” The Corsairs of Ember also feature prominently in the third book of the trilogy, Ring War.