Am I cursed by Catan dice?

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The_General_
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Joined: 14 February 2024, 00:09

Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by The_General_ »

I mean, seriously... Most games everyone else are rolling 7s and placing the robber on me. The only way I can get them off is with a knight because I don't roll a 7. That is, of course, until I hoard 8 cards and I'm about to build a settlement/city and get a massive lead or win the game... Then I will roll the dice and roll a 7, and then have to give half my cards away.
Look I get that people are free to put the robber where they want and usually it's against the biggest threat etc - perfectly fine. But I literally see it every game, it feels 90% of the time I roll a 7 when I really really need to roll anything but.
Can BGA curse my dice because I'm not on premium? :D
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Strode
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by Strode »

As of the moment I write this, you have won 2 of your last 5 four-player games of Catan.

It's hard to see how this corresponds with your claims about dice-rolling. You're probably subject to selective, biased memory.
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The_General_
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by The_General_ »

Strode wrote: 01 April 2024, 03:59 As of the moment I write this, you have won 2 of your last 5 four-player games of Catan.

It's hard to see how this corresponds with your claims about dice-rolling. You're probably subject to selective, biased memory.
Thanks for your in depth analysis of the situation lol. Just because I was suffering from this problem, doesn't mean I always lost. Just I've had to ensure my card numbers are kept to around 5 cards before the end of my turn.
Since posting this on the board I do seem to have broken the curse, however, as a few times I've avoided losing half my hand when holding 8 or more cards.
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Strode
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by Strode »

Consider that the "curse" never really existed. it was a combination of (a) the vagaries of randomness and (b) imperfect and subjective remembering.
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The_General_
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by The_General_ »

Duly considered. I still think it was a disproportionate amount of times it was happening.

The dice are something, but not so random as you might want. Played a game yesterday where we saw zero 6s or 8s for a long time, and then there were 8x 8s in a row (another player counted). Needless to say, the player with settlements on both 8s stormed ahead (having collected 21 cards in his hand at one stage! And he only had 4 settlements I believe).
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Jellby
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by Jellby »

Yes, that proves they're random :D
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Mathew5000
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by Mathew5000 »

The_General_ wrote: 12 April 2024, 13:38The dice are something, but not so random as you might want. Played a game yesterday where we saw zero 6s or 8s for a long time, and then there were 8x 8s in a row (another player counted). Needless to say, the player with settlements on both 8s stormed ahead (having collected 21 cards in his hand at one stage! And he only had 4 settlements I believe).
"We ascribe meaning too readily to the clustering that randomness produces, and, consequently, we deduce that there is some generative force behind the pattern." source: Kit Yates, Why Randomness Doesn’t Feel Random
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The_General_
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by The_General_ »

I've played three real time games recently, and they all featured heavy amounts of 8s and 4s, and resulted to zero or little of another high probability number.
The game I just played had zero 10s. Another player quit because it spoils the game. It effected me too (both my settlements were connected to tens hexes)

Remember the computer programming is generating the numbers.
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Tisaac
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by Tisaac »

The_General_ wrote: 19 April 2024, 22:23 I've played three real time games recently, and they all featured heavy amounts of 8s and 4s, and resulted to zero or little of another high probability number.
The game I just played had zero 10s. Another player quit because it spoils the game. It effected me too (both my settlements were connected to tens hexes)

Remember the computer programming is generating the numbers.
Yes and ?
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Strode
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Re: Am I cursed by Catan dice?

Post by Strode »

If the die rolling *exactly* matches expected probabilities, then you'll know something fishy is going on.

Test it yourself by rolling dice at home and tracking them.
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