He tosses the dice. And . . . the winner is!

That was perhaps the most famous roll of the dice in the history of motion pictures.

In the 1955 movie “Guys and Dolls,” Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando) bets one dozen gamblers that he will pay them each $1,000 if he loses one roll of those dice. However, if he wins, all twelve must accompany Sky to a revival at the Save-a-Soul Mission hosted by the beautiful but distant Sarah Brown. Unbeknownst to the irreverent gamblers, Sky has a side bet with Sarah that if he brings her twelve genuine sinners, she’ll accompany him on trip to Havana.

The dice bounce against the wall. And . . . the number is!

In the next scene, twelve forlorn souls walk with their heads down toward the house of prayer and Sarah Brown.

Sky won that toss. But . . . what was that number?

When rolling two standard six-sided dice, the number “7” has a 6 in 36 (1 in 6) chance of being rolled (1–6, 6–1, 2–5, 5–2, 3–4, or 4–3), the most favorable of any number. Seven is the lucky number, because it is the number with the greatest probability of showing, a likelihood of 1 in 6, or a 7 about 17% of the time. (717 is my favorite number, so the high probability of seeing 7’s is an encouragement to me, whatever the game or the year.)

When the digits turned over this past New Year’s Eve, the number that appeared for our New Year is 2014. And, when you add the digits (2+0+1+4), the sum of the numbers for this year is “7,” Lucky 7.

We are on a roll.

In all of the years in this millennium (1,000 year period), from the year 2000 to the year 2999, there will be only a very few years with digits in place that add to “7.” My rough sieving shows five groups of years: 2005 (and its combinations of 2050 and 2500); 2014, this year (and its combinations of 2041, 2104, 2140, 2410 and 2401); 2023 (and it’s combinations of 2032, 2302, 2203, 2230 and 2320); 2113 (and its combinations of 2131 and 2311); and 2122 (and its other combination of 2212). If you add up these possible combinations, you get only twenty (20) years in the Third Millennium that will add to “7.” That’s a 20 in 1,000 chance of a “7” year, 1 in 50, or a 2% chance.

Therefore, the numbers tell us that it is over 8 times more likely to roll a seven in dice than to celebrate a Lucky 7 New Year. So, 2014 is a very special year.

But, back to that dice game and its outcome.

We’ll never know for sure, but I think Sky rolled a “7” to lead those gamblers to the mission and Sarah.

Don’t worry. Sarah won the gamble and the game. She and Sky did not go to Havana, the two were happily married, and Sky gave up gambling to play in the mission band.

With results like that, you have to admit a roll of the dice can be pretty lucky indeed.

And, with 2014, we’ve done even better to beat the odds.

Roll on Lucky 7 — we’re with you all the way.

“Luck, Be a Lady”

Grandpa Jim