Thad: My suspicion was that they'd just make a switch (of one die? or maybe both--but that would seem too obvious, wouldn't it?) whenever a game was about to become a straight race. But it might be interesting to test whether a switch made at the start would be a help, as Thad suggested.
Thad: And will our maths experts please tell me the new average # of backgammon pips per roll if one die has been changed from a 2 to a 5; and if both dies have been changed from 2's to 5's? I haven't had enough of my morning coffee to contemplate the new permutations.
As we know, the average for a normal pair at backgammon is 8 1/6...