Section 0: FORE FAQ
FAQ /F-A-Q/ or /faq/ [USENET] n. 1. A Frequently Asked Question. 2. A
compendium of accumulated lore, posted periodically to high-volume
newsgroups in an attempt to forestall such questions. Some people
prefer the term 'FAQ list' or 'FAQL' /fa'kl/, reserving 'FAQ' for
sense 1.
-- from: The jargon file, Version 2.9.12, 10 May 1993
Mark Damish
The purpose of this FAQ is to answer
commonly asked questions which come up on the rec.games.backgammon news group
and to compile a set of resources which might be useful to backgammon players in
general.
Contributions will be
thankfully accepted. Send E-Mail to the editor of this list for inclusion and
credit in future FAQs.
The FAQ will be posted on or
around the 13th (13: is such a nice opening roll) of each month to
rec.games.backgammon, rec.answers and news.answers.
The FAQ is also available for anonymous ftp on:
rtfm.mit.edu
/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/backgammon-faq
The ascii FAQ may also be obtained vie E-mail. Just send mail to:
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
with
send usenet/news.answers/games/backgammon-faq
in the body of the message.
- HTML version:
- An HTML (hypertext) version of the faq has been created. It is currently
the `source' document for the ASCII version posted to rec.games.backgammon,
and the rtfm archive. Within the document there are ``links'' from the table
of contents, links within the document, and several links to ftp sites and
other documents which make getting around the document, and the backgammon
portion of internet quite easy. This version of the FAQ is called bg-faq.php,
and may be downloaded for local reading with a Web-Browser, or may be read on
line at: http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/bg-faq.php
or at: Backgammon
The HTML version of the faq is updated at this site when the ascii version is
posted to rec.games.backgammon.
- diff file:
- A diff file will created and posted to the rec.games.backgammon news group
at the same time the FAQ is posted. This will contain the differences between
successive FAQs. It will not be posted to the *.answers newsgroups, nor will it be archived at rtfm.mit.edu. The purpose of the diff file is to show recent
changes without having to browse the entire FAQ. DO NOT use this file to
update previous versions of the FAQ as it will have been edited!
This posting is provided on an
"as is" basis, NO WARRANTY whatsoever is expressed or implied, especially, NO
WARRANTY that the information contained herein is correct or useful in any way,
although both are intended.
Changes may be spotted by examining
the `diff' file, which is posted at the same time as this FAQ. In the diff file,
a `<' charactor preceding a line indicates that the line has been removed.
Likewise, a `>' charactor indicates an addition. The diff file is edited and
should not be used for updating from previous versions.
Major and minor contributions and
suggestions from the following:
Jeremy Bagai Matchqiz review.
Matthew Clegg The `What is Internet' section.
Paul Ferguson Mac PD BG info. FIBS Client info.
Erik Gravgaard This and that.
Molly Holzschlag GEnie/RSCARDS info
rjohnson Additional info for rules section A2.
Mika Johnsson Original Backgammon article compilation.
Rolf Kleef Nackgammon.
Asger Kring Danish Newsletter, Book supply info. more.
Andy Latto Jacoby, Holland, Beavers, Chouette, Useful advice.
Mel Leifer Many critical pieces of information.
Peter Nickless Acey-Deucy Submission.
Perry R. Ross LDB (Long Distance Backgammon) mail server info.
Mark Rozer Inspired me to play this game.
Gerry Tesauro Backgammon article pointers.
Michael Urban Boston area playing spots.
Kit Woolsey Software reviews. Contributor at large.
Michael J. Zehr Book Review, Holland rule, Combinitorics answer.
More.
Vincent Zweije FIBS description. Narde description. Proof reader
deluxe.
[I apologize if I missed anybody]
Thanks for ALL corrections sent!
PLUS Thanks to all who have submitted material to the rec.games.backgammon
news group, whether or not it has been used here. Material from
rec.games.backgammon is credited where used.
May you roll above average when you need it most.
Information that may or may not be included in the current FAQ:
From: alberto da pra (dapra@iol.it)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: Olympiad of Backgammon
Date: 2 Dec 1995 21:18:50 GMT
The second edition of the Backgammon's Olympiad (the first was in the
year 1992) will be in Venice from 25th to 30th June 1996. Who is
intersted can ask info and the invitation.
Alberto da Pra, President WBF
Worldwide Backgammon Federation
----
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.games,rec.games.backgammon
Subject: TD-Gammon available for free download
Date: 9 Nov 1995 23:52:45 -0800
IBM has made TD-Gammon, their supposedly groundbreaking neural network-
based version of Backgammon, available for free download. It seems to
be part of an attempt to promote their IBM Family FunPack. You can get
it by surfing to http://www.austin.ibm.com/pspinfo/funtdgammon.html and
following the "Read the license information" link. You will have to fill
out a form with your name, address, etc. (But nothing forces you to enter
valid information. ;) )
----
The hypertext version of the FAQ is now available at:
Backgammon
Thanks Stephen for mirroring the faq in the UK, which should allow
for quicker access from Europe and the Middle East.
Section A: ESSENTIALS
``Backgammon is an obstacle race between two armies of 15 men
each, moving around a track divided into 24 dagger-like divisions known as
points.''
..The Rules
``It's just a game.''
-- Many
``Sport of mind.''
.. Alberto da Pra, President of WBF - Worldwide Backgammon
Federation
``It's a game of skill and luck. When I win I can claim it's due
to my good skill. When I lose I can claim it's due to my bad luck.''
-- submitted by David Forthoffer davidf@lpd.sj.nec.com
``Backgammon is one of the oldest games in existence, dating back
some 5000 years and believed to have been developed by the ancient Egyptians.
It is not a game of luck as many believe, but a strategic game of war; in many
ways as difficult to master as chess or Go. A random element (luck) is
certainly involved, but a champion player also uses the laws of probability,
intuition, imagination and psychology to outwit his opponent''.
-- From the foward of the Expert Backgammon (Mac)
documentation.
``There's an aesthetic to the game, a flow. People think the game
consists primarily of math --- calculating odds and so forth. That's not true.
It's essentially a game of patterns, a visual game, like chess. Certain
patterns fit together harmoniously, make sense in a away that is nontrivial.''
-- Paul Magriel
Answering ``Why do you play backgammon'':
``We have become a spectator society, one that experiences
excellence and creativity only by watching it on television or by reading
about it in newspapers or magazines...Perhaps the best way of becoming
something more than a spectator is to pursue activities that do not receive
mass media coverage. We can invent our own art forms, or at least re-label
existing forms as art. Backgammon, though it is very old and very common, is
an excellent art form. Patterns of points and blots undergo poignant
mutations. The player strains to work with them, to control them. One's
identity is not entirely intrinsic, nor is it purely acquired. We can shape
ourselves just as we can shape our surroundings. By playing backgammon, that
is - by creating patterns of blots and points - I help to shape my identity, I
set myself apart from the spectators. I become alive.''
-- Felix Yen (from Anchors, Jan 92)
- A Backgammon board or layout.
- Thirty round stones, or checkers, 15 each of two different colors,
generally referred to as `men'.
- A pair of regular dice, numbered from 1 to 6. (For convenience, two pairs
of dice, one for each player, are generally used.)
- A dice cup, used to shake and cast the dice. (Again, it is more convenient
to have two dice cups.)
- A doubling cube---A six-faced die, marked with the numerals 2,4,8,16,32
& 64. This is used to keep track of the number of units at stake in each
game, as well as to mark the player who last doubled.
Backgammon is an obstacle
race between two armies of 15 men each, moving around a track divided into 24
dagger-like divisions known as ``points''.
The Backgammon layout is divided down the center by a partition, known as the
``bar'' (See Diagram 1), into an outer and inner (or home) board or table. The
side nearest you is your outer and home tables; the side farther away is your
opponents outer and home boards. The arrows indicate the direction of play.
For purposes of convenience we have numbered the points in the diagram.
Though the points are not numbered on the actual board, they are frequently
referred to during play to describe a move or a position. Your (X's) 4-point or
8-point will always be on your side of the board; your opponent's (O's) will
always be on his side of the board.
A move from your 9-point to your 5-point is four spaces (the bar does not
count as a space). A move from White's 12-point to your 12-point, though it
crosses from his board to yours, is but one space, for these two points are
really next to each other.
Diagram 2 shows the board set up ready for play. Each side has five men on
his 6-point, three men on his 8-point, five men on his opponent's 12-point, and
two men, known as ``runners'', on his opponents' 1-point. The runners will have
to travel the full length of the track, the other men have shorter distances to
go. Note that play proceeds in opposite directions, so that the men can be set
up in two ways. Turn the diagram upside down to see the layout if play were
proceeding in the other direction.
+-------------------------------------------------->
|
| +-----------------------------< X moves this direction
| |
| |
| | 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
| | +------------------------------------------+
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . |
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . |
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . |
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . |
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . |
| | | | | | +----+
^ v | Outer Board |BAR| Home Board | | 64 |
| | | | | | +----+
| | | P O I N T S | | . . . . . . | Doubling
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . | Cube
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . |
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . |
| | | . . . . . . | | . . . . . . |
| | +------------------------------------------+
| | 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
| |
| +---------------------------------------------->
|
+---------------------------------< Y moves this direction
Diagram 1 (Numbered from X's point of view)
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
+------------------------------------------+
| X . . . O . | | O . . . . X |
| X O | | O X |
| X O | | O |
| X | | O |
| X | | O | +----+
| |BAR| | | 64 |
| O | | X | +----+
| O | | X |
| O X | | X |
| O X | | X O |
| O . . . X . | | X . . . . O |
+------------------------------------------+
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Diagram #2 (Numbered from X's point of view)
The object of Backgammon is
for each player to bring all his men into his home board, and then to bear them
off the board. The first player to get all his men off the board is the winner.
Each player casts one die.
The player with the higher number makes the first move, using the two numbers
cast by his die and his opponent's. In the event that both players roll the same
number, it is a standoff and each rolls another die to determine the first move.
In the event of subsequent ties, this process is repeated until the dice turn up
different numbers. (In some games, players double the unit stake automatically
every time they cast the same number; others limit the automatic doubles to one.
In tournament play, there is no such thing as an automatic double.)
Each player's turn consists of
the roll of two dice. He then moves one or more men in accordance with the
numbers cast. Assume he rolls 4-2. He may move one man six spaces, or one man
four spaces and another man two spaces. Bear in mind that, when moving a single
man for the total shown by the two dice, you are actually making two moves with
the one man---each move according to the number shown on one of the dice.
If the same number appears on both
dice, for example, 2-2 or 3-3 (known as doublets), the caster is entitled to
four moves instead of two. Thus, if he rolls 3-3, he can move up to four men,
but each move must consist of three spaces.
The players throw and play alternately throughout the game, except in the
case where a player cannot make a legal move and therefore forfeits his turn.
A player makes a point by
positioning two or more of his men on it. He then ``owns'' that point, and his
opponent can neither come to rest on that point nor touch down on it when taking
the combined total of his dice with one man.
A player who has made six consecutive
points has completed a prime. An opposing man trapped behind a prime cannot move
past, for it cannot be moved more than six spaces at a time---the largest number
on a die.
A single man on a point is called a blot.
If you move a man onto an opponent's blot, or touch down on it in the process of
moving the combined total of your cast, the blot is hit, removed from the board
and placed on the bar.
A man that has been hit must re-enter in the opposing home table. A player
may not make any move until such time as he has brought the man on the bar back
into play. Re-entry is made on a point equivalent to the number of one of the
dice cast, providing that point is not owned by the opponent.
A Player who has made all six
points in his home board is said to have a closed board. If the opponent has any
men on the bar, he will not be able to re-enter it since there is no vacant
point in his adversary;s home board. Therefore, he forfeits his rolls, and
continues to do so until such time as the player has to open up a point in his
home board, thus providing a point of rentry. It should be noted, the he doesn't
loses his turn, as he still retains the ability to double his opponent before
any of his opponents rolls, assuming the cube is centered or on his side.
A player is compelled to
take his complete move if there is any way for him to do so. If he can take
either of the numbers but not both, he must take the higher number if possible,
the lower if not.
[Another way of saying this...]
- If both parts of the roll can be played legally, then this must be done.
Note that you may play the roll in such a way as to move fewer pips than the
larger die indicates by playing the smaller die first --- this is common in
bearoff situations, and legal as long as each part of the roll is played
legally at the moment you play it.
- If only one part of the roll can be played legally, then you must play the
higher die if possible; if not, play the lower die.
--kw
Once a player has brought all his
men into his home board, he can commence bearing off. Men borne off the board
are not re-entered into play. The player who bears off all his men first is the
winner. A player may not bear off men while he has a man on the bar, or outside
his home board. Thus if, in the process of bearing off, a player leaves a blot
and it is hit by his opponent, he must first re-enter the man in his opponents
home board, and bring it round the board into his own home board before he can
continue the bearing off process.
In bearing off, you remove men from the points corresponding to the numbers
on the dice cast. However, you are not compelled to remove a man. You may, if
you can, move a man inside your home board a number of spaces equivalent to the
number of a die.
If you roll a number higher than the highest point on which you have a man,
you may apply that number to your highest occupied point. Thus, if you roll 6-3
and your 6-point has already been cleared but you have men on your 5-point, you
may use your 6 to remove a man from your 5-point.
In some cases it may be advantagous to play the smaller die first before
applying the higher die to your highest point (See Compulsory Move). For
example, suppose you have one checker on your 5 point, and two checkers on your
2 point. Your opponent has a checker on the ace (one point) and on the bar. You
roll 6-3. You may play the 3 to the 2 point then the 6 to bear a checker off the
2 point leaving your opponent no shots (no blots for the opponent to hit). The
alternative, using the 6-3 to bear checkers off both the 5 and 2 points, would
leave your opponent 20 out of 36 ways to hit your remaining blot.
If you bear off all 15 of
your men before your opponent has borne off a single man, you win a gammon, or
double game.
If you bear off all 15 of your men before your opponent has borne off a
single man, and he still has one or more men in your home board or on the bar,
you win a backgammon, or a triple game.
It is customary to cast your dice
in your right-hand board. Both dice must come to rest completely flat in that
board. If one die crosses the bar into the other table, or jumps off the board,
or does not come to rest flat, or ends up resting on one of the men, the dice
are ``cocked'' and the whole throw, using both dice, must be retaken.
The introduction of
the doubling cube into the game is largely responsible for the leap in
popularity of modern backgammon.
Each face of the doubling cube bears a number to record progressive doubles
and redoubles, starting with 2 and going on to 4, 8, 16, 32 & 64. At the
commencement of play, the doubling cube rests on the bar, between the two
players, or at the side of the board. At any point during the game, a player who
thinks he is sufficiently ahead may, when it is his turn to play and before he
casts his dice, propose to double the stake by turning the cube to 2. His
opponent may decline to accept the double, in which case he forfeits the game
and loses 1 unit, or accept the double, in which case the game continues with
the stake at 2 units. The player who accepts the double now ``owns'' the
cube---which means that he has the option t redouble at any point during the
rest of the game, but his opponent (the original doubler) may not. If, at a
later stage he exercises this option, his opponent is now faced with a similar
choice. He may either decline the redouble and so lose 2 units, or accept and
play for 4, and he now ``owns'' the cube. A player may double when he is on the
bar even if his opponent has a closed board and he cannot enter. Though he does
not roll the dice, for he cannot make a move, he still has the right to double.
Note that gammon doubles or backgammon triples the stake of the cube.
From the FIBS help screens:
If you are playing an n-point match and your opponent is ahead
of you and he gets to n-1 points you are not allowed to use
the doubling cube in the next game to come
EXAMPLE:
5 point match
score
game # You opponent
1 0 3
2 0 4
3 1 4 (you were not allowed to double in this game)
4 3 4 (you were allowed to double again)
... ... ...
The Crawford rule is universally used in backgammon match play.
The Jacoby rule is used
in money games. It states, that a gammon or backgammon may not be scored as such
unless the cube has been passed and accepted. The purpose is to speed up play by
eliminating long undoubled games.
The Jacoby rule is never used in match play.
This rule applies to
match games and states that in post-Crawford games the trailer can only double
after both sides have played two rolls. It makes the free drop more valuable to
the leader but generally just confuses the issue.
Unlike the Crawford rule, the Holland rule has not proved popular, and is
rarely used today.
In
money play, if player A doubles, and player B believes that he is a favorite
holding the cube, he may turn the cube an extra notch as he takes, and keep the
cube on his own side. For example, if A makes an initial double to 2, B may,
instead of taking the double and holding a 2 cube, say ``beaver'', turn the cube
an extra notch to 4, and continue the game holding a 4 cube.
If A believes that B's beaver was in error, some play that he may then
``raccoon'', turning the cube yet another notch (to 8 in the example). Cube
ownership remains with B. B may then if he wishes turn the cube yet another
notch, saying ``aardvark'', or ``otter'' or whatever silly animal name he
prefers (the correct animal is a matter of controversy), and so forth.
Beavers and the rest of the animals may be played or not in money play, as
the players wish.
Beavers and other animals are never used in match play.
-- Andy Latto
It should be noted that the original cube turner can drop a beaver. For example,
suppose I miscount a bearoff and double, you accept and say you want to beaver.
I realize something is wrong and recount. If I am horribly behind, I can drop
the beaver, paying you the value on the cube before you beavered.
-michael j zehr
A Chouette is a social
backgammon variant for more than 2 players. One player is ``the box'', and plays
against all other players on a single board. One other player is the captain,
and rolls the dice and makes the plays for the team that opposes the box. If the
box wins, the captain goes to the back of the line, and the next player becomes
captain. If the captain wins, the box goes to the back of the line, and the
captain becomes the new box.
Customs vary as to the rights of the captain's partners: In some Chouettes,
they may consult freely as to the way rolls should be played. In others,
consultation is prohibited. A compromise, where consultation is allowed only
after the cube has been turned, is popular.
Originally, Chouettes were played with a single cube. The only decisions that
players other than the captain were allowed to make independently concerned
takes: If the box doubled, each player on the team could take or drop
independently. Today, multiple-cube Chouettes are more popular; each player on
the team has his own cube, and all doubling, dropping, and taking decisions are
made independently by all players.
-- Andy Latto
Single
checkers (blots) on a point are vulnerable to enemy attack and must start over
if hit by n opponent's checker. Two or more checkers on a point are safe from
attack and can also be used for blocking or trapping your opponent.
Essentially backgammon is a race to see who takes off all of his checkers
first. However, the shortest distance between two points is not always a
straight line. Most beginners, rarely leave exposed checkers and hit as often as
they can. As you will find out, this seemingly logical approach is not the best
strategy. The following is a simplification of some of the factors that you
should consider in forming a winning game plan:
- Distribution.
- Distribution is how evenly your checkers are divided among the points
occupied. It is usually better to have 3 checkers each on two different points
rather than 4 checkers one and 2 on the other. You should rarely have six
checkers on a point and almost never have any more. A player with even
distribution will seemingly get "luckier" dice than his less flexible
opponent.
- Exposure.
- Don't be afraid to leave shots early in the game to establish a strong
offense or defense. Be more cautious as your enemy's home board gets stronger.
The more points he has in his home board, the more difficult it will be for
you to re-enter after being hit. Conversely, the more points that you control
in your enemy's home board (anchors) the bolder you may play. Even if his
board is weak, limit the number of blots (single checkers) to no more than
four. If you are significantly ahead in the race or position, then restrict
your exposure to maintain your lead.
- Blocking and Priming.
- Try to build points without gaps between them directly in front of the
enemy checkers in your home board to prevent their escape. Establishing these
critical points as early as possible in approximate order of importance: 5, 4,
7 to start your blockade. Six points in a row is called a prime. This makes it
impossible for your opponent to escape for as long as you can maintain that
structure.
- Hitting.
- Try to hit checkers that are the most advanced or checkers that your
opponent would like to cover to establish an important point. Attack only when
it is advantageous to do so. For example, if you already have two enemy
checkers on the bar, it is more critical to make another point in your home
board than to hit a third checker. Also refrain from hitting if it makes you
more vulnerable than your opponent. Keep your objectives in mind and don't be
side-tracked. However, there is an old backgammon adage that still carries
weight, "When in doubt, hit."
- Anchoring.
- Anchoring is establishing a defensive point (anchor) in your enemies home
board. This gives you a landing spot to come in on should you get hit and
prevents your opponent from making his home board. Early in the game try to
establish anchors on the higher points (20,21). If you become significantly
behind in the race, the lower points (22,23,24) have more value as your
strategy is to build your home board and wait for a shot. If you have two
anchors try to keep them on adjacent points.
These are just a few
ideas for the beginner to get started and is not meant as a tutorial. There are
many fine books available if you awant more information.
From Macintosh Expert Backgammon Documentation by Tom Johnson komodo@netcom.com
From: kwoolsey@netcom.com (Kit Woolsey)
Subject: Re: What are the best ways to play the opening rolls?
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 1995 05:19:43 GMT
[...]
Now, on the what I believe is an accurate synopsis of the 15 possible opening
rolls:
2-1: The slotting play 13/11, 6/5 and the splitting play 24/23, 13/11, the
two most common plays, seem to be about equal. Nothing else is a serious
contender.
3-1: 8/5, 6/5 is obviously the only play.
4-1: The splitting play 24/23, 13/9 has come out clearly superior to the
slotting play 13/9, 6/5. Probably the reason is that with the builder on the 9
point there are so many good pointing numbers next turn anyway that you don't
need the 5 point slotted.
5-1: The splitting play 24/23, 13/8 has come out a bit better than the
slotting play 13/8, 6/5. A third less common alternative, 24/18, came out
clearly worse.
6-1: The obvious 13/7, 8/7 is correct. Magriel's experiment of 13/7, 6/5 is
awful.
3-2: The splitting play 24/21, 13/11 came out a bit better than building with
13/10, 13/11.
4-2: 8/4, 6/4 of course.
5-2: The normal play for years has been 13/11, 13/8. However the newer
splitting play, 24/22, 13/8, (shunned because of the crushing 5-5 threat) has
come out a bit better. The slotting play of 13/8, 6/4 (which used to be my
choice) did not survive the rollouts -- it was clearly inferior.
6-2: The splitting play of 24/18, 13/11 comes out fairly clearly superior.
Running with 24/16 is 2nd, but the run isn't far enough. Slotting with 13/5 (a
common choice several years ago) was definitely in third place.
4-3: The building play of 13/10, 13/9 and the common splitting play of 24/20,
13/10 were just about tied. The alternative split of 24/21, 13/9 was only a
little behind.
5-3: The simple 8/3, 6/3 is clearly best. The once common 13/10, 13/8 has
been found vastly inferior.
6-3: The splitting 24/18, 13/10 comes out best, but the running play of 24/15
is not too far behind.
5-4: Splitting with 24/20, 13/8 and building with 13/9, 13/8 come out quite
close (that builder on the 9 point is powerful), with the split generally a tiny
bit better. 24/15 is weaker still.
6-4: Both running with 24/14 and splitting with 24/18, 13/9 are about equal.
However the once laughed at 8/2, 6/2 has reared its head as a serious contender
and comes out about equal with the other choices -- nice play to try if you get
familiar with it, since your opponent probably won't be.
6-5: The simple 24/13 is clearly better than any other possibilities.
Section B: ELECTRONIC BACKGAMMON: VS OTHER HUMANS
On July 19, 1992 at 10:56:22
GMT, Marvin announced the birth of the FIBS. FIBS is an abbreviation for First
Internet Backgammon Server. It is a server program written by Andreas Schneider
marvin@fraggel65.mdstud.chalmers.se.
Praise to him!
After using a site in Aachen Germany, It moved to the present site ins Sweden
on December 3, 1993.
You can connect to
FIBS using telnet; the server runs on machine fraggel65.mdstud.chalmers.se
(raw address 129.16.235.165). Be sure to telnet to port 4321, because telnetting
to the default port will give you a regular unix login prompt, which will be of
no use to you since you probably have no account on that machine. For instance,
on a unix machine which is connected directly to the internet,
you issue one of the following commands:
telnet fraggel65.mdstud.chalmers.se 4321
telnet 129.16.235.165 4321
and then you are connected to FIBS.
Now you have to log in to FIBS. If you already have an account on FIBS, you
use the login name and password you selected. If you're a first time user, you
must log in as guest. Then you are granted a limited kind of access, until you
make yourself known by choosing a FIBS user name and a password. From that
moment on, you can use FIBS to play against other players, human or otherwise,
from all over the world.
Here is an example connect and login sequence for new users: %telnet fraggel65.mdstud.chalmers.se 4321
Trying 129.16.235.165 ...
Connected to fraggel65.mdstud.chalmers.se.
Escape character is '^]'.
WELCOME TO THE
_______ _ ______ _____
| _____| | | | __ \ / ____|
| |___ | | | |__| | | |____
| ___| | | | __ < \____ \
| | | | | |__| | ____| |
|_|irst |_|nternet |______/ackgammon |_____/erver
If something unexpected happens please send mail to:
mailto:marvin@fraggel65.mdstud.chalmers.se(Andreas Schneider)
Bug reports are welcome.
This server is on the net to meet people from all countries.
All sorts of racists and fascists are not allowed to login here!
Rude language will not be tolerated on this server. Be nice.
LOGIN AS guest IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS SERVER!
One account per person only!
Friday, September 30 10:23:10 MET ( Fri Sep 30 09:23:10 1994 UTC )
login: guest
Welcome to FIBS. You just logged in as guest.
Please register before using this server:
Type 'name username' where username is the name you want to use.
The username may not contain blanks ' ' or colons ':'.
The system will then ask you for your password twice.
Please make sure that you don't forget your password. All
passwords are encrypted before they are saved. If you forget
your password there is no way to find out what it was.
Please type 'bye' if you don't want to register now.
ONE USERNAME PER PERSON ONLY!!!
> name Newbie
Please give your password:
Please retype your password:
You are registered.
Type 'help beginner' to get started.
>
Once logged in, you are wise to read the help screens of FIBS. Read about how
not to hear other people's shoutings, how the rating system works, how to watch
other people play, how to talk to other people, how to invite people to play,
and of couse, how to play. Everything you need is in the help screens. One
thing: if you wish to read the help screens without logging into FIBS, they have
been made available to WWW by Mike Quinn at http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/mike_quinn/fibs.htm.
Mark Damish made a version available for ftp or online reading from http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/fibshelp.html
When you are a little accustomed to FIBS, you can enter tournaments, which
are organised occasionally by volunteers. Read newsgroup rec.games.backgammon, check out FIBS' login
message, or listen for rumours spreading. Also, if you like FIBS, it will pay
you to take the trouble to install/use a more friendly interface than a simple
telnet client program. Several of these are available, see section Are there any
GUI's for FIBS?.
FIBS description last updated on October 4th, 1994 by Vincent Zweije (zweije@wi.leidenuniv.nl)
FIBS Command Help Summary. (One liners)
- about - display information about the server
- accept - accepting doubles and resigns
- address - make your email address known to other users.
- autologin - how the tinymud style autologin feature works
- average - show average number of users
- away - leaving a message for other users before leaving the terminal
- back - back again after the away command was used
- beaver - offering an instant redouble that is a beaver
- beginner - very short introduction to the server
- blind - Stop people from watching you.
- board - displays the board again
- boardstyle - the various boardstyles
- bye - leave the first internet backgammon server. Aliases for bye include:
adios, ciao, tschoe, end, exti, logout, and quit.
- client - one way to use a client
- cls - clear the screen on a vt100 terminal
- commands - how commands are entered.
- complaints - how to complain about cheaters
- countries - where do the players live
- crawford - The Crawford rule
- date - equivalent to the time command
- dicetest - show statistics about the dice
- double - Ship that cube!
- erase - How and why accounts are erased
- formula - The formulas used to calculate rating changes
- gag - Inhibit yourself from hearing a players shouts etc...
- help - help on different topic
- hostnames - how to interpret hostnames given by the who command
- invite - invite another user to play a game of backgammon
- join - accept an invitation from another player
- kibitz - talking to players and watchers
- last - Display information about login times
- leave - leave and save a game
- look - Take a short look at a game
- man - alias for help
- message - Leave a message for a user
- motd - Display the message of the day
- move - Moving pieces on the board
- names - name completion
- off - bear off pieces with every possible move
- oldboard - Display the board of a saved game.
- oldmoves - Display the moves of a saved game.
- otter - Offering an instant redouble that is an otter
- panic - save a game to a special file
- password - change password
- pip - Display pip count
- raccoon - Offering an instant redouble that is a raccoon
- ratings - Display information from the rating list
- rawboard - how to interpret the raw board output
- rawwho - A version of the who command for client programs.
- redouble - accepting doubles by redoubling
- reject - Drop a double. Reject a resignation.
- resign - resign a game
- roll - roll the dice
- rules - The basic rules of backgammon
- rule1 - how the board looks like
- rule2 - the direction you move pieces
- rule3 - the goal of the game
- rule4 - rolling the dice
- rule5 - moving pieces
- rule6 - moving pieces
- rule7 - bearing off pieces
- rule8 - winning
- rule9 - doubling
- save - save your current toggle settings
- say - talk to your opponent
- screen - how to tell FIBS about your screen
- set - how to set variables that are not toggles
- shout - say something to all users
- show - Display information
- shutdown - shutdown the server (privileged users)
- sortwho - how the 'who' command sorts it's output
- stat - display system usage information about the server
- tell - say something to a specific player
- time - display the current time
- timezones - How the server supports different timezones
- tinyfugue - a few hints on using the TinyFugue client
- toggle - display or change the value of toggles
- toggle-allowpip - Enable/Disable the servers `pip' command.
- toggle-autoboard - Enable/Disable automatic board redraws.
- toggle-autodouble - Enable/Disable Auomatic doubles on the 1st roll.
- toggle-automove - Enable/Disable Automatic movement of forced rolls.
- toggle-bell - Enable/Disable the bell in talking or invites.
- toggle-crawford - Enable/Disable Crawford. Both players need to agree.
- toggle-double - Enable/Disable automatic rolling.
- toggle-greedy - Enable/Disable automatic bearoffs if possible.
- toggle-moreboards - Redraw every move, or every move and roll.
- toggle-moves - Enable/Disable listing of moves at end of game.
- toggle-notify - Enable/Disable server notification of players logging in
and out.
- toggle-ratings - Enable/Disable the display of the rating calculation.
- toggle-rawboard - Replaced by set boardstyle <1..3>
- toggle-ready - Toggles wether you are ready to play games.
- toggle-report - Enable/Disable server messages when other players start
or finish a match.
- toggle-silent - Enable/Disable hearing players shouts.
- toggle-telnet - Toggles extra newlines.
- toggle-wrap - Toggles whether you or the server wraps lines larger than
80 charactors.
- unwatch - stop watching a player
- version - display version number of the server
- watch - watch a player
- wave - wave goodbye before leaving to players who receive shouts
- where - display full hostnames
- whisper - say something to watchers of a game
- who - display information about currently logged in users
- whois - Display information about a player
- !! - repeat the last command
[Last updated June 1995. Are there any missing commands?]
For more detailed information on FIBS commands, type ``help'' at the while on
FIBS or check out Michael Quinn's Guide to FIBS at: http://www.abekrd.co.uk/FIBS
FIBS Rating Formula [From the
FIBS man pages.]
- NAME
- formula - The formulas used to calculate rating changes
- DESCRIPTION
- These are the formulas used to determine the ratings of a player: Let's say that two players P1 and P2 were playing a n-point match. The ratings of
the players are r1 for P1 and r2 for P2 .
- Let D = abs(r1-r2) (rating difference)
- Let P_upset = 1/(10^(D*sqrt(n)/2000)+1) (probability that underdog wins)
- Let P=1-P_upset if the underdog wins and P= P_upsetif the favorite
wins.< /LI>< /LI>< /LI>< /LI>< /LI>
- For the winner:
- Let K = max ( 1 , -experience/100+5 )
- The rating change is: 4*K*sqrt(n)*P
- For the loser:
- Let K = max ( 1 , -experience/100+5 )
- The rating change is: -4*K*sqrt(n)*P
The 'experience' of a player is the sum of the lengths of all matches a
player has finished. Every player starts with a rating of 1500 and an
experience of 0.
- SEE ALSO
- ratings
From:gmortens@newstand.syr.edu (Gerald E Mortensen)
Subject: fibs ratings formula plots
Date: 23 Dec 1994 22:28:16 GMT
i made these plots from the fibs ratings formula. experience >500. if
you can't read these try setting your font to fixed or courier.
P(win) vs. ratings difference
0.8 ++-----+-------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-----++
+ + + + + + + + C +
| : C |
0.7 ++ : C B ++
| : C B |
| : B |
| : C B |
0.6 ++ : C B A A ++
| : B A A |
| : B A A |
0.5 ++ A A A ++
| A A B : |
| A A B : |
0.4 ++ A A B C : 1 pt match A ++
| B C : 5 pt match B |
| B : 9 pt match C |
| B C : |
0.3 ++ B C : ++
| C : |
+ C + + + + + + + +
0.2 ++-----+-------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-----++
-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400
ratings change for a win vs. ratings difference
10 ++-----+-------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-----++
+ + + + + + + + +
9 ++ C : ++
| C C : |
8 ++ C : 1 pt match A ++
| : 5 pt match B |
| C : 9 pt match C |
7 ++ C : ++
| B C : |
6 ++ B B C ++
| B B : C |
5 ++ B : C ++
| B B C |
4 ++ : B C ++
| : B B C |
| : B B C |
3 ++ : B B ++
| A A A A A : |
2 ++ A A A A A A A A ++
+ + + + + + + A A +
1 ++-----+-------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-----++
-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400
ratings diff (your rating - opponent's)
ratings change is the same for both players if both have experience >
than 500 (or have equal experience < 500).
jay (wilfo)
FIBS - Rating Changes 2/16/95
change in rating when favorite wins
rate points in match
diff 1 2 3 5 7 9 11
------------------------------------------------------------
0 2.00 2.83 3.46 4.47 5.29 6.00 6.63
40 1.95 2.74 3.33 4.24 4.97 5.59 6.13
80 1.91 2.64 3.19 4.01 4.65 5.18 5.63
120 1.86 2.55 3.05 3.79 4.34 4.77 5.14
160 1.82 2.46 2.92 3.56 4.03 4.38 4.67
200 1.77 2.37 2.78 3.35 3.73 4.01 4.22
240 1.73 2.28 2.65 3.13 3.44 3.65 3.79
280 1.68 2.19 2.52 2.93 3.16 3.31 3.39
320 1.64 2.11 2.39 2.73 2.90 2.99 3.02
360 1.59 2.02 2.27 2.54 2.65 2.69 2.68
400 1.55 1.94 2.15 2.35 2.42 2.41 2.37
440 1.50 1.86 2.03 2.18 2.20 2.15 2.08
480 1.46 1.78 1.92 2.01 1.99 1.92 1.83
change in rating when underdog wins
rate points in match
diff 1 2 3 5 7 9 11
------------------------------------------------------------
0 2.00 2.83 3.46 4.47 5.29 6.00 6.63
40 2.05 2.92 3.60 4.70 5.61 6.41 7.14
80 2.09 3.01 3.74 4.93 5.93 6.82 7.64
120 2.14 3.10 3.88 5.16 6.25 7.23 8.13
160 2.18 3.19 4.01 5.38 6.56 7.62 8.60
200 2.23 3.28 4.15 5.60 6.86 7.99 9.05
240 2.27 3.37 4.28 5.81 7.14 8.35 9.48
280 2.32 3.46 4.41 6.02 7.42 8.69 9.88
320 2.36 3.55 4.53 6.22 7.68 9.01 10.2
360 2.41 3.63 4.66 6.41 7.93 9.31 10.6
400 2.45 3.72 4.78 6.59 8.17 9.59 10.9
440 2.50 3.80 4.89 6.76 8.39 9.85 11.2
480 2.54 3.88 5.01 6.93 8.59 10.1 11.4
ratio - points lost to points won by favorite
rate points in match
diff 1 2 3 5 7 9 11
------------------------------------------------------------
0 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
40 1.05 1.07 1.08 1.11 1.13 1.15 1.17
80 1.10 1.14 1.17 1.23 1.28 1.32 1.36
120 1.15 1.22 1.27 1.36 1.44 1.51 1.58
160 1.20 1.30 1.38 1.51 1.63 1.74 1.84
200 1.26 1.38 1.49 1.67 1.84 2.00 2.15
240 1.32 1.48 1.61 1.85 2.08 2.29 2.50
280 1.38 1.58 1.75 2.06 2.35 2.63 2.91
320 1.45 1.68 1.89 2.28 2.65 3.02 3.39
360 1.51 1.80 2.05 2.53 2.99 3.47 3.95
400 1.58 1.92 2.22 2.80 3.38 3.98 4.61
440 1.66 2.05 2.40 3.10 3.82 4.57 5.37
480 1.74 2.18 2.60 3.44 4.31 5.25 6.25
Batting Average for favorite to maintain rating
points in match
diff 1 2 3 5 7 9 11
--------------------------------------
0 .500 .500 .500 .500 .500 .500 .500
40 .512 .516 .520 .526 .530 .534 .538
80 .523 .533 .540 .551 .561 .569 .576
120 .534 .549 .560 .577 .590 .602 .613
160 .546 .565 .579 .602 .619 .635 .648
200 .557 .581 .598 .626 .648 .666 .682
240 .569 .596 .617 .650 .675 .696 .714
280 .580 .612 .636 .673 .701 .725 .744
320 .591 .627 .654 .695 .726 .751 .772
360 .602 .642 .672 .716 .750 .776 .798
400 .613 .657 .689 .737 .772 .799 .822
440 .624 .672 .706 .756 .793 .820 .843
480 .635 .686 .723 .775 .812 .840 .862
FIBS ratings tables submitted by William C. Bitting
btbr68a@prodigy.com
wbitting@crl.com
FIBS ratings reports are posted regularly to Rec.games.backgammon. Back issues
are available from: http://www.columbia.edu/~radev/backgammon/fibsratings/
http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~banks/fibs/test.html
Currently there
several computer programs on FIBS:
tesauro (the original neural net bg
program TD-Gammon)
mloner (neural net)
idiot (neural net (JellyFish))
jellyfish (nn)
loner (The 1-pt version of mloner)
EXBGthree
fatboy (nn)
fattest (nn)
jemina (Algrithmic, entering cocoon, to
emerge as a nn)
music
Big_Brother (only logs matches)
Some programs play with humans entering the data, while others are full
fledged bots.
FIBS (and FIBS/W) Instruction book.
Hunter Jones has put together a very nice reference to FIBS and FIBS/W. It is
nicely typeset and printed on heavy paper stock. The contents make a nice
reference to FIBS and the FIBS/W interface. Commands are pre-sorted by catagory,
and it makes looking for an answer extremely easy. It is 8 pages on 6 sheets of
paper, and is especially worthwile for the new player. It is not just a rehash
of the man pages.
Price is $4 for U.S. addresses, $6 US for foreign addresses. All payments
must be in US funds (check, money order or cash). If you wish expedited
shipment, enclose suitable payment. (For example, $10 additional for US FedEx
overnight.) Be sure to enclose your address (FedEx and the like cannot deliver
to PO Boxes.)
Contact Hunter Jones at: hunter@ix.netcom.com
6617 Struttmann Lane
Rockland MD
20852
From: thrash@mercury.interpath.net
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: online FIBS help for OS/2 users
Date: 7 Mar 1995 03:45:57 GMT
For FIBS players who use OS/2:
I recently created an online help file (.INF) for all the FIBS
commands. It's basically the same help you get from the FIBS server
but with hyper-text links to related commands.
If you're new to FIBS, I'm sure it will help - although I can't
guarantee it will increase your FIBS rating ;)
Email me if your interested, I can send it via uuencode mail.
-J-
[This is copied verbatim, with permission, from OK.FAQ. References to
'OK' are referring to the bridge server.]
[Permission from mclegg@cs.ucsd.edu
(Matthew Clegg) for use here.]
In addition to having access to a Unix system, you must also be connected to
the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide computer network which was founded for
the sake of promoting research and education. Recently, the Internet has been
broadening its mission and it's likely that soon the Internet will be open for
commercial as well as educational uses.
Already it is possible for the general public to obtain access to the
Internet for a modest fee in many metropolitan areas of the US. A few
representative Internet providers include: Area Served Voice No. Email Organization
----------- -------- ----- ------------
West Coast 408-554-UNIX info@netcom.com Netcom Online Comm. Svcs
Boston 617-739-0202 office@world.std.com The World
New York City 212-877-4854 alexis@panix.com PANIX Public Access Unix
Many OKbridgers play from home using a PC or Mac and a modem. Frequently,
these people have obtained access to the Internet by purchasing an account from
a "public access Unix system connected to the Internet," which is the jargon
describing the service provided by the above companies. Having obtained such an
account, it is usually a simple matter to obtain OKbridge and begin playing (see
below).
If you will be searching for a means to use OKbridge, it is important to
remember the wording, "public access Unix system (directly) connected to the
Internet." There are a number of BBS operators who have Email connections to the
Internet, but this is not sufficient. Also, there are several network services
which provide access to the Internet but which are not Unix based (Delphi is a
notable example).
For more information about the Internet, which is an amazing and wonderful
resource, see the books:
Krol, Ed, The Whole Internet: User's Guide & Catalog,
O'Reilly &
Associates, 1992.
Kehoe, Brendan P., Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide,
2nd ed., Prentice Hall, 1993.
LaQuey, Tracy, with Jeanne C. Ryer, The Internet Companion:
A Beginner's
Guide to Global Networking, Addison-Wesley, 1993.
These books are filled with useful information about Unix and the Internet,
including how to send electronic mail, how to download free software, and how to
access some of the many information services which are available on the
Internet.
The World Wide Web (WWW or 'Web' for short) is a system by which text,
pictures, audio files and movies can be transmitted across the internet. Old
resources you may have heard of -- telnet, news, gopher, ftp -- can all now be
regarded as part of the Web.
Many of the 'pages' on the Web are written in a language called HTML. This
language allows basic formatting of the text, and images to be included within
the text, but also it allows 'links' to other documents which may be local or on
the other side of the world. For example, I could say 'I have information about
cows' and the word 'cows' would be highlighted somehow (underlined or in a
different colour). If you select that word -- typically by clicking your mouse
on it or pressing Enter if you have no mouse -- you will be taken to a page
about cows which could be another page of mine or of someone in Australia. It
does not take much imagination to see how I can then hop all over the world,
following these links and reading all manner of information.
In order to access the Web, you need a so called 'client program' or
'browser'. The two most popular are called Mosaic (for graphical terminals) and
'lynx' for text based terminals. If you have got one of these programs, you can
start browsing the Web immediately. If not, do what you can to get one!
[The Netscape browser is also now worth a mention. It was only in beta test
at the time I originally wrote this, and a bit buggy, but now it's my preferred
browser. You can get it via anonymous ftp from ftp.mcom.com in the directory
/netscape : it's free for academic and non-profit use. S.T. 30/1/95]
Stephen R. E. Turner
e-mail: webmaster@gammoned.com
WWW: Backgammon
Good places to find local internet providers are listed at the following web
sites:
http://www.internic.net/
http://thelist.com/
Tinyfugue is a telnet client program
which breaks the screen into separate 'panes' for input and output. A
specialized version exists where a non scrolling backgammon board is displayed
in a third pane. The specialized version is available for anonymous ftp from
figment.csee.usf.edu in the directory /pub/misc/FIBS_client.
The FIBS command "help tinyfugue" will provide some hints on using this
program.
Patches made by:
David Eggert eggertd@aisb.ed.ac.uk
(window routines)
Andreas Schneider marvin@fraggel.mdstud65.chalmers.se
(board printing routines and /board command)
figment.csee.usf.edu
/pub/misc/FIBS_client
From: jlehett@mailhost.gate.net
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: OS/2 Native FIBS-Tinyfugue Client Available now!
Date: 11 Dec 1994 01:49:27 GMT
I just uploaded my port of the fibs-tinyfigue client to the incoming
directories of the hobbes and ftp-os2/cdrom OS/2 sites. It only works
via TCP/IP connections (SLIP/TIA are fine!) and requires the emxrt.zip
support, so be sure to get that too. The included text file tells about
the port so have a look all OS/2 fibsters!
Send along any bugs, etc, and I'll see what I can do.
----
John J. Lehett
Land-J Technologies
JLEHETT@GATE.NET
[ It has been reported (95-06) That this e-mail address is no longer in use]
xfibs - graphical interface to FIBS (First Internet Backgammon Server)
DESCRIPTION
XFibs is a Motif-based interface to FIBS. FIBS allows you to play backgammon
against other people (and an increasing number of computer programs). Unfortu-
nately, FIBS is text-based and moves must be typed in numeric notation. XFibs
graphical interface provides a mouse-driven board, which minimises text input.
Below is an explanation of the various feautures of XFibs, and what you may do
to further customize it according to your own desires. At the very end you'll
also find the backgammon rules.
HOW TO PLAY
XFibs draws two windows, one to display a backgammon board which is fully
resizable and scalable; and another for the text information. FIBS is a vibrant
and lively place, often with lots of banter going on as well as matches starting
and finish- ing. With XFibs you'll only really use the text window occasionally
because you can forget all about how the board is numbered, in XFibs you move
your pieces with the mouse.
The right button brings forward a popup-menu with several choices like "roll
dice", "double" etc., selecting "roll dice" when it's your turn will cause two
dice to appear.
The left button allows you to click on a piece and drag it to where you want
to put it. You can then release the left button to drop the piece. If the move
is valid, XFibs will draw the piece at the new location. (You can now pick-up a
piece and move both dice in one action: i.e. 24-13 with 6-5, pick up from 24,
drop on 13. The left-hand die is the default first die of a move, the the
right-hand die. If the left-hand die can't move, XFibs will try the reverse
combination. So If you have a roll in both combinations are legal, but only one
hits an opponent, you may need to drag-and-drop to guarantee a hit or a miss).
Alternatively, you can double-click on the middle button over a piece to have
XFibs move it (again the left-hand die is the default first die of a move).
If you decide that you didn't want to move a piece, you can take it back
(either by drag-and-drop or by popup).
Once you are happy with a move, it has to be sent to FIBS. This is done by
clicking your right mouse button again. This popup menu changes according to
what is going on. Now it says "accept move", "undo move" etc. Between games in a
match it says "join" "leave". Try it out!
If you get a text description of the board in the output window, you have to
issue a 'set boardstyle 3' to FIBS. You may then save your setup my typing
'save' or include this command after a 'on_login' command in your startup file.
(see below)
All in all, just fool around with it, it isn't that hard to figure out... (At
least I hope it isn't)
[...]
AUTHOR
Torstein Hansen
Minor patches made by David Eggert (Snoopy)
Changes
since version 0.7 made by Mike Quinn (mikeq)
Available from: ftp://itekiris.kjemi.unit.no/pub/
and/or ftp://www.abekrd.co.uk/pub/fibs/
The source is available from: ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/games/xfibs08.tar.gz
MacFIBS greatly enhances the virtual
backgammon experience; it's backgammon played "The Macintosh Way".
MacFIBS provides a multi-window, graphical front end to FIBS ,
vastly superior to the "dumb terminal" telnet scrolling text format that FIBS
uses underneath. It also makes excellent use of sound to reinforce the
backgammon playing experience.
Rather than viewing backgammon positions as a series of X's and O's in a
crude character-based text window, MacFIBS offers a full color backgammon board.
Instead of typing cryptic commands like 'm 24 22 15 14', you drag colored
checkers around the board, exactly like playing a real game. The user can select
from two board sizes and choose which color and direction to play. Real-time pip
count information is also displayed.
Other windows include: a Player window to invite, get info, or watch other
players, an elegant Chat window for conversing with other players, and a
Terminal window for full access to FIBS and telnet. The user can color code and
keep private notes about other players (the color coding is also used in the
Chat window).
MacFIBS is freeware and is my contribution to the 'net. The program requires
a color Macintosh and MacTCP, and is available via ftp at the Info-Mac Archives
(sumex-aim.stanford.edu) as well as numerous mirror sites around the world.
MacFIBS 2.0* is a self-extracting archive file: ftp://ftp.best.com/pub/fergy/
--fergy
Paul Ferguson fergy@best.com
[MacFIBS is also available on AOL, as well as Info-Mac mirror sites.
From: keithv@chiwaukum.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Vetter)
Subject: TkFibs - an X interface to FIBS available
Date: 4 Apr 1994 19:31:41 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Announcing TkFibs, an X based, graphical user interface to Fibs.
TkFibs is a tcl/tk client that provides a better interface to Fibs. It
displays two windows: one a graphical depiction of the board, the other
session window with Fibs ala the bottom two windows in tinyfugue.
I've been using the program for over 5 months now so it should be very
solid. I've run it on DecStations, SparcStations, HP 735 and Alphas.
The biggest caveat is that it requires TCL/TK to run. TCL/TK is a
very nice scripting / user interface package for X. It is available
from ftp.cs.berkeley.edu in /ucb/tcl.
TkFibs is located at ftp://shuksan.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/tkfibs
Send comments, suggestions, bugs, etc to:
tkfibs@shuksan.cs.berkeley.edu
Enjoy
keith vetter
FIBS/W is a Microsoft Windows(TM) based
client for FIBS.
FIBS/W provides a graphical game board and mouse-driven interface to the FIBS
server. Most operations required to play a game can be executed using mouse,
keyboard, menus or toolbar buttons.
Powerful configuration options for many common Internet host systems, and
communications service providers, and a built-in communications scripting
language allow FIBS/W to automatically dial and connect to FIBS via the Internet
with a single mouse click.
To use FIBS/W you must be able to satisfy one of two conditions:
- You must have modem access to a host computer providing telnet services.
If you can connect to the Internet using Windows Terminal, you can probably
use FIBS/W.
- You must have access to the internet via network TCP/IP, PPP or SL/IP via
the Winsock software interface. If you can find the file WINSOCK.DLL on your
system, you can probably use FIBS/W.
FIBS/W requires version 3.1 or
later of Microsoft Windows, or any version of Windows for Workgroups or
Windows/NT. FIBS/W will also run as a Windows application under OS/2 2.X. FIBS/W
does not currently support OS/2 Warp, or Netcom Netcruiser accounts (although
Netcom shell accounts do work).
FIBS/W is provided as Shareware. The registration fee is US$40. This version
of FIBS/W includes a Nag Screen (a mildly annoying dialog which is displayed
every time the program is run) but is otherwise fully functional.
FIBS/W is available via anonymous FTP at: resudox.net in the directory /pub/pc/windows/games/fibsw.
FIBS/W is available via the web at http://www.magic.com/~rdavies/fibsw.html
A WWW page for FIBS/W is available at ftp://resudox.net/pub/pc/windows/games/fibsw/html/fibsw.html
Best regards,
Robin Davies.
http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/rdavies@fox.nstn.ns.ca
FIBS: Q
From: d9jesper@dtek.chalmers.se (Jesper Blommaskog)
"xibc" is an X11 client to the First Internet Backgammon Server (FIBS). It
is using the freeware packages Tcl, Tk and Expect. Normally, you have
to fetch and compile those to be able to run xibc, but not anymore
(provided you have a SunSparc!).
ftp.cd.chalmers.se:pub/xibc/xibc-X.XX.tar.Z
ftp.cd.chalmers.se:pub/xibc/xibc-X.XX.README
ftp://ftp.cd.chalmers.se/pub/xibc/
# If you need an executable (Sun-SparcOS 4.1.x only):
ftp.cd.chalmers.se:pub/xibc/binREADME
ftp.cd.chalmers.se:pub/xibc/BX.enc
# If you need an executable and don't have a Sparc, then you need
# to compile Tcl, Tk and Expect on your own. Here's the ftp addresses:
sprite.berkeley.edu:/tcl/tcl7.3.tar.Z
sprite.berkeley.edu:/tcl/tk3.6.tar.Z
sprite.berkeley.edu:/tcl/tk3.6p1.patch
ftp.cme.nist.gov:/pub/expect/alpha.tar.Z
(all but the patch are present at cme.nist.gov)
Features of xibc include:
* Log out from FIBS but keep the interface on the screen (maybe
iconified). Permits you to start xibc in your X startup files
and keep it up all time.
* X resource Tk*xibcLogfile that names a file where to log match
results. Example from my own file ~/.Xdefaults:
Tk*xibcLogfile: ~/spel/backgammon/xibc.log
* Resource Tk*xibcDelay that sets the programmed delayes in the
interface (the time interval between the different moves in a
sequence). Time is in milliseconds. May also be changed during
a session from a menu (but may not be saved).
Example: Tk*xibcDelay: 500
* The command line has some emacs/tcsh-style "cooked" line features:
C-n next line in history
C-p previous line in history
C-a first on line
C-e last on line
C-u delete whole line
C-d delete the character after the insertion marker
and also
C-s toggle "autoscroll" mode of the text window
C-l toggle logging of game to a log file
C-c log out from server and quit the interface
* There is a menu option called "Emergency". It may also be invoked
with "M-e". It reloads the whole board position from the server.
Nice when the interface screws up (it does sometimes).
* A menu option "Empty textwindow" will delete all rows in the text
window in access of 500. May someday become an X resource.
Don't try to push the interface to hard, that is, don't try to break
it. You will most definitely succeed (not hard at all, I guess). Since
I'm sort of an artist, I don't like breaking my own things so I
haven't really tried to find the bugs.
Special features (also called known bugs):
* Try the "look" command.
* Play a game against "You".
* Do several things at "the same time".
* Answer questions like "Accept double" or "join/leave" from the
command line, not by using the interface.
If you try them out, remember there's always the "Emergency" command
around.
-Jesper Blommaskog, author of "xibc"
-----
[Just a reminder to client writers. Some of us live behind 'firewalls',
or can only obtain phone access. Please remember us!]
Long Distance Backgammon. Play backgammon by E-mail.
Program
written by Perry R. Ross (perry@aap.com)
From the ldb man page:
Ldb allows two people to play backgammon over a network using electronic
mail. It runs on character-oriented terminals, or emulators thereof, using the
curses screen package. It will run on most UNIX dialects, as well as VAX-C under
VMS 5.0 and above. Ldb handles all aspects of starting, playing, checking, and
scoring games. It enforces all normal game rules, as well as several optional
rules, and will not let you make an illegal move. When you have made your moves,
ldb will automatically package your move and send them to your opponent.
The latest version is 1.3.2. Version 1.3 can be found in directory volume36.
Patches can be found in subsequent volumes at your favorite comp.sources.misc
archive site. Patch 1 is in volume 39. Patch 2 is in volume 41. Use:
'unix_prompt$ archie ldb' to locate the sources.
[from Perry]
I mentioned in that patch that, for people who can't figure
out how to get ldb or how to apply patches, I'd be happy to send them a complete
copy of the latest version. You might want to put the same offer into the faq.
[Has anybody written a PC/Mac version using CC-mail via a Novell network?]
[from Perry...]
Well, I'd always intended to do a PC port, but just never
got around to it. I was a bad boy, 32-bit wise, so there would be a little
effort involved making it 16-bit clean. There's a package that simulates curses
on a PC, I've heard. As far as the particular mail transport, ldb doesn't really
care. It puts outgoing messages into a text file and executes a user-defined
command to send the message. Incoming mail can be read from a user-defined file
(or pattern, to read multiple files), which ought to be pretty
transport-independent. It wouldn't be that hard to port, I don't think.
[Anybody have a little ambition?]
The ldb 'game starter' operated by leopard@midnight.WPI.edu (Leo
Gestetner) has been shut down. [ Are there others? ...Mark]
LDB may be obtained on the net from: ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/vms/games/board/ldb.shr
and ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/unix/games/ldb.tar.gz
Garrett has shut down
Netgammon as of late February 1995. It will be remembered and missed.
RSCARDS Backgammon on GEnie
GEnie (General Electric's Consumer Information Service) offers on-line
multi-player games in RSCARDS including backgammon.
Features:
- Graphic User Interface (GUI) is available for the following computers:
IBM, Atari ST, Apple IIgs, Macintosh Mono, Macintosh Color, Amiga and
Commodore 128 Mono
- TTY [text only] for non-supported formats.
- Friendly and fun atmosphere. Peak playing times are evenings and weekends.
- Regular monthly prizes for eligible, high-score players.
- Regular tournaments (see below).
- Game transcripts available immediately.
- Technical support and gaming discussion available in the Multiplayer Games
RoundTable.
- Access to other on-line multiplayer games including RSCARDS chess,
checkers, reversi, poker, blackjack and bridge.
How to Access RSCARDS
Backgammon on GEnie:
To sign up to GEnie, just follow these simple steps:
- Set your communications software for half duplex (local echo), at 300,
1200, 2400 baud.
- Dial toll free: 1-800-638-8369, or in Canada, 1-800-387-8330. Upon
connection, enter HHH
- At the U# prompt, enter JOINGENIE then press <RETURN>
- When asked to enter a code enter: MMC524 [This will waive your first $8.95
month subscription fee and give you an additional $50.00 online credit during
your first month on GEnie!]
- Have a major credit card ready. In the U.S. you may also use your checking
account number.
For additional information including subscriptions and
fees call: 1-800-638-9636
Once you have a GEnie account, simply type RSCARDS from any GEnie prompt.
This will take you to the main area, where you can download GUI's and get
general information on RSCARDS.
You can reach the Backgammon page directly
by typing M877. This will bring you to a menu with specific backgammon
information and access to play.
For questions and technical support, visit
the Multiplayer Games RoundTable. Type M1045 from any GEnie prompt and set to
CATegory 29. There are a variety of Backgammon, GUI and RSCARDS TOPics
available.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION:
GEnie Backgammon Tourneys are held quarterly. Sign-ups start:
January
1st, April 1st, July 1st and October 1st
Tourney play starts the third Wednesday of those months
[Section on tourney rules is available online at GEnie]
[Note: GEnie is a
service like compuserve... They have a monthly fee and you pay by the hour for
use. Contact GEnie for rates.]
Backgammon is among a package of eight
Macintosh only internet games offerred for a flat monthly fee ($9.95) by the
on-line service Outland, Inc. The games are advertised and offerred for ftp and
free trial at http://www.outland.com/OutlandBackgammon.html
Judging from the web page it appears to share many features with FIBS plus
providing a nice built-in graphical (draggable pieces) interface.
Play By E-Mail
While not quite in thte same league as FIBS, I have a PBeM Server that
supports Backgammon as one of its' games. Send mail to: pbmserv@vtsu.prc.com with 'help' as the
Subject: line for details, or visit Richards page at: http://coyote.vtsu.prc.com:8080/~pbmserv
This appears to be a backgammon server
that allows players with the hotjava browser to play other players. The server
has been created by Lee Smith.
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~leesmith/JavaGammon.html
JavaGammon
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~leesmith/hotjava.html
Info on Java extensions, programs, etc...
There are tournaments on FIBS and
GEnie.
Tournaments on FIBS have been organized by David Escoffery (davide), and
David Eggert (snoopy). contact: davide@sco.com
eggertd@aisb.ed.ac.uk
http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/staff/personal_pages/eggertd/backgammon.html
GEnie has a quarterly single elimination tournament. $25 entry fee. Cash and
credit prizes for first-fourth place. Hourly fee in effect while you play. The
draw is non random, in that previous winners are placed such that they do not
play each other in the first several rounds.
There are no backgammon servers other
than FIBS in operation on the internet at present.
Get 'OK.FAQ' from rec.games.bridge or
rtfm.mit.edu for info on the Internet bridge server.
Reported servers:
telnet okbridge@irc.nsysu.edu.tw 4321
login: okbridge password: okbridge
telnet bridge:bridge.0@zaphod.ttu.ee
login: bridge pasword: bridge.0
[The above servers have been reported to have an annual fee.]
telnet vanderbilt.okbridge.com
[Free guest trials are availble for the above server.]
A further source of information is available at:
http://www.cts.com/~okbridge/
telnet seabass.st.usm.edu 7777 or 134.53.14.112.7777
USA: telnet coolidge.harvard.edu 5555 or 128.103.28.15 5555
Sweden: telnet hippolytos.ud.chalmers.se 5555 or 129.16.79.39 5555
Taiwan: telnet 140.112.50.160 5555
A Xianqi Web page may be read at: http://www.io.org/~sung/xq/xq.html
Othello(tm)/Reversi: telnet faust.uni-paderborn.de 5000
rafael.metiu.ucsb.edu 5000 128.111.246.2 5000
anemone.daimi.aau.dk 5000 130.225.18.58 5000
chess.lm.com 5000 129.15.10.21 5000
It has been reported that the chess servers now charge an anual fee.
igs.nuri.net 6969 203.255.112.3 6969
information: tweet@ig.nuri.net
tcasey@adobe.com
It has been mentioned that it is possible to play chinese chess on this
server.
Information about the checker playing program ``Chinook'' may be obtained by
visiting the web page:
http://web.cs.ualberta.ca/~chinook/
Besides information, the Chinook page lets you play a game on-line against
the computer program which has beaten the human world champion.
http://www.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Games
YAHOO WWW Games Directory
http://www.dcs.qmw.ac.uk/~steed/Games/bygame.html
Games and Puzzles on the Internet
http://www.io.com/games/servers.html
A list of game servers
http://www.inrete.it/games/telnet_e.html
A list of game servers.
Section C: ELECTRONIC BACKGAMMON: VS MACHINE
Ever since Gerry Tesauro finished
TD-Gammon, it was only a matter of time before a neural network program would
become available to the public. That time has come. Fredrik Dahl's masterpiece,
Jellyfish, is a breakthrough for backgammon. Both the checker play and cube
action of the program are at an expert level, making Jellyfish a truly enjoyable
and challenging competitor. In addition the program looks over your plays and
points out when you have made a serious error, making it extremely valuable for
learning purposes.
Jellyfish is run under Windows for the PC. Moves are made with the mouse, and
can be done very quickly and efficiently. The display is nice and easy to see.
Some additional features of the program:
Plays both single games and matches (yes, it understands match equities).
Allows the user to construct positions and save them. Gives the user the
program's evaluation of the equity of a position upon request, and the
evaluation function is surprisingly accurate. Tells the user when he has made an
error in checker play or cube decision, making the program the most valuable
tutor in the world.
In addition, a separate version is expected which will also permit the user
to roll out positions. In the past computer rollouts were always suspect because
the program didn't play well enough so the results could be very distorted. This
is no longer the case, since Jellyfish definitely plays well enough to handle
almost any position adequately. Results from its rollouts can be trusted, and we
will be able to find the answers to many backgammon questions which we
previously did not know.
For the casual player, Jellyfish provides an excellent opponent and a way to
improve while playing. For the serious student of the game, this program is an
absolute must. Our knowledge of the game is about to take a quantum leap, and
the player who does not have access to Jellyfish will be left far behind.
Kit Woolsey
- JellyFish Tutor 1.2 for MS-Windows. US$ 110.
- JellyFish Analyzer 1.0 for MS-Windows US$ 220.
- The Analyzer, will in addition to the Tutor, contain a rollout module It
will be release Jan 16 1995. If you own the Tutor, the Analyzer may be
purchased for the difference in price. If you order the Analyzer before Jan 16
1995, the Tutor will be shipped immediately, followed by the Analyzer when
ready.
- Order from:
- EFFECT Software A/S
P.O. Box 56 Skoyen
N-0212 OSLO
Norway.
Please use International Postal Money Order, or Visa. If you use
Visa, send the account number, date of expiration, amount and signature. You may
also send a check, but in that case please add $10 for expenses.
Hardware requirements: 386sx or better
Software requirements: Windows 3.1
The JellyFish programs come on 3.5'' diskettes.
Also available from: The
GAMMON PRESS , Carol Joy
Cole and The
Dansk Backgammon Forlag.
The program, and technical support are also available from Larry Strommen
within the USA. Contact:
L. A. Strommen; 6866 Meadow View Dr.; Indianapolis, IN 46226
Tel: (317) 545-0224 E-mail: diceman@indy.net Fredrik Dahl
may be contacted at fredrikd@ifi.uio.no
It should be noted that JellyFish uses a copy protection scheme. The program
requires that you ``confirm'' your installation once a month, at the first of
the month, by inserting the original disk. There are no limits to how many
machines you may install the program on. The DOS rollout module is not protected
at all, although the rollout files must be created using JellyFish.
From wbitting@crl.com Sat Sep 16 20:40:09
PDT 1995
Article: 9552 of rec.games.backgammon
From: wbitting@crl.com
(William C. Bitting)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: TD-Gammon
& IBM Family FunPak
Date: 14 Sep 1995 22:41:22 -0700
Excerpted from:
OS/2 Warp Monthly Newsletter September 95 (starting at
p86
of 176, ascii version)
by Jeri Dube
(This section is out of sequence as presented in original article.)
Although playing backgammon on a computer that plays as well as a world class
master seems somewhat awe-inspiring, you can work up to it. The game comes with
five skill settings, where each higher setting uses an increasing larger and
more complex neural network as its underlying engine. If you want to use
TD-Gammon to improve your backgammon skills, it is quite good as a learning
device. Not only do you get feedback from the results of your playing but the
system is quite supportive of you. It gives a modest, `I win' message when you
lose and a hearty `Congratulations, you win!', when the computer loses.
To embody this expert backgammon-playing neural network into an OS/2 game,
IBM Research hired Keith Weiner, a professional PC game developer, to add a
front end written for OS/2's presentation manager. TD-Gammon is fully 32-bit and
takes full advantage of OS/2 Warp's multi-threading capabilities. Like all
presentation manager programs, TD- Gammon comes with a settings notebook where
you can set things such as the background color and the animation speed.
Given the success of the TD-Gammon game, I asked Gerry what his next neural
network game would be. He told me that researchers have used other games such as
Chess, Othello, and Go with varying degrees of success to study neural network
learning. None have been as successful as backgammon. Gerry theorizes that the
stochastic element of backgammon (i.e. throwing the dice) is what makes
backgammon so useful in modeling the self-learning process. With that in mind,
Gerry's next venture into self-learning is with financial time series analysis.
If that project is as successful at learning as the backgammon game, then I'm
really looking forward to that program.
For more information on Gerry's work, you may want to read his article
``Temporal Difference Learning and TD-Gammon'' published in Communications of
the ACM, volume 38, number 3, pp. 58-68 (March 1995).
(The newsletter article starts here and ends with the above 4 paragraphs.)
When most people think of IBM Research, they tend to think of fractals,
scanning- tunneling-electron microscopes, or high temperature superconductivity.
Games are not usually one of the thoughts that come to mind. However, the TD-
Gammon game included in the IBM Family FunPak for OS/2 Warp was developed by IBM
Research.
By virtue of being created at such an auspicious place, you would think that
this version of backgammon is quite special. Well, to be quite honest and not so
humble, it is! TD-Gammon is the most advanced computer version of backgammon. It
can play at the most advanced levels. If the system were a human, it would be
rated as a World Class Master.
TD-Gammon was developed by IBM Research Staff Member, Gerry Tesauro. Gerry is
not a game developer, rather he is a theoretical physicist who has been working
in the area of neural networks and artificial intelligence for several years. He
did not initially intend to develop an OS/2 game for the Family FunPak. All he
wanted to develop was a basic research project to study learning algorithms that
would enable a computer to teach itself a task.
Gerry chose backgammon as the task because it appeared to be a good domain in
which a neural network might work well. At this point you may be wondering now
that I've mentioned it twice, what is a neural network? Well, in short, it's a
model of interconnected neurons (also known as nodes) that was inspired by the
logical neurons in the human nervous system. Each connection between neurons has
a particular weight value associated with it.
In the case of backgammon, the state of the backgammon board is fed into
input neurons that have connections to hidden neurons (or units). These hidden
neurons in turn connect to an output layer that holds the value of the state
(that is, the chances of winning from that particular state). The computation
between the input neurons and the hidden neurons is a weighted linear summation
of all the input neurons. The result of the summation is put through a
thresholding function. This function compresses the value to lie within a
certain range of probabilities. (In case it ever comes up in conversation, the
function is known as a squashing function.) The squashing function is a non-
linear function. The non-linearity allows a system to learn more complex
functions.
To use this model to teach a system backgammon, all the initial weights
between the neurons are randomly set. The neural network starts from the opening
backgammon position and plays both sides until one of the sides wins. The
outcome of the game is used as a reward signal for reinforcement learning. That
is, the neural network takes the outcome of the game and adjusts the weights
accordingly. The adjustments improve the network's ability to evaluate board
states for subsequent plays of the game.
This learning process is repeated hundreds and thousands of times. Using an
RS/6000 computer, the learning actually took about two weeks. Gerry and his
colleagues were amazed at how well the neural network learned to play
backgammon. The system kept getting better and better until it reached the world
class master status. Actually, the neural network could improve its play even
more with further training and a larger network.
TD-Gammon is available on the new IBM Family FunPak for OS/2. The FunPak may
be purchased from Indulable Blue [add url] or from a number of other mail order
software houses.
From: jiml@teleport.com (Jim Little)
Newsgroups:
comp.os.os2.games,rec.games.backgammon
Subject: TD-Gammon available for free
download
Date: 9 Nov 1995 23:52:45 -0800
IBM has made TD-Gammon, their supposedly groundbreaking neural network- based
version of Backgammon, available for free download. It seems to be part of an
attempt to promote their IBM Family FunPack. You can get it by surfing to http://www.austin.ibm.com/pspinfo/funtdgammon.html
and following the "Read the license information" link. You will have to fill out
a form with your name, address, etc. (But nothing forces you to enter valid
information. ;) )
From their web page: "TD Gammon requires OS/2 2.1 or higher, an Intel 386-SX
or higher, with Advanced and Expert levels requiring a 486-DX 33MHz or higher,
and a minimum of 6 meg of memory is recommended."
-Jim Little (jiml@teleport.com)
[md] The original article is available at: http://www.austin.ibm.com/psinfo/m4bakgam.htm
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
From: tesauro@watson.ibm.com (Gerry Tesauro)
Subject: TD-Gammon paper available by FTP
Sender: Gerald Tesauro (tesauro@watson.ibm.com)
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1993 18:06:35 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily
those of IBM.
The following paper, which has been accepted for publication in Neural
Computation, has been placed in the neuroprose archive at Ohio State.
Instructions for retrieving the paper by anonymous ftp are appended below.
---------------------------------------------------------------
TD-Gammon, A Self-Teaching Backgammon Program,
Achieves Master-Level Play
Gerald Tesauro
IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
P. O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
(tesauro@watson.ibm.com)
Abstract:
TD-Gammon is a neural network that is able to teach itself
to play backgammon solely by playing against itself and learning from the
results, based on the TD(lambda) reinforcement learning algorithm (Sutton,
1988). Despite starting from random initial weights (and hence random initial
strategy), TD-Gammon achieves a surprisingly strong level of play. With zero
knowledge built in at the start of learning (i.e. given only a ``raw''
description of the board state), the network learns to play at a strong
intermediate level. Furthermore, when a set of hand-crafted features is added to
the network's input representation, the result is a truly staggering level of
performance: the latest version of TD-Gammon is now estimated to play at a
strong master level that is extremely close to the world's best human players.
---------------------------------------------------------------
FTP INSTRUCTIONS
unix% ftp archive.cis.ohio-state.edu (or 128.146.8.52)
Name: anonymous
Password: (use your e-mail address)
ftp> cd pub/neuroprose
ftp> binary
ftp> get tesauro.tdgammon.ps.Z
ftp> bye
unix% uncompress tesauro.tdgammon.ps
unix% lpr tesauro.tdgammon.ps
For a list of articles written by Gerry Tesauro, check out: A List of
Backgammon Articles in Science and Business
Expert Backgammon 2.1 for PC:
List of features.
Mark Damish E-Mail: damish@ll.mit.edu
Here is some initial information on Expert Backgammon version 2.1 for the IBM
PC.
- Intro:
- I remember November 92, the first time I walked into a backgammon club to
participate in a tourney. After playing on FIBS for a month, I thought that I
was already a decent player. Wrong. I won a match, and lost a match.
Afterwards, I played a few games for $1/point. I reached a simple and common
holding game position where I was doubled, and thought surely it was worth
25%, and took. My opponent, being helpful to a newcomer, pointed out that the
position was only worth about 15%. Later, I was able to verify his claim using
Expert Backgammon, and had my first 'benchmark' position. I have since used
Expert Backgammon to benchmark many other simple positions, as well as to play
hundreds of games against it.
- What it is:
- Expert Backgammon, (EXBG), is a program which allows you to play
backgammon against the computer either in a `money' or `tournament' format. It
also allows you enter a position, and let the computer `roll it out' --- that
is, to let it play both sides many times, and show you the results. Expert
Backgammon is currently one of the stronger computer program available
commercially, and the game version is quite affordable!
- Brief Description of EXBG versions:
- Expert Backgammon is currently available in two releases: 1.61, and 2.1.
Release 2.1 has 3 different versions, with different features
EXBG 2.1 GAME VERSION $50. Plays the game of backgammon.
EXBG 2.1 EXPERT VERSION $150. Plays BG, and Rolls out positions.
EXBG 2.1 PRO VERSION $300. Plays BG, and Rolls out positions. Has
some advanced rollout features.
EXBG 1.61 EXPERT VERSION $100 Plays BG, and Rolls out positions.
Upgrades from EXBG 1.61[expert] to EXBG 2.1[expert] $60
Upgrades from EXBG 1.61[expert] to EXBG 2.1[pro] $200
There are other upgrades available for the other versions as well.
- Some Random Features (pro version):
-
- Fast non mouse interface for moving the checkers.
- Match or Money play options.
- Optional Jacoby rule.
- Cube profile statistics.
- Save positions for future evaluation.
- Save games to be played back later.
- Computer can suggest a move.
- Shot counter.
- Computer can finish game, when it becomes routine.
- Woolsey or 35% (Friedman?) match equity table for matches.
- Pip count.
- Quick or Extended cube searches. Speed vs. accuracy.
- Rollouts:
- Random dice.
- Sequenced dice for one or two sides. That is all 36 possible starting
combinations for one or two sides.
- Rollout multiple positions simultaneously in batch mode.
- Duplicate dice when rolling out multiple positions.
- Speed:
- Less than 5 seconds per game to play a game from the starting position on
a 486DX2-66 processer. This assumes that the graphical display is disabled.
ie: moves and rolls are not shown.
- Strength:
- Seems stronger than 1.61.
Strength is also a somewhat controversial subject. Can the machine play a
complex prop as well as a human who is familiar with the position? Does the
machine have any 'blind spots' in early game play? Can it 'work a prime' to
get a second checker when needed? Does it blitz too often, not enough? 'Seems
stronger' is as far as I'll venture until I learn more about how to play the
game myself! See the section on How
good is good? for Bill Roberties ratings of backgammon programs.
- Copy Protection:
- The program is copy protected. The distribution disks will allow you to
install the program to two hard disks, as well as allowing you to run the
program from the floppy. You may 'uninstall' the program from the hard disk,
back to the floppy for installation on another disk/machine if required. It is
best to uninstall the program before using backup programs, or reformatting
your hard disk/partition, as you can loose your installation.
Early
versions of 1.61 used a differant scheme. They simply stopped running after a
certain date. The authur supplies free updates to those with the early
protection scheme.
- Sample Cube Analysis Screen:
B L A C K C U B I N G A N A L Y S I S
C U B E Game won by - lost by Gammons Backgammons Equity
location size cube play cube play won lost won lost /Game
Center 1 47 3 22 8 4 9 0 0 0.108
Black 2 8 0 0 11 0 0 0 1 -0.600
Red 2 0 21 2 2 4 0 2 0 2.000
Black 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.000
Red 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Black 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 -8.000
01-21-1994 The Jacoby Rule was NOT USED
Only Money Play with Extended Cube Search
MARK won 61.074% of the games played
Equity for MARK = 0.349 per game for 149 games
Cubeless equity for MARK = 0.228
Net equity when Black took a 2 cube = -0.870 per game
Net equity when Red took a 2 cube = 1.879 per game
[An above average performance in this set.]
- Help Screen:
F1 = MENU OF AVAILABLE OPTIONS - Professional Edition
A - Automatic Double Ctrl+A - Automatic Concession
B - Beaver Ctrl+B - Clear Board
C - Checker Setup Ctrl+C - Cube Setup
D - Double the Cube Ctrl+D - Manual Dice Entry
E - Extended Cube Search Ctrl+E - Match Equity
F - New Player Name Ctrl+F - File - Alternate Path
G - Game - Money or Match Play Ctrl+G - Delete Game
H - On-Line Help Service Ctrl+H - Using Option Defaults
I - Invert Position Ctrl+I - Alter the Starting Position
J - Jacoby Rule Ctrl+J - Title for Rollout
K - Monitor Type Ctrl+K - Player Cube Profile
L - Level of Difficulty Ctrl+L - Listing of Game
M - Take Back Move
N - Sound Ctrl+N - Start New Game
O - Options Currently Selected Ctrl+O - Open Position
P - Player on Roll Ctrl+P - Print Position
Q - Show PiP Count Ctrl+Q - Black Shotcounter
R - Replay Game Ctrl+R - Rollout Position
S - Speed of Checker Movement Ctrl+S - Save Position
T - Suggest Move for Black Ctrl+T - Match Win % Table
U - Skip Save Game/Position Ctrl+U - Delete Position
V - Black Detailed Shotcounter
W - Expert to Finish the Game Ctrl+W - Write Rollout to Disk
X - Cancel Move and Reroll Dice Ctrl+X - Print Disk Rollout
Z - Zero the Score
Spacebar - Roll the Dice Escape - Leave EXBG
- Rollout summary printout:
EXPERT BACKGAMMON ROLLOUT SUMMARY
Date: 12-12-1993 Games viewed = 0
File: 65_21_A Summary only = 1296
Version: 2.1 1296 games rolled out at
Used Hrs:Min:Sec 1:37:41 4.522 seconds per game.
Batched Duplicate Rollout of 1296 games.
No doubling allowed - Cube at 1 level
[ Diagram of board position was cut from here...]
O on roll.
O won
45.83% games 594
11.42% gammons 148
0.46% backgammons 6
---------------------------
57.72% of the games 748
+0.170 points per game.
X won
32.18% games 417
9.41% gammons 122
0.69% backgammons 9
---------------------------
42.28% of the games. 548
-0.170 points per game.
The dice rolls were generated randomly.
Note: There is also a screen which shows the results of several games
rolled out simultaniously.
Note: Above screens were 'captured' by redirecting my printer port to
a file, and have been edited slightly.
- Ordering Info:
- Tom Weaver
Expert Backgammon
8063 Meadow Road, # 108
Dallas,
Texas
75231
Call: Expert Backgammon (214) 692-1234 M-F 10am-10pm Central US time. An
answering service answers when Tom isn't around.
Tom also has an email address: tomweave@netcom.com
Also available from Carol Joy
Cole and The
GAMMON PRESS.
A Macintosh version of Expert Backgammon is also available. Contact the
sources above, or Tom Johnson (auther) directly atkomodo@netcom.com. A demo of the Macintosh
version is available for anonymous ftp from: ftp://ftp.cybercom.net/pub/users/damish/backgammon/exbgdemo.sea.
A backgammon program for MS-DOS
"I believe Blot makes primarily other mistakes than the backgammon programs I
know. Due to the selective (rather speculative) style definitely Blot is
tactically the weakest program of all (with outrageous blunders in the endgame),
but positionally not as flawed as many computer opponents."
Blot has good results against many backgammon progs (see blot.doc).
If you have any comments on blot, the authors are glad to receive mail from
you. In case you don't want to bother with sending (real) mail, you can E-mail
me, I'll forward your comments to the authors.
The programm is still being developed, so be prepaired to get new blot
versions soon :-).
I hope you enjoy the programm!
Alexander Fuchs
available from: ftp://ftp.cybercom.net/pub/users/damish/backgammon/
Backgammon, by
George! Version 1.50 has been available since June 1995. This shareware ($15)
program is suitable for Windows 3.x and Windows 95 and may be downloaded from
the WINFUN forum in CompuServe and other places on the net. If you can't find it
contact the author:
George Sutty P.O.Box 6247
Huntinton Beach, CA 92615
USA
sutty@ix.netcom.com
Backgammon for Windows version 0.6
A fairly weak backgammon program for windows, originally introduced in 1990.
bg06 is available for anonymous ftp from ftp.cica.indiana.edu in the
directory /pub/win3/games/
There is a backgammon
game for the Macintosh by Stephen Young, Debra Willrett, and David Young. The
1.0 version is fairly widespread, although there is a 2.0 version (dated May 25,
1989) available on America Online. The play is pretty weak, and the graphics are
designed for the original small B&W Mac screen, but if you're really bored
and can't find a human opponent, it works. The game is freeware, and you get
what you pay for.
-- Paul Ferguson
For those interested in a
good bg game for Windows, why not try Death By Backgammon for Windows. It runs
under Windows 3.1 or OS2/2.1, and features animated dice/game pieces,
comprehensive help, move undo, suggest move, speed control over all motion, and
is fully resizeable. Best of all, its strategy is very competitive (I wrote the
thing, and have a roughly 50:50 average against it over many hundreds of games).
If you are interested, I would be happy to send out a shareware version for
evaluation. The shareware version is fully functional, except that the
computer's moves are painfully slow. There is also a DOS version, which is a bit
older, but still features animation and VGA graphics.
To get hold of the program there are two options:
- To get the shareware version, (free of charge) let me know and I can email
you a zipped uuencoded version of the shareware. Alternatively, I can send you
a floppy if you provide your mailing address.
- To get a registered copy of the program, send a cheque made out to Chris
Kanaris, and I will email or post as above.
Prices: Shareware - Nil
Registered: WIN $AS 35.00, $US 30.00.
DOS $AS 20.00, $US1 5.00.
My Postal address is: Chris Kanaris
PO Box 495
Essendon,
Victoria, 3040
Australia.
[ People who have tried the shareware version claim that the program plays a
pretty weak game. Hopefully computer bg game writers will continue to make their
games stronger and stronger. Not and easy task! ]
From: klasen@obelix.uni-muenster.de at SMTP-Post-Office
Subject: contribution to FAQ
xgammon.0.96
xgammon is a BG-playing programm originally written for Linux.
The authors are Lambert Klasen (klasen@uni-muenster.de) and
Detlef Steuer (steuer@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de, blotstorm on FIBS)
Features:
xgammon is Freeware under the Gnu Copyright.
xgammon has nice graphical interface, you move by clicking on mousebuttons.
You can do a maildump for a position, that means you get a file with
a FIBS style board with current position in it.
You can do money game or tournament game.
You can edit positions via mouse on the board or via ascii plain text files.
You can turn doubling on and off.
You can do rollouts with doubling turned on and off.
The programm uses an endgame database for perfect bearing off (and for
reasonable running game).
There is an compi_finish for shorten the boring part of the game.
and and and ....
You can have fun with xgammon.
Give xgammon a chance getting compiled on your machine.
We'd like any reactions, especially porting reports to OS different
from Linux.
(heard of AIX and Sun OS compiling), especially bug reports .
Send a mail if you use it, please!
You find the latest Version of xgammon, at the time xgammon.0.96.tar.gz,
at ftp sunsite.unc.edu /pub/Linux/X11/games/strategy/xgammon.0.96.tar.gz.
Detlef Steuer
steuer@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de
(blotstorm on FIBS)
Other programs that can be found around the
net include: backga.zip, egagam20.zip pcgame.zip, pcgam416.zip and pcgammon.zip.
Check DOS related ftp sites for locations.
Program Name Source Type Score
----------------- ------ ------ ------
TD-GAMMON 2.1 N/A N/A -0.05
TD-GAMMON IBM OS/2
JellyFish 1.0 Dahl IBM-PC/Win -0.15
Expert BG 2.1 Weaver IBM-PC -0.20
Expert BG 1.61 Weaver IBM-PC -0.35
Championship BG Spinnaker IBM-PC -0.66
Expert BG Komodo Macintosh -0.82
Sensory BG 2 Scitek Portable -0.94
Backgammon Odesta IBM-PC -1.20
BG by George GS Labs IBM-PC/Win -1.52
Video Gammon Baudville IBM-PC -1.61
PC-Gammon Repsted IBM-PC -3.67
Gammon Gakken Portable -12.40
Windows BG Baudville IBM-PC/Win -13.83
Gammon Pal Fidelity Portable -15.63
Micro BG Fidelity Portable -15.53
Games People Play Toolworks IBM-PC -26.60
[ From the 1994 The GAMMON PRESS catalog.
and program reviews in Inside Backgammon.]
Score is the number of points won per game, on average, against a top
flight human player. Very large numbers are caused by bad doubling algorithms
which cause a program to double when behind (typically when primed but ahead in
the race), causing the computer to lose some very large cubes.
There are two basic ways that a computer can play a game as
well as or better than humans. One is to be really smart, the other is to do an
awful lot of work. The general strategy most game-playing programs use is to use
an evaluation function that isn't very smart, but to make up for it by looking
ahead a lot of moves (doing a lot of work).
With chess, there are typically 20-30 moves by each player per turn. With
backgammon, there are 21 unique rolls and often 4-6 ways to play each one (not
counting doubles with could have 10 or more ways of playing). This makes it very
difficult to look ahead very many levels. Looking ahead 3 moves by both players
examining all possibilities when there are 25 choices at each play requires
evaluating "only" 244 million positions. If there are 90 ways to play each move,
there are 530,000 million, positions.
With a game like chess, one can discard all but the best 5 or 10 plays per
person. With backgammon, there are always 21 different choices of best plays,
depending on the dice. This makes it crucial to have an excellent evaluation
function.
The difficulty in doing this is that factors such as the race have a
different effect on the value of the position depending on what stage the game
is in. Consider the concept of timing -- hard enough for people to grasp,
extremely difficult for computers.
Another example of the difficulty of evaluating plays: It's almost always
beneficial to close out your opponents checkers. But if you've hit one checker
and you almost have to hit a second to be able to win, closing out your opponent
is very bad.
-michael j zehr
Further information relating to machine learning in games may be found at: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~jay/learn-game/systems/gammon.html
[NOTE: Programs that play
backgammon are in the section: Are
there any BG programs out there for my computer? Where are they? " ie:
JellyFish & Expert Backgammon.]
Boinq is a program which analyzes bearoffs.
It can handle any position where both sides have all their men in the inner
board. All results are cubeless. For any position you enter, you can get the
probabality of each side winning, equity on a 1-cube, proper way to play any
roll of the dice, and a distribution of probabality of bearing off in any number
of rolls. The results are displayed virtually instantaneously, since they are
read directly from a data file rather than done by simulation. Very user
friendly and easy to use -- I use it a lot for a quick check on bearoff
problems. Program takes about 4 meg, so have some room on your hard disk.
Produced by Hal Heinrich -- cost is $100 I think. Can contact Hal at:
Hal Heinrich
#203, 215 14th Ave. SW
Calgary, AB
Canada T2R 0M2
Phone: (403) 234-9944
E-mail address: heinrich@cuug.ab.ca
Kit
[Note: Also available from Carol Joy
Cole]
[Note: As far as I know, this is a PC program ...Mark]
Hyper-Backgammon is a short
version of backgammon where each side has three checkers. In initial position,
these checkers start on opponent's ace, two and three points. From then on
normal backgammon rules apply. Cube is in play, Jacoby rule, gammons and
backgammons count (and are quite frequent). Proper play is much more subtle than
might be imagined. The program produced by Hugh Sconyers plays the game
perfectly, since Hugh has established a full data base which has the equities
for all possible positions, and the program will tell you if you make an error.
It can be a lot of fun to play, the games go quickly, and by playing the program
you learn pretty quickly the correct strategies.
Kit
[Note: Also available from Carol Joy
Cole and The
GAMMON PRESS] [Note: The distribution is a CD-ROM for the PC ...Mark]
Volume 1: Bearoff Equities and Backgame Probabilities
INTRODUCTION:
This CD-ROM disk contains two large databases of equities and probabilities.
One database has the exact equities for all bearoff positions when each side has
9 men or less. The other database contains the probabilities for getting hit or
hitting a man when one side has a backgame of 4 men or less.
The bearoff database is over 400 MB and contains the answers to over
100,000,000 bearoff problems! In addition, you can do a MONTE CARLO simulation
on any bearoff position with more than 9 men on a side. The program also has a
feature which finds the best move given a specific position and dice roll.
The backgame database is 90 MB and contains the answers to over 22,000,000
backgame positions (some of them are not legal positions). There is a feature
which finds the best move given a dice roll and position.
These databases will help settle many questions about fair settlement and the
best moves.
BEAROFF:
Once the program has been loaded you can enter any bearoff position, assuming
that all men are in their home board. If both positions you enter have 9 men or
less, the program will give you the EXACT equities for all 4 cube positions - NO
CUBE, ROLLER'S CUBE, CENTER CUBE, AND NON ROLLER'S CUBE. In addition, it will
display the proper cube decision. These cube equities, as throughout this
bearoff program, are the equities if you roll with the cube in that position.
To compute the proper settlement in any bearoff position(assuming you are
going to roll with the cube in that position) you would multiply the equity
times the value of the cube.
After the equities are displayed, you are given a chance to find the best
move for the position you have just entered. Keep in mind your best move in the
bearoff is the one that leaves your opponent with the smallest equity. The best
move will often be different depending on the cube position.
If you enter a bearoff position where one or both side have more than 9 men
you will enter the MONTE CARLO subroutine. You will first be asked how many
simulations you want to run. There is a limit of 30,000. This Monte Carlo
subroutine rolls the dice and moves the men until each side has 9 men or less.
Then it looks up the exact answers from the database. With a few hundred
simulations the NO CUBE result should be very close to exact. The other cube
positions results will be distorted by the fact that this subroutine assumes
that there is no doubling until the positions are back in the database (ie each
side has 9 men or less). For example, if you have 12 men and the cube is in the
center and your opponent has 12 men, the cube will stay in the center until each
side has 9 men or less. At that point, the subroutine will retrieve the exact
equity from the database.
BACKGAME:
Once the program has finished loading you can enter any backgame position
provided the position not bearing off has 4 men or less. The side bearing off
can have from 1 to 15 men. The program will return two probabilities: one for
each side being on roll. These results are the probabilities that the side
bearing off will have a man hit.
After the probabilities are displayed, you are given a chance to find the
best move for the position you have just entered. Keep in mind that the best
move for the position bearing off is the one that leaves the other side with the
smallest probability of hitting a man. The best move for the side in the
backgame is the one that gives it the highest probability of hitting a man.
This program assumes that the side playing the backgame has infinite timing;
ie, he will never be forced to leave his opponent's home board. It follows from
this assumption that the backgame side can take some, part or none of any roll.
Sony's MMCD Player:
This disc works on an MMCD player also. Sony makes this very small CD-ROM
player which takes special exe files. This disc works both for dos and MMCD. The
MMCD version is the same as the PC version except in a few places. To start the
program place the disc in the MMCD player and turn the power on. If you plan to
use the bestmove feature and the MONTE CARLO routine you will need to put the
Volume #1 disc in the player after the program loads. The MONTE CARLO
simulations are limited to 20,000 games.
Volume 2: Bearoff Equities for 4 Points and 15 Men
INTRODUCTION:
This CD-ROM disk contains two databases of equities for the bearoff. The
first database(4X15) has the exact equities for all bearoff positions when each
side has 15 men or less on the first 4 points. The second database(3X15)
contains the exact equities for all bearoff positions when each side has 15 men
on the first 3 points. The second database is a subset of the first. The smaller
database(3X15) is included for a number of reasons, which will be explained
later. Everything that follows applies to the 3X15 database when the 4's are
change to 3's etc.
The bearoff database for 4 points and 15 men is over 240 MB and contains the
answers to over 60,000,000 bearoff problems! In addition, you can do a MONTE
CARLO simulation for any bearoff position where one or both sides have men on
the 5 or 6 points(4,5 or 6 in the case of the 3X15 database). The program also
has a feature which finds the best move given a specific position and dice roll.
These databases can help settle many questions about fair settlement and the
best moves.
BEAROFF EQUITIES:
Once the program has loaded you can enter any bearoff position, assuming that
all men are in their home board. If both positions you enter have all their men
on the first 4 points, the program will give you the EXACT equities for all 4
cube positions - NO CUBE, ROLLER'S CUBE, CENTER CUBE, and NON ROLLER'S CUBE. In
addition, it will display the proper cube decision and probability for winning
in the no cube case. These cube equities, as throughout this bearoff program,
are the equities if you roll with the cube in that position. If you find an
equity greater than 1.000 or less than -1.000 this is due to the fact that a
position with 15 men can still lose a gammon.
To compute the proper settlement in any bearoff position(assuming you are
going to roll with the cube in that position) you would multiply the equity
times the value of the cube.
After the equities are displayed, you have an opportunity to find the best
move for the position you have just entered. Keep in mind your best move in the
bearoff is the one that leaves your opponent with the smallest equity. The best
move will often be different depending on the cube position.
If you enter a bearoff position where one or both side have men on the 5 or 6
points you will automatically enter the MONTE CARLO subroutine. You will first
be asked how many simulations you want to run. There is a limit of 30,000. This
Monte Carlo subroutine rolls the dice and moves the men until each side has all
men on the first 4 points. Then it looks up the exact answers from the database.
With a few hundred simulations the NO CUBE result should be very close to exact.
The other cube positions results will be distorted by the fact that this
subroutine assumes that there is no doubling until the positions are back in the
database (ie each side has all men on the first 4 points). For example, if you
have 12 men on the one and 3 men on the 5 point versus the same, the cube stays
in the current position until both sides have all their men on the first four
points. At that point, the subroutine will retrieve the exact equity from the
database.
THE 3X15 DATABASE:
There are several reasons that this database is included. First, it is
small(only 10 MB!). This will allow it, if you desire, to be copied to your hard
disk(be sure to copy BEQT4X15.EXE, helvb.fon and tmsrb.fon). Secondly, the 3X15
database has an advantage in speed when doing MONTE CARLO simulations.
Simulations will run faster at the expense of some accuracy. If you have copied
the 3X15 database to your hard disk it will run MONTE CARLO simulations
substantially faster.
Volume 3: Bearoff Equities for 6 Points and 10 Men
INTRODUCTION:
This CD-ROM disk contains a database of equities for the bearoff. The
database has the exact equities for all bearoff positions where one side has 10
men in the home board and the other side has 10 men or less in the home board.
The bearoff database for 6 points and 10 men is over 625 MB and contains the
answers to over 156,000,000 bearoff problems! In addition, you can do a MONTE
CARLO simulation for any bearoff position where one or both sides have more than
10 men. The results of these simulations will be more accurate than the results
from Volume #1. The program also has a feature which finds the best move given a
specific position and dice roll. You will need Volume #1 to use the MONTE CARLO
feature and you may need Volume #1 for the best move feature.
These databases can help settle many questions about fair settlement and the
best moves.
BEAROFF EQUITIES:
Once the program has loaded you can enter any bearoff position, assuming that
all men are in their home board. If you enter a position where both positions
have 9 men or less you will get an error message because all these positions are
on Volume #1. For positions where one side has 10 men and the other side has 10
men or less, the program will give you the EXACT equities for all 4 cube
positions - NO CUBE, ROLLER'S CUBE, CENTER CUBE, and NON ROLLER'S CUBE. In
addition, it will display the proper cube decision and probability for winning
in the no cube case. These cube equities, as throughout this bearoff program,
are the equities if you roll with the cube in that position.
To compute the proper settlement in any bearoff position (assuming you are
going to roll with the cube in that position) you would multiply the equity
times the value of the cube.
After the equities are displayed, you have an opportunity to find the best
move for the position you have just entered. Keep in mind your best move in the
bearoff is the one that leaves your opponent with the smallest equity. The best
move will often be different depending on the cube position. For some positions
you will need Volume #1.
If you enter a bearoff position where one or both sides have more than 10 men
you will automatically enter the MONTE CARLO subroutine. You will need Volume #1
to use this subroutine. You will first be asked how many simulations you want to
run. There is a limit of 30,000. This Monte Carlo subroutine rolls the dice and
moves the men until both sides have 10 men on less. Then it looks up the exact
answers from the database. With a few hundred simulations the NO CUBE result
should be very close to exact. The other cube positions results will be
distorted by the fact that this subroutine assumes that there is no doubling
until the positions are back in the database (ie each side has all men on the
first 4 points). For example, if you have 12 men on the six point and 3 men on
the 5 point versus the same, the cube stays in the current position until both
sides have 10 men or less. At that point, the subroutine stores that position
and later retrieves the exact equity from the database on Volume #3 or Volume
#1.
Sony's MMCD Player:
This disc works on an MMCD player also. Sony makes this very small CD-ROM
player which takes special exe files. This disc works both for dos and MMCD. The
MMCD version is the same as the PC version except in a few places. To start the
program place the disc in the MMCD player and turn the power on. If you plan to
use the bestmove feature and the MONTE CARLO routine you will need to put the
Volume #1 disc in the player after the program loads. The MONTE CARLO
simulations are limited to 20,000 games.
Available from Carol Joy
Cole, The
GAMMON PRESS and The
Backgammon Shop for $99 per volume.
If you have any comments or questions, please forward them to the
Hugh Sconyers
sconyers@bga.com
With the MatchQiz software,
Kit Woolsey (long time contributer to Inside Backgammon and Backgammon with the
Champions, author of How to Play Tournament Backgammon, and currently ranked #9
in the world) has added his name to the short list of backgammon indispensables.
The very short list. Magriel, Robertie, Woolsey. I think that's all you really
need.
MatchQiz is more than very good; it is the single best tool I know of for
transforming your game from intermediate to expert. First let me describe the
format:
You choose a match from a menu, and the computer shows you the starting
position and opening roll. *Then you choose your play.* Now you get to see the
actual play, plus Kit Woolsey's commentary. This happens for every play, every
cube decision. It is an improvement over printed annotated matches in several
ways:
Convenience and speed. How many times have you followed a match on your own
board only to find that the moves and commentary have stopped making sense?
Perhaps you moved the wrong piece two rolls ago? Or was it three rolls ago?
Maybe you should just start this game over. Never again with MQ.
How many hints do you receive when going over printed matches? You can see
that the player drops the cube because a new game begins next page. Or did the
index card you use to cover the bottom of the page slip, denying you the chance
to come up with your play without seeing Svobodny's? Not with MQ.
Perfect use of default options. Do you have a tendency to forget the cube in
complex positions? MQ will let you make that mistake -- but will chide you for
it.
Of course the format wouldn't mean much if the annotations weren't up to par.
But they are exquisite. Woolsey is complete, concise, and entertaining. He
covers all aspects of play, from the most elementary opening moves to the most
subtle match equity considerations. Here is one small sample:
``This is an expert play which many players would not find. If
Magriel quietly plays 13/5, O'Laughlin will be free to make any point that his
dice dictate, and Magriel will be poorly placed in the upcoming prime vs.
prime battle since he will have two men back will O'Laughlin will have only
one man back. Magriel's play forces O'Laughlin to attack on the bar point
whether he wants to or not, thus preventing him from making optimal use of
such point making numbers as 42 or 51. It is thematic when you have the better
board and your opponent has one man back to split your runners to make it
difficult for your opponent to catch up in the board-building battle.'' You
get this level of analysis after every nearly every play.
One final benefit that might go unnoticed is volume. Woolsey has 18 matches
available now, and volume four is due soon. That is quite a library. Often an
annotater will mention some general theme or principle and show how it applies
it to a specific position. But would that principle apply if the position were
slightly different? With the MQ library, you will be able to compare similar
positions and examine if the same principles apply. This is especially true for
the opening phase of the game, where the same sorts of decisions come up all the
time.
Woolsey sells one match for $20, or a set of 6 for $100. This is a fantastic
deal considering that most printed annotated matches go for $20 or so, and I
guarantee that you'll get more use out of these. Write to:
Hal Heinrich
#203, 215 14th Ave. SW
Calgary, AB
Canada T2R 0M2
or call (403) 234-9944
Jeremy Bagai
[Note: Also available from Carol Joy
Cole and The
GAMMON PRESS] [Note: This program is written for the IBM-PC, but it 'should'
run under "Soft-PC" for the Macintosh, any level, as the graphics are CGA
(640x200x2) ...Mark]
From: kwoolsey@netcom.com (Kit
Woolsey)
Subject: Matchqiz Demo
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1]
As many of you know, Hal Heinrich and I have produced several annotated
matches which run on computer (PC only -- sorry, you MAC users). Hal is the
programmer, I wrote the annotations. We have a demo match which we give away for
free, so I thought it would be a good idea to make it available on the net both
for the enjoyment of R.G.B. readers and, of course, to entice you to purchase
the other annotated matches. This is my first effort at doing this so I may have
screwed up somewhere -- if so, please let me know what went wrong.
The program can be gotten via an anonymous ftp to ftp.netcom.com. go to the
directory /pub/kw/kwoolsey/gammon/matchqiz -- there you will find 2 files. One
is: readme, which is instructions for retrieving and running the program. The
other is: mqizdemo.exe, which is the program and necessary files.
Feel free to distribute this demo package to any friends who may be
interested. If you run into any problems, please contact me at: kwoolsey@netcom.com
Kit Woolsey
[9507]
BPA is a program which has three basic features: The CPW of a position, the
correct way to play either one or two numbers of a roll, and the number of rolls
that bear-off all checkers in N turns.
The data base is uniquely compressed to fit within 20 megabytes and covers
all home board positions, many bear-in positions where you are setting up to
bear-off, and a single checker race. In the single checker race, any number of
checkers can be off and the single checker can be on any point from the 7 to the
19 point. Contact is allowed and a cpw will be calculated if the opponents
position is in the data base, but contact is ignored in the calculation. Thus
there are over 25 BILLION positions covered, not counting all the single checker
positions. That's a very efficient use of data in memory. This concentration is
possible because the answer for the cpw is an approximation, not an exact
figure. However, the approximation is very good. Using an extended calculation
from where others had left off, the expected error in the range of 20 to 80 % is
0.04%. This is good enough to make all checker plays accurately. ( Ok, you'll be
able to find a few positions where the play made is off by a very small fraction
of 1%.)
When you have either one or two numbers you want to play, BPA will give an
answer very quickly by looking into the data base and checking all possible ways
to play the number(s).
The number of rolls to bear-off in N turns is very helpful in understanding
what is going on in certain positions, but is not for everyone.
BPA is supplied with all the data calculated, and is distributed on 14
diskettes. It is currently not copy protected but because of the extent of
illegal distribution that has gone on, it will be protected in the future. Each
program is individualized by showing a subsciber's name on the screen. btw, if
anyone has an illegal copy and wants to get registered at no cost to them, they
should contact me at diceman@indy.net for the procedure. This is a limited time
offer and will end when and if BPA is integrated into any of the commercial game
playing programs. Registered users will receive an upgraded EXE file to be able
to use BPA with such a program.
Larry Strommen diceman@indy.net
Available from Larry
Strommen and Carol Joy
Cole
Software Review: BG-SCRIBE, A Program
By Walter Trice.
Mark Damish (E-mail: damish@ll.mit.edu)
BG-Scribe -- A system for editing, replaying, and printing backgammon matches
for the IBM-PC by Walter Trice.
This is a program which I consider essential for myself. It will:
- Allow one to enter matches from books and magazines, or from those
personally recorded, to be played back and studied later. Entry is done using
the numeric keypad. After a while, you end up being able to enter a match very
quickly, and become quite proficient at touch-typing the keypad to boot. An
`AT' style keyboard is preferable for entering matches.
- Play back matches purchased from Walter. Watching great matches between
the masters is definitely enlightening. My favorite matches are the ones from
annotated books. It shouldn't be hard to write a program to convert a match
from one format to another, if already have a collection of matches. I've
converted matches posted to Internet by Butch Meese using nothing more than
simple editor macros. The matches are currently stored as plain ASCII
files---one directory per match, and one file per game.
- Print out matches to disk or printer. I like to: print out to disk,
annotate my comments using a simple editor, then print the resulting file to a
printer. The program will also embed diagrams of positions to the printout,
but it uses IBM graphics characters, which might have to be changed if your
printer doesn't support them. The diagram feature is especially useful for
diagramming doubling decisions.
The program is run from one of two screens. The first is a text screen with
options for creating a new match, loading, saving, etc.
The second screen displays the backgammon board using a CGA 4 color, 40
column text mode. Trust me here---this mode, with its X's and O's, looks a lot
better than backgammon boards I've seen drawn using the CGA 2 color graphics
mode. Why CGA text mode? Probably because it will run on any portable or palmtop
machine, and likely on most PC emulators on other platforms. It also runs fine
in a window under MS Windows, without having to mess around with a .pif file.
The second screen is where matches are entered or played back. When playing
back a match, you may see the dice, then the players choice, and then see the
move when the screen is updated. It is possible to go forwards or backwards in a
game. Although you may have entered your rolls in `landing spot' format, the
program can optionally display them in `from/to' format. It only prints in the
format which it was entered though. You may also mark positions which you would
like to have diagrammed.
As stated above, the user interface consists of two screens. Unlike modern
X/Windows/Mac programs which do a lot for you, this program assumes that what
you tell, or don't tell the program is exactly what you want. I.E.: You can
enter data, then quit the program. If you didn't save, the program won't prompt
you. It is like driving a standard after getting used to cruise control. The
program does a lot, you have to remember to tell it what to do though! The
learning curve has a slight incline, but the program is well worth the time it
takes to become familiar with it. I found the instructions clear.
I want to start bringing pen and steno paper to local events to record some
`master games' for later entry/playback. I also want to review some of my `bad
games', searching for weakness. There is a lot to be learned!
The price of the program is $50, including 11 matches. Additional matches are
available from Walter.
I am not affiliated with BG-SCRIBE in any way, except for being a very
satisfied customer. Please mention where you saw this article if you should
contact Walter. I did mention to him that I was going to write a review---Last
spring!
...Mark
- Contact:
- Walter G. Trice
549 Wachusett St.
Holden, MA 01520
(508)
829-3283
e-mail wgt@world.std.com
UPDATE 9512:
Walter as added a program which will convert FIBS oldmoves format to
BG-Scribe. I haven't tested it with output from rfibs.
Tom
Johnson (komodo@netcom.com) has written a
progam which is best described as a match equity calculator. Given: Match
length, Score, Gammon chances, Cube value, and wether the cube is on the last
roll, last two rolls, or a normal cube, the program will will calculate the
information shown in the sample screen shown below.
BLACK WHITE Menu
Input data --------------------- -----
match length (2 - 25) | 3 | 3 | L) Match length
score (0 - 2) | 0 | 0 | S) Score
cube value | 1 | | C) Cube value
chance of winning the game | 35 % | 65 % | W) Winning chance
chance of winning a gammon | 20 % | 20 % | G) Gammon chance
cube situation (1 - 3) | 3 | 3 | V) Cube situation
--------------------- N) New table
Static match winning chance with --------------------- X) Exit
no double this game | 45.99% | 54.01% | A) About demo
double and take | 41.00% | 59.00% |
double and drop | 60.44% | 39.56% | Cube situations
double, take and redouble | 35.00% | 65.00% | ---------------
Dynamic data (game win %) --------------------- 1) Last roll
minimum give point | 50.00% | N/A | 2) Last two rolls
optimum give point | 61.63% | N/A | 3) Normal cube
minimum take point | N/A | 30.43% |
doubling window (size) | 19.57% | 19.57% | N/A = Not applicable.
---------------------
Strategy: Black should not double.
His position is not strong enough.
THE MATCH STRATEGIST DEMO - copyright(c) 1994 Komodo Software
The demo program is limited to 3-point matches and is available for
anonymous ftp from:
machine: ftp.cybercom.net
directry: pub/users/damish/backgammon
file: matstrat.zip
The program runs on a MS-DOS machine, and the file needs to be 'unzipped'
with pkunzip 2.04 or later.
A commercial version, which gives equities up to a 25-point match may be
obtained from the auther for $45 + S&H.
[Now (3-95) advertized by Carol Joy Cole for $25.]
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
From: spitz@irb.uni-hannover.de (Jan Spitzkowsky)
Subject: Recording and replaying games played on FIBS
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 1994 10:00:21 GMT
Hello fibsters,
I wrote two utilities for FIBS and i want to distribute them. The tools are
able to record (rfibs) own games and watched games and to replay (sfibs)
them.
I observe a lot of discussions about interesting positions in this group.
With 'rfibs' and 'sfibs' it is possible to extract special positions played
on FIBS (or even a whole game) and to comment it.
I am interested in a collection of good and interesting games, commented or
not, to improve my own playing. If someone wants to get these utilities
for collecting and sharing some games, too, the address of our ftp-server
is:
ftp.irb.uni-hannover.de
File: pub/spitz/bg/bg.tar.gz
Below I give a short description of the two tools:
Hope to find much interest for my work and many good games,
Jan (hotspot on FIBS)
Version 26th August 94:
Any bug reports, comments ... etc.
rfibs [<record file>] [-c]
'rfibs' records games played on FIBS and filters the textual output.
Therefore the setting boardstyle must be set to 3 and the stdout of
FIBS must be piped through 'rfibs'. The correct call for 'rfibs' is:
'telnet <...> | rfibs <args>'.
Two additional FIBS-commands are available with 'rfibs':
- bstyle <b>: switches the board display. Additional board displays can be
created and added in the source 'boards.c' and 'fibs.h'. <b> currently
ranges from 0 to 1.
- switch: switches the player and the board.
- recinit: stops recording of the actual game.
- comment <comment>: A comment is inserted into the record file.
Every started, resumed or watched game will be stored in
<record file>.
Every talk of the players or watchers will be included in the game as a
comment.
The argument '-c' suppresses recording the talks as comments.
The created file has the same syntax like the output of the FIBS-command
'oldmoves'.
Bugs:
The prompt '>' is missing
Prompts for login and password are missing, too.
sfibs { <gamefile> [-g] | -p } [-y<b>] [-s]
'sfibs' shows a recorded game given in <gamefile>. The gamefile can
be created with 'rfibs' or with the FIBS-command 'oldmoves'.
Argument '-g' suppresses interaction: The whole game is printed.
Argument '-y' gives the boardstyle. The available boardstyles are the same
as in 'rfibs'.
Argument '-s' puts player O on the downside. Default is player X on the
downside.
Argument '-p' doesn't show a game. It enables the user to create and to
print his own positions.
'rfibs' and 'sfibs' are given in the following files:
readme, makefile, fibs.h, sfibs.c, rfibs.c, boards.c
An "as is" DOS Port by Robin Davies (FIBS/W author) is available for
ftp from:
ftp://ftp.cybercom.net/pub/users/damish/backgammon/rfibsdos.zip
This version will work with output saved using the '>' command for saving
matches from FIBS/W. The file currently contains executables only.
LaTeX Style for BG Positions and Games I have just
finished the first version of a LaTeX style to print out positions and matches.
The main features are:
- Boards produced with a special font made with metafont, no inclusion of
Postscript files needed (i.e. every dvi previewer should be able to display
the boards).
- Two different environments for single positions and complete matches.
- Board layout customizable in both environments.
- Automatic generation of the current board at arbitrary places in the game
environment. Only the moves have to be entered, the state of the board is
maintained internally by the style.
I have uploaded my LaTeX package to ftp.dante.de as a CTAN submission and was
told that it's installed under
macros/latex209/contrib/backgammon
It should be available on every CTAN Server (these are if I am right
informed: ftp.dante.de, ftp.shsu.edu and ftp.tex.ac.uk)
Joerg
BOA/386 Bearoff analyzer From Harold Wittmann wittmann@fmi.uni-passau.de
I have written a piece of backgammon software that gives you the winning
probability for bearoff positions. BOA/386. It's inexpensive shareware. Try it!
--------------------------------------------
Never again rollout bearoffs!
Here is what FILE_ID.DIZ says:
+-------------------------------------+
| BOA/386 v1.1 |
|-------------------------------------|
| A Backgammon Bearoff Analyzer: |
| - gives probability of each side |
| winning, cubeless (both side must |
| have all their men in the inner |
| board) |
| - shows proper way to play any roll |
| of dice |
| - very fast and accurate |
| - less than 1MB HD-space |
| - MS-DOS, 386SX+ required |
|-------------------------------------|
| BOA/386 is inexpensive shareware. |
| Only 20$ registration fee. |
+-------------------------------------+
Available for anonymous ftp from:
ftp://ftp.cybercom.net/pub/users/damish/backgammon/
Please note that the file is over 800k.
Section D: RESOURCES
Below is a list
of backgammon clubs in North America. It was taken from the January/Febrary 1995
issue of the Chicago Point newsletter. It may be copied for noncommercial
purposes as long as you give full credit to "CHICAGO POINT, 3940 W. Bryn Mawr
Ave., Suite 504 Chicago, IL 60659-3128"
Information for this listing has been obtained directly from the featured
backgammon clubs. Changes are inevitable and we suggest that you always call
before attending. As a service to our readers, CHICAGO POINT would like to
maintain an accurate listing of Backgammon Clubs In North America. Please send
information including updates, club closings, and new clubs to:
Contact: Chicago Point
Bill Davis, Editor
3940 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 504
Chicago, IL 60659-3128
Phone: 312 583-6464
Fax: 312 583-3264
(FORMAT)
CLUB NAME....................... LOCATION..................
CITY & STATE........ MEETING ON................ TIME...
CONTACT............. TELEPHONE...
MAIL INQUIRIES TO...................................
(WEST)
Backgammon Club of San Diago Java House
Delmar, CA Sunday 2:00 PM
Mike Fujita 619/294-2007
P.O Box 178119; San Diago, CA 92177
Backgammon Club of San Diago II Forno
La Jolia, CA Wednesday Monthly 6:30 PM
Mike Fujita 619/294-2007
P.O Box 178119; San Diago, CA 92177
San Francisco Backgammon Golden Gate Grill
San Francisco, CA Tuesday 7:45 PM
Doug Adsit 415/931-4600
3200 Fillmore Street; San Francisco, CA 94123
San Francisco Bridge & BG Club Clubroom
San Francisco, CA Wed., Fri. 9:00 PM
Augie Hunt 415/776-6949
777 Jones Street; San Francisco, CA 94109
Gammon Associates Grand Slam Bridge & BG Club
Woodland Hills, CA Tuesday 7:00 PM
Patrick Gibson 818/901-0464
7641 Orion Avenue; Van Nuys, CA 91406
Gammon Associates Grand Slam Bridge & BG Club
Woodland Hills, CA Sunday 7:00 PM
Patrick Gibson 818/901-0464
7641 Orion Avenue; Van Nuys, CA 91406
Prime BG Club of Las Vegas Jockey Club
Las Vegas, NV Tuesday 7:00 PM
Howard Markowitz 702/893-6025
2620 S. Maryland Pkwy; Box 230; Las Vegas, NV 89109
No. Nevada Backgammon Assn. Rapscallion Seafood House
Reno, NV Thursday 7:30 PM
Jim Allen 702/329-1227
449 W. Plumb Lane; Reno, NV 89509
Oergon Backgammon Club Lacey's
Lake Oswego, OR 1st & 3rd Tuesday 7:00 PM
Henry Moss 503/636-6258
2360 Greebtree Road; Lake Oswego, OR 97034
Pacific NW Backgammon Assn. Shakey's Pizza
Bellevue, WA Monday 7:00 PM
Chuck Breckenridge 206/778-8181
18204 Olympic View Drive; Edmonds, WA 98020
Puget Sound Backgammon Assn. European Connecktion
Seattle, WA Tuesday 7:30 PM
Guy Thurber 206/244-6737
428 SW 127th Street; Seattle, WA 98146
(CENTRAL)
Bloomington-Normal BG Club Ride The Nine
Bloomington, IL 1st/3rd/5th Tues. 6:15 PM
Lane O'Connor 309/454-1947
108 Riss Drive; Normal, IL 61761
Games People Play Alexander's
Chicago, IL Monday 6:30 PM
J.A. Miller 312/768-5523
P.O. Box 8630; Chicago, IL 60680
Chicago Bar Point Club Golden Flame
Chicago, IL Tuesday 6:15 PM
Bill Davis 312/338-6380
2726 W. Lunt Avenue; Chicago, IL 60645
Chicago Bar Point Club Braxton Seafood Grill
Oak Brook, IL Sunday bimonthly 12:30 PM
Peter Kalba 312/252-7755
2510 W. Iowa Street; Chicago, IL 60622
Pub Club Crickets Pub & Grill
Glendale Heights, IL Monday 7:30 PM
V.W. Zimnicki 708/924-8632
P.O. Box 72216; Roselle, IL 60172
Prime BG Club of Chicago TJ's Lounge/Radisson Hotel
Lincolnwood, IL Friday 7:00 PM
Joann Feinstein 708/674-0120
8149 Kenton; Skokie, IL 60076
Central Illinois Backgammon Club Cummins Family Restaraunt
Peoria, IL Thursday 6:30 PM
Ed Bauder 309/686-6662
1115 E. McClure Avenue; Peoria, IL 61603
Sangamon Valley BG Assn. Parker's Sports Bar
Springfield, IL 2nd & 4th Tuesday 6:00 PM
Sangamon Valley BG Assn. Parker's Sports Bar
Springfield, IL 1st Sat./Nov.-Apr. 11:30 AM
Randy Armstrong 217/528-0117
2012 N. 20th Street; Springfield, IL 62702
Winnetka Backgammon Club Winnetka Community House
Winnetka, IL Wednesday 7:00 PM
Trudie Stern 708/446-0537
4200 W. Lake 302C; Glenview, IL 60025
Summit City Backgammon League Alumni Club
Ft. Wayne, IN Wednesday 7:00 PM
Ken Bruck 219/639-6898
P.O. Box 6546; Fort Wayne, IN 46896
Hoosier Backgammon Club Spats
Indianapolis, IN Thursday 7:00 PM
Butch Meese 317/845-8435
7620 Kilmer Lane; Indianapolis, IN 46256
Flint Area Backgammon Club Ramada Inn
Flint, Ml Thursday 7:00 PM
Carol Joy Cole
810/232-9731
3003 Ridgecliffe Drive; Flint, MI 48532
Plymouth Backgammon Club Box Bar & Grill
Plymouth, MI Wednesday 7:30 PM
Dean Adamian 313/981-5706
42954 Barchester; Canton, MI 48187
Cavendish North BG Club Clubhouse
Southfield, MI Daily except Sun. 1:00 PM
Joe Sylvester 810/642-9616
30065 Greenfield Road; Southfield, MI 48076
Minneapolis Backgammon Minneapolis Athletic Club
Minneapolis, MN Monday 5:00 PM
Fred Kalantari 612/682-1716
4701 Valley View Road; Edina, MN 55424
Cleveland Area Backgammon Boulevard Sports Tavem
Cuyahoga Falls, OH Wednesday 6:30 PM
Irv Taylor 216/663-7332
P.O. Box 28515; Cleveland, OH 44128
Dallas Backgammon League Scoreboard
Addison, TX Wednesday 7:45 PM
Rich Weaver 214/620-7462
2682 Hearthstone; Dallas, TX 75234
Austin Backgammon Assn. Bombay Bicycle Club
Austin, TX Monday 7:30 PM
Jackie Seiders-Smart 512/261-8518
30 Hightrail Way, Austin TX 78738
American Backgammon Club Vickery Feed Store
Dallas, TX Sunday 6:00 PM
Kati Pratt 214/827-8403
5631 Ellsworth; Dallas, TX 75206
Houston Backgammon Club Abdallah's
Houston, TX Tuesday 7:00 PM
Jack Butler 713/774-9439
5931 Reamer Street; Houston, TX 77074
San Antonio Backgammon Dad's
San Antonio, TX Friday 8:00 PM
Marcel Mommers 210/606-0025
3812 Greenridge Drive; Cilbo, TX 78108
Milwaukee Backgammon Club Gas Lite North
Milwaukee, WI Wednesday 7:00 PM
Marv Amol 414/355-8805
9031 N. 70th Street; Milwaukee, WI 53223
Milwaukee Backgammon John Hawks Pub
Milwaukee, WI Sunday Bimonthly 11:30 AM
Merril Schrager 414/463-2498
9043 W. Grbaosa Druve; Milwaukee, WI 53225
(NORTHEAST)
Beltway Backgammon Club Promenade Cardroom
Bethesda, MD 2nd & 4th Sunday 12:00 N
Barry Steinberg 301/530-0604
5712 Quebec Street; Benwyn Hts. MD 20740
bkgm@aol.com
Cavendish Club of Boston Clubroom Brookline, MA
Thur. & Sat. 1:00 PM
Carl Saldinger 617/734-2230 111 Cypress Street; Brookline, MA 02146
New England Backgammon Club Sheraton Commander Hotel
Cambridge, MA Sunday monthly [Sep-Jun] 12:30 PM
Andy Latto 617/374-2537 (days) 617/784/6114 (eves)
156 Massapoag Avenue; Sharon, MA 02067
andyl@harlequin.com
New England Backgammon Club Sheraton Commander Hotel
Cambridge, MA Monday 7:00 PM
New Jersey Backgammon Assn. Best Western Oritani Hotel
Hackensack,NJ Tues. & Fri. 7:45 PM
Ron Whitney 201/833-2915
279 Glen Court; Teaneck, NJ 07666
Ace Point Backgammon Club Clubroom
New York, NY Daily 3:00 PM
Michael Valentine 212/753-0842
41 E. 60th Street; New York, NY 10022
Coterie Clubroom
New York, NY Daily 1:00 PM
Louise Goldsmith 212/371-5151
Private club. Telephone for information.
New York Chess & Backgammon Office Building
New York, NY Daily, Tour. Sunday 12:00 N
Steve Manning 212/302-5874
120 W. 41st Street 3; New York, NY 10036
Saratoga Backgammon Club Waterfront Restaraunt
Saratoga Springs, NY Friday 1:00 PM
Lee Hoge 518/584-1714
P.O. Box 563; Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Greater New York BG Club Woodbury Ramada Inn
Woodbury, NY Sunday monthly 12:30 PM
Dr. Bob Hill 718/341-3779
194-22 115th Road; Jamaica, NY 11412
Cavendish Club of Philadelphia Clubroom
Philadelphia, PA Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat 1:00 PM
Ken Relver 215/878-5777
3801 Conshohocken Avenue; Philadelphia, PA 19131
Pittsburgh Backgammon Assn. Murphy's Tap Room
Pittsburgh, PA Tuesday 8:30 PM
Steve Hast 412/823-7500
3560 Ridgewood Road; Pittsburgh, PA 15235
(SOUTH)
Suncoast Backgammon Assn. New York, New York Lounge
Clearwater, FL Monday 7:00 PM
Drew Giovanis 813/726-1398
25350 U.S. Hwy 19 N. 67; Clearwater, FL 34623
South Florida Backgammon Big Apple Sports Club
Ft. Lauderdale, FL Sunday 1:00 PM
Elayne Feinstein 305/785-1282
2621 NE 7th Terrace; Pompano Beach, FL 33064
Backgammon Club of N.W. Florida Olde English Pub
Lynn Haven, FL Tuesday 7:30 PM
Rick Bieniak 904/773-2013
P.O. Box 416; Wausau, FL 32463
Orando Backgammon Coach's Locker Room
Orando, FL Tuesday 7:30 PM
David Thomas 904/736-2844
P.O. Box 803, Deland, FL 32721
Backgammon Society of Sarasota Bath & Raquet Club
Sarasota, FL Tuesday 7:00 PM
Frank Shank 813/792-3992
5320 86th St. W.; Brandenton, FL 34210
Atlanta Backgammon Association Cabo Wabo & Grill
Atlanta, GA Wednesday 7:00 PM
Dave Cardwell 404/682-1969
P.O. Box 956547; Duluth, GA 30136
Atlanta Backgammon Association CafFiends Coffee Bar
Atlanta, GA Sunday Monthly 7:00 PM
Dave Cardwell 404/682-1969
P.O. Box 956547; Duluth, GA 30136
Louisville Backgammon Club Encore Restaurant
Louisville, KY 2nd & 4th Tuesday 6:30 PM
Quint McTyeire 502/896-9783
4906 Crofton Road; Louisville, KY 40207
Raleigh Backgammon Club Western Bowling Alley
Raleigh, NC 1st & 3rd Friday 7:30 PM
Frank Bommarito 919/552-2291
401 St. John Court; Holly Springs, NC 27540
(CANADA)
Vancouver Backgammon Jo-Anne's Place
Vancouver, BC Tuesday 8:00 PM
Marty Jensen 604/688-8317
1339 Burnaby St. 402; Vancouver, BC V6E 1R2; CANADA
Nat'l Capital Backgammon Club Lunergan's Pub
Vanier, ON lst Sun./Sep.-Jun. 12:30 PM
Eden Windish 613/741-2530
396 Talbot Street; Ottawa, ON KlK 2N6; CANADA
Le Gammon Clubroom
Montreal, QB Daily 3:30 PM
Michel Medifti 514/845-8370
552 St. Catherine East, Montreal, OB H2L 2E1; CANADA
From: mau@world.std.com (Michael A Urban)
Date: 19 Oct 1993
Frequently, membership fees are waived for initial participants.
For complete details, contact the club of interest.
Cavendish Club 617-734-2230
111 Cypress St.
Brookline, MA 02146 USA Fee: $150/year
The Cavendish runs chouettes on Thursday evenings and Saturday
afternoons. The club also has duplicate and rubber bridge.
New England Backgammon Club
c/o Sheraton Commander Hotel
16 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-3609 USA Fee: $35/year
President:
Andy Latto 617/374-2537 (days) 617/784/6114 (eves)
156 Massapoag Avenue; Sharon, MA 02067
andyl@harlequin.com
The NEBC runs weekly Monday tournaments starting at 7pm and monthly Sunday
tournaments beginning at 1pm. No smoking is permitted in the tournament room.
The NEBC publishes, "Anchors",
a monthly newsletter.
A homepage for the NEBC is under construction:
http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/nebc/nebc.html
[Note: There are no Sunday tournaments in July or August]
[Note: Some
Sunday tournaments start at noon. Nov and May in 94/95 season] [Note: There are
no Monday tournaments During the summer of 1995]
The Danish BG Federation
Phone: (+45 39 40 06 07)
The Danish Backgammon Federation is maintaining two extensive national
ratinglists (all matches and tournament matches). As far as I recall we are
currently rating more than 50,000 matches a year !!
Furthermore the DBgF is offering a variety of things stretching from a
monthly magazine, live tournaments EVERY DAY, international tournaments (NORDIC
OPEN every Easter) and many more things.
For your information: The DBgF is a democratically governed organisation. We
encourage all other nations to form national organisations. It is the only way
if we really want to promote the game in a serious manner.
Erik M. Gravgaard
President of the Danish BG Federation
erikg on FIBS
[95-03]
In your FAQ you have details of backgammon clubs ... can you
include ours please? Several fibsters come to it regularly.
Rose and Thistle, Argyle Road, Reading, UK. Weekly Wednesdays from 8:30 pm.
Informal - no officers, but contact number: Marina 01734 612814
Thanks. :-)
--
* Marina Smith * Reading, U.K. *
marina on FIBS.
From: Jake Jacobs
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon,rec.gambling
Subject:
New Backgammon Club in Chicago
Date: 4 Dec 1995 16:48:00 GMT
In January, 1996, Dean Muench will be opening the Chicago Board Of
Backgammon. The CBOB will be a private club for backgammon and other games.
Address is 175 w. Jackson (right near the CBOT). It will be open Monday through
Friday from 12 noon, and on weekends for special events. I can forward inquiries
to Dean till he gets a phone #. I'm at itaewon@interaccess.com.
The CBOB will hold a grand opening tournament on 1/6/96 at 12 noon. The
address is 175 w. Jackson, suite 1103. The phone number from that date onward
will be 312-922-0404.
From: pfmcm@worm.hooked.net (Paul McMillan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: New Weekly BG Site in San Francisco
Date: 27 Feb 1995 15:55:35 -0800
The Baja Cantina will begin hosting weekly BG tournaments on Wednesdays at
8:00 p.m. starting March 8, 1995.
The format will largely resemble that of the tournaments formerly held on
Tuesdays at the Golden Gate Grill.
The Baja is located across the street from the Golden Gate Grill at 3154
Fillmore, corner of Greenwich. The phone number there is 415 885-2252.
Please bring your boards.
Hi Mark! On my recent trip to Sydney, I visited the bg club that has been
running there 12 years. They said to put it on the FAQ, so here are the details:
The Clocktower pub
Corner of Crown St. and Nixon St.
Tuesday nights.
* Marina Smith * Reading, U.K. *
From: "Dr. Linton Hutchinson" (webuniv@iag.net)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: Re: North American clubs on WWW
Date: 28 May 1995 03:35:26 GMT
The Orlando Backgammon meets on Tuesday 9:30 to whenever.
The location is on 436 just past I-4. First shopping center on the right. Behind TGI
Friday's at the Coaches Lockerroom. Upstairs.
The Tyson's Corner Backgammon Club meets every Monday at 7:00 PM at
Mr. Smith's Restaurant, 8369 Leesburg Pike (Route 7) in the Pike 7
Shopping Center. It's in northern Virginia near Washington, DC.
call Bill Pow at (703) 549-1808 or (301)227-1915
[Submitted by Mel Leifer]
Backgammon clubs around the world may be obtained from:
Backgammon
- Look for ads in backgammon newsletters.
- Check backgammon clubs.
- Sometimes announcements are posted to the news group rec.games.backgammon.
- Various WWW pages are now posting schedules.
Newsletter of the New England
Backgammon Club
Monthly except July, usually 8 pages, two devoted to local
news with remaining to analytical material and backgammon related stories with
minimal advertising.
Subscription: USA/Canada/Mexico: $15/year.
Overseas: $25/year (check drawn on U.S. bank).
Contact: NEBC
c/o Sheraton-Commander Hotel
16 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-3609
Lately this has been
published quarterly in a combined German/English edition.
Vertrieb (sales/marketing)
Edith Johanni
Emil-Nolde-Str. 26
90455 Nurnberg
Tel.: 0911/883253
Redaktion (Editor)
Harold Johanni
Hochstr. 7
90429 Nurnberg
Tel.:0911/269567
Bi-monthly, 24 A5 sized pages. in Danish.
It is a newsletter/magazine for a BG club in Copenhagen. 4-6 pages are directed
towrds the members of the club, the rest is general analysis, commentated
matches, articles, problems etc. There is a quiz a la Inside BG's quiz. 4
problems each issue, with the answers taking 4-6 pages.
Subscription: Scandinavia Danish kr. 120
Europe Dkr. 140
Overseas (USA/Canada) Dkr. 160
Contact: Asger Kring (proj13@srv.imsor.dth.dk)
Lykkesholms Alle 4B,3 th.
1902 Frederiksberg C.
Denmark
tlf: 3131 1439
A Prime Source
of Backgammon Information
Monthly newsletter, 10 pages:
Subscription: USA/Canada/Mexico: $25/year.
Overseas: $35/year airmail in USD check drawn on
U.S. bank.
Contact: Chicago Point
Bill Davis, Editor
3940 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 504
Chicago, IL 60659-3128
Phone: 312 583-6464
Fax: 312 583-3264
Contact: European Backgammon News
Apartado 81
E-04630
Garrucha (Almeria)
Spain
FAX: 34/68-438347
Subscription: $30/12 issues in Europe. $40 elsewhere.
Published since July 1993 by Martin de Bruin.
Monthly newsletter, 10
pages: Problem analysis, book and software reviews, tournament schedules and
complete results, local, national and international backgammon news and views.
Full page catalog of backgammon merchandise.
Subscription: USA/Canada/Mexico: $20/year or $200 lifetime.
Overseas: $25/year or $250 lifetime subscription.
Contact: Carol Joy Cole, Editor
3003 Ridgecliffe Drive
Flint, Michigan 48532-3730 USA
Phone/Fax: 810-232-9731.
Members magazine for the Danish
Backgammon Federation.
A5 sized. Published 6 - 8 times a year with a
circulation between 1,800 and 10,000 (10,000 during Carlsberg Backgammon Cup).
32 to 44 pages with articles, rating lists, tournament invitations and
reviews, general BG theori, "ask the experts"-coloumn, annotated matches etc.
Mainly in Danish, with occasional English articles.
Subscription can also be
obtained by non-members for DKK 180 per year (US$ 30).
Advertisement: Please
contact Chris Ternel for prices. Editor:
Chris Ternel
Danish Backgammon Federation
Gersonsvej 25
DK-2900 Hellerup
DENMARK
Tel. +45 39 40 06 07
Fax. +45 39 40 01 44
or you can contact:
Erik Gravgaard, president of DBgF
e-mail: erikg@inet.uni-c.dk
Bi-monthly,
8 pages: Articles/problems plus very issue non-annotated matches of todays best
players.
Subscription: USA: $12/years Canada/Mexico: $14/year.
Overseas: $16/year (cash or check drawn on US bank.)
Contact: Butch & Mary Ann Meese
Hoosier Backgammon Club
7620 Kilmer Lane
Indianapolis, IN 46256 USA
Tel: 317.845.8435
E-mail: hbc@ix.netcom.com
Bi-monthly, 24 pages:
Technical magazine with quizzes, articles and annotated matches by the best
backgammon players today.
Subscription: USA: $40/years
Canada/Mexico and oversea ground: $45/year.
Overseas airmail: $60/year (US funds).
Contact: INSIDE BACKGAMMON
P. O. Box 294
Arlington, MA 02174 USA
(617) 641-2091
Norpunkt is the magazine of the
Norwegian Backgammon Federation (Norges Backgammon Forbund). It's published
quarterly, but only written in Norwegian.
A sample of articles written in Norwegian appears at WWW site: http://www.oslonett.no/home/swelle/norpunkt.html
The WWW page for the Norwegian Backgammon Federation is: http://www.oslonett.no/home/swelle/NBgF.html
For Further information send E-mail to Stein Welle at swelle@oslonett.no
Are there any other backgammon newsletters or magazines out there? Please help
to keep the faq up to date. (thanks!)
(From rec.games.backgammon)
From: hunter@work.nlm.nih.gov (Larry Hunter)
Subject: Bibliography
Date: 21 May 92 20:11:35 GMT
Sender: usenet@nlm.nih.gov (usenet news poster)
One more for the FAQ. Before Marty Storer left the list, I pestered him
for an annotated bibliography. He came through in grand style. Here it is:
Must have:
- Backgammon
- Paul Magriel, NY Times/Quadrangle Press, New York 1976.
- The best introduction to the game. Covers basic checker play very well. If
you read and thoroughly understand this book, you'll play a decent game.
Weaknesses--skimpy treatment of the doubling cube.
- Genud vs Dwek: The 1981 World Backgammon Championship_ (or similar
title)
- Bill Robertie, The
GAMMON PRESS, Arlington, Mass. 1982.
- Very thorough coverage of the 25-point finals of the 1981 Monte Carlo
tournament. Goes into quite a bit of detail about ins and outs of match play.
Excellent section on backgames. I've referred to this as Robertie(red) since
it has a red cover 8-).
- Backgammon With The Champions
- Kent Goulding, ~1980-82.
- Series of annotated matches between good players. Forget how many in all.
Excellent material, giving very good insight into how top players think.
Commentary by Goulding, often in collaboration with Kit Woolsey; both of these
guys are very, very strong players. Let's see, the matches are Seidel vs.
Hodis; Magriel vs. Sconyers; Genud vs. Posner; Pasko vs. Motakhasses; two (?)
5-point matches in one volume: Lester vs. Horan and Woolsey vs. Pasko;
Robertie vs. Senkiewicz; Goulding vs. Maxakuli; Dwek vs. Chafetz; Ballard vs.
Lubetkin; Eisenberg vs. Magriel(?); and more I can't remember. I can't
recommend this series too highly (though Genud vs. Posner was a lousy match).
- Advanced Backgammon (2nd edition; two volumes)
- Bill Robertie,
- The
GAMMON PRESS, Arlington, Mass. '91. I haven't seen this yet--only the
first edition of one volume. Series of problems, giving very good introduction
to truly advanced concepts. Errors in first edition are supposedly corrected.
The first edition is what I call Robertie(blue); the second is
Robertie(white).
- Backgammon Times , all back editions.
- This was a very good backgammon newspaper that was around in about
'82-'83. A lot of interesting articles by top players and analysts. Probably
hard to get these days.
- Reno 1986
- Bill Robertie, The Gammon Press, Arlington, Mass. 1987.
- Two annotated matches from the very strong Reno tournament of '86.
Semifinal match is between Nack Ballard and Mike Senkiewicz; an excellent
match, well annotated. Finals between Ballard and Howard Markowitz. The book
is in quiz format, so you can test your skill against Ballard's (well, kind
of: Ballard had to find his moves over-the-board under great pressure--nothing
like the finals of a big tournament to get the adrenalin flowing!). I've only
found a couple of mistakes in the annotations. This book is referred to as
Robertie(yellow).
- World Class Backgammon, Move By Move
- Roy Friedman, 1989 or 90;
- forget other publication info. Annotated matches between Robertie and
``international star'' Rick Barabino (Barabino is strong, but ``international
star''--I dunno...). Three 9-point matches with some excellent games (check
out the second game of the first match particularly). Annotations are very
good; Friedman put a lot of work into rolling out many of the diagrammed
positions. The annotation style is terse; Friedman takes a very scientific
approach.
- Vision Laughs at Counting (two volumes)
- Danny
Kleinman, ~1978.
- -all other material by Kleinman is "must have"--write to him at 5312-1/2
Village Green, Los Angeles, CA 90016 and tell him I sent ya.
- Seminal work on match play, money play, doubling cube, races, and more.
Kleinman is very prolific. His analyses are often more mathematical than the
average reader can handle, but Real Mathematicians [tm] and even the layperson
with math aptitude shouldn't be fazed. A Real Mathematician wouldn't call
Kleinman's math "deep", but it sure is accurate, and you won't find anything
similar anywhere else. He does the important work of formulating the right
problems the right way, where many others couldn't.
Drawbacks: his books are self-published with lousy layout and graphics.
He's supposedly not that great a player (I've never seen him play), so his
analyses often lack the world-class insight into the thought processes of the
strong practical player that you could get from a Goulding or a Robertie. In
particular, his middle-game intuition seems less than world-class. But these
drawbacks are more than made up for by the wealth of information in his books,
which I still haven't completely soaked up after many years. Kleinman is a
subtle thinker and a meticulous analyst of the countable, and he does a lot to
develop backgammon "vision." His stuff is often uproariously funny, but
sometimes one gets impatient trying to filter out what's relevant to the
practical player from the humor.
I repeat--all his books are "must have's" for the serious player. They're a
bit expensive since I think he bears all the production costs himself, but for
the serious player they're worth every cent.
Pretty Good Books But Not "Must Have's":
- Backgammon For Profit
- Joe Dwek, Stein and Day, New York 1975 (out of print)
- Problems that would now be considered fairly basic. Almost all solutions
are right. Tables of replies to opening moves show how badly people played in
1975.
- Paradoxes and Probabilities
- Barclay Cooke, Random House, New York 1978.
- This is almost a "must have." 168 problems, most of which are very
interesting. Current thinking is that solutions to about a third of them are
wrong, but the analysis gives very good insight into how Cooke, a
first-generation world class player, thought about backgammon.
- The Doubling Cube In Backgammon
- Jeff Ward, Aquarian Enterprises, San Diego 1982.
- Goes into basic doubling-cube concepts and gives some benchmark positions
with equities derived from rollouts. Gives some bearoff tables, etc. Analysis
of benchmark positions is pretty good but sometimes skimpy; Ward only admits
to having done 100-200 rollouts to derive his equities. Worth having.
- Backgammon Master Games
- Bill Kennedy and Chuck Papazian, 1982 (forget other publication info).
- Annotated games and positions from master match play. Analysis is largely
based on intuitive concepts, and isn't well grounded in match-equity
considerations etc. Not well supported by rollouts; a fair amount of errors,
but the analysis overall is pretty sound.
Other books that I've read aren't worth much, including Competitive
Backgammon Vol. II, Mike Labins, Marty Storer, and Bill Tallmadge,
Competitive Backgammon Publications, Syracuse 1981. (It was good for the time
but would be considered lousy now.)
As I mentioned before, you can reach Gammon Press at (617)641-2091, fax:
(617)641-2660 or PO Box 294 Arlington, MA 02174 USA
Larry
--
Lawrence Hunter, PhD.
National Library of Medicine
Bldg. 38A, MS-54
Bethesda. MD 20894
(301) 496-9300
(301)
496-0673 (fax)
hunter@nlm.nih.gov
(internet)
[Note: Fax number edited to reflect the current number.]
Article: 1666 of rec.games.backgammon
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
From: johnsson@sara.cc.utu.fi (MIKA JOHNSSON)
Subject: BG BOOKS INFO
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1993 10:20:19 GMT
HI !
Many people (last Snoopy) have asked about good BG books, well here is and
answer that i got from John Bazigos (Doc), when I asked him about books
-Mika
BG BOOKS BY JOHN BAZIGOS
The two best introductory books are Paul Magriel's
``Backgammon'' (New York Times Quadrangle Press; New York, NY; USA;
1976) and Enno Heyken's and Martin B. Fischer's ``The Backgammon
Handbook'' (The Crowood Press; Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 2HE;
Great Britain; 1990).
The advantages of Magriel's ``Backgammon'' are, first, Magriel
was a clear-minded, distinguished mathematician at the top of the backgammon
world when he wrote it; second, it was the only truly analytic book on
backgammon since Oswald Jacoby's and John R. Crawford's ``The Backgammon
Book''; third, it rendered all backgammon texts preceding it (including
``The Backgammon Book''), and even some subsequent backgammon
texts, obsolete as introductory texts; fourth, it systematically elucidates
backgammon strategy, from fundamental to intermediate to advanced; fifth, it
does great justice to its topics in its well-diagrammed over-400 pages; and
sixth, it has passed the test of time as an introductory text, having been
commonly referred to as ``The Bible'' of backgammon. Its disadvantages are,
first, some important details of some advanced topics (e.g., desirable back-game
points), and even some major points of some beginning/intermediate topics (e.g.,
tradeoffs between positional and racing equity) are obsolete; second, the prose,
though very readable, is structurally and stylistically weak; third, the text
has been out-of-print since some time last year, though is well worth a search
of *all* your local used/out-of-print bookstores; and fourth, though the
publication price was $24.95, the only mail-order list on which I have found it
prices it at $80, which makes a used/out-of-print bookstore an even better
source -- since it is typically discounted to about $15 there, in my experience
(here in the San Francisco Bay Area).
The advantages of ``The Backgammon Handbook'' are, first, like
``Backgammon'', it systematically elucidates backgammon strategy;
second, it contains the complete score, with some annotations, of the very
illuminating, 26-game match between two-time World Backgammon Champion and
leading bg theorist Bill Robertie and now-inactive [as of this writing]
international master Nack Ballard (Reno, 1987) that the former described as
``...perhaps the most interesting one I've ever played in my life!''; and third,
it is still in print with a publication price of about $35. Its disadvantages
are, first, Heyken --though an International Master in chess-- does not have an
international backgammon rating, and Fischer does not have a master rating in
backgammon; second, it contains only about 60% as much text as
``Backgammon'', while not being significantly terser; and third,
the authors' lack of qualifications is evidenced in some of their misleading
and/or naive analyses.
I think that you should search your local, or even not quite local,
used/out-of-print bookstores for ``Backgammon'', and pay up to
about $50 for it -- though if you find it in such a store, it is likely to be
discounted to about $15; and then, if you cannot find it at a reasonable price,
buy and read ``The Backgammon Handbook'' -- after which your time
won't be best spent reading Magriel soon thereafter.
[ Note:
The Backgammon Handbook is still in print and can be ordered direct from
the (very small) publisher:
The Crowood Press
Ramsbury
Marlborough
SN8 2HE, U.K.
Or from any decent bookshop. The price is UKP 15.95 ]
> are you familiar with Danny
Kleinmans books,
I have read most of his ``magnum opus'' ``Vision Laughs at
Counting'', which contains much sound advice on the practical aspects of
bg play (e.g., sections on bg hustlers, bg cheaters, chouette money management),
seminal advice on handling the doubler, and even a few unprecedented
mathematical characterizations of certain aspects of certain positions (e.g.,
how many pips to penalize a player for having one or more checkers on the bar).
> are they good ?
``Vision Laughs at Counting'' is generally insightful and often
very amusingly written, but not suitable as an introductory text, sometimes
obsolete, and sometimes simply wrong; and though it is the only text by Kleinman
that I have read, I have good reason to believe that that judgment applies to
Kleinman's other texts, as well.
Ok; then after finishing ``Backgammon'' or ``The
Backgammon Handbook'', study Jeff Ward's ``The Doubling Cube in
Backgammon'' -- which has long been offered through Carol Joy
Cole.
Magriel's ``Backgammon'' routinely used to be, and sometimes
still is, referred to as ``the Bible (of backgammon)''; but since the
publication of Robertie's three books on backgammon --i.e., ``Lee Genud
vs. Joe Dwek'' (1982), ``Advanced Backgammon'' (1984 and
1991, the latter edition in two volumes), and ``Reno, 1986''
(1987)-- I think that it's more appropriate to refer to
``Backgammon'' and collectively those three as the Old and New
Testaments of backgammon, respectively. Given that you have already finished
studying ``The Backgammon Handbook'' and ``The Doubling Cube
in Backgammon'', I think that you should read one or more books of
Robertie's ``New Testament'' fairly soon after finishing Roy Friedman's
``World Class Backgammon, Move-By-Move'' -- which I, also, recently
received a copy of from Carol Joy
Cole, and is the backgammon book that I intend to read next.
Well, from the quality perspective, I was significantly more impressed with
it when perhaps the only bg literature I had read was typical junk from the
1970s (i.e., Bruce Becker's monumentally horrible ``Backgammon for
Blood'', and Barclay Cooke's often-misleading ``The Cruelest
Game'' and slightly-better ``Championship Backgammon''),
``The Backgammon Book'', and Magriel's ``Backgammon'';
and from the price perspective, the decision is strictly yours, though I hereby
make the following three interrelated claims:
- If you read enough backgammon books, there will quite possibly come a time
when ``Vision Laughs at Counting'' will be the best book for to
read next to improve your technique maximally.
- You are probably at least seven books from that point: ``World Class
Backgammon, Move-By-Move'', the four volumes of backgammon's New
Testament, and both volumes of Kent Goulding's ``Backgammon With The
Champions'' are presently better for that purpose (and you can perhaps
most profitably read them in that order).
- ``Vision Laughs at Counting'' is the most entertaining instructional
backgammon book that has been published to date.
> BTW are there other good bg newspapers or magazines ?
Last year was an unprecedentedly good one for backgammon periodicals, in that
it saw the first issues of what I strongly believe were and still are the two
best periodicals for backgammon theory ever --i.e., Bill Robertie' and Kent
Goulding's bi-monthly ``Inside Backgammon'', and Roy Friedman's
almost bi-monthly ``Leading Edge Backgammon''. The former is still
being published (I recently received my copy of the fourth issue of its second
volume), and publication of the latter was suspended at the end of last year
(due to some personal problems that Roy was having); but it was possible to
order either or both of them from Carol the last time I checked (Please inform
me if you need ordering information on either or both of them).
Those are the only three backgammon periodicals to which I (have ever)
subscribe(d), though that may change soon; more on that in a forthcoming e-mail
message from me.
> Do you know any technical papers about BG,
One of the best features of both ``Inside Backgammon'' and
``Leading Edge Backgammon'' is they consist mostly of (what I would
consider) technical papers on backgammon.
>I have read Keelers and Spencers "optimal doubling in BG"
So have I, but I have also read a paper co-authored by Zadeh, titled
``On Optimal Doubling in Backgammon'', that explicitly rendered
that paper obsolete. I'll provide you with more information on both that and
other technical papers from the 1970s in a forthcoming e-mail message.
> and in one AI-magazine was an article about Tesauros TD-gammon (about 20
p)
The second volume of ``Inside Backgammon'' contains about one
article per issue on TD-Gammon, two of which document (recent) sessions that
Robertie, Magriel, and at least one other bg master had against it; more on
that, also, in an forthcoming e-mail message from me.
``How to
play tournament BG'' by Kit Woolsey
This is an excellent introduction to how play and particularly cube handling
varies in games. It shows how to compute push and cash points, recube equity,
how to figure gammon costs, etc. It gives Kit's latest match equity chart and
gives a method for remembering most of it fairly well. If you play matches games
and don't immediately recognize any of these terms, I strongly suggest reading
it.
-michael j zehr
Here is an outline of the book:
0. Introduction
1. Crawford Game Strategies
2. Post-Crawford Play
2.1. The Free Drop
2.2. Mandatory Doubling
3. The Two-Away versus Two-Away Score
4. The Match-Equity Table
5. Learning the Table
5.1. The Janowski Formula
6. Using the Table
6.1. Gain-Loss Tables
6.2. The Doubling Window
7. Initial Cube-Decisions at Various Scores
8. Redoubles and Cube-Leverage
9. Cube-Leverage in Gammonish Positions
10. Gammon Potential and Checker Play
11. Five Practical Examples
12. An Illustrative Game: Woolsey-Robertie, Reno 1993
-- John Bazigos (``doc'' on FIBS)
Backgammon
by Robin Clay $7.95 NTC Publishing Group
I was surprised to see this book for sale recently at a local book shop. This
book was 'skimmed' by two intermediate players, and both immediately found that
the some of the concepts and advice given were grossly incorrect. One of these
'reviewers', went as far as to say: "If your opponent says that he has just read
this book, immediately raise the stakes!".
...Mark
In
The Game Until The End: Winning In Ace-Point Endgames by Bob Watchel
You've played an ace-point game; Your opponent is down to his last few
checkers. Should you run? Should you stay? If your opponent wants to settle,
what's the game worth? How aggressively should you try to pick up a second
checker?
If you don't know the answers to these critical questions, you need this
book. In Chapter 4 alone you'll discover the secrets of the famous "Tino Road
Position," an endgame so complicated that - once you know how to play it - you
can take the position from either side and win. Olympiad Champion Bob Watchel
has thoroughly analyzed hundreds of ace-point game positions to generate a
complete picture of what's really going on in these common yet widely-misplayed
situations.
Soft bound, 112 Pages. Level: Advanced and Serious Intermediate. Available
from The
GAMMON PRESS. US$25 + Shipping
[From a flyer from The GAMMON PRESS]
Learning from the Machine: Robertie vs. TD-GAMMON
by Bill Robertie
For years, computer backgammon was a languishing sideshow, with the best
computer programs barely able to rise to the intermediate level.
This all changed in 1991 with the emergence of TD-Gammon, an experimental
neural network program developed at IBM's research labs. TD-Gammon taught itself
to play, starting with a knowledge of the rules of the game. After playing
thousands of games against itself, the program reached strong Open player level;
within months, it became world-class. TD-Gammon plays like a strong human player
in many parts of the game. In some areas, it plays quite unlike what has
generally been accepted as "correct strategy" leading increasing numbers of top
players to begin to experiment with some of TD-Gammon's unconventional plays.
Here is your chance to see for yourself.
Bill Robertie played two long matches against TD-Gammon as part of its
evaluation process. "Learning from the Machine" is the complete account of the
31 games of the first match, with annotations by Robertie.
Soft bound, 56 Pages. Level: All. Available from The
GAMMON PRESS. US$20 + Shipping
[From a flyer from the GAMMON PRESS]
[Note: This is most likely TD-GAMMON
Version 1.0]
In December 1994, The
GAMMON PRESS announced its publication of the first three (of 18) volumes
Kit Woolsey's Tournement Backgammon Series. These are text versions of Kit's
instructional Match Qiz software. There are many diagrams, which means a board
is not required to study the material. The typesetting is elegant. The comments
are elequent.
Book 1: Joe Sylvester vs. Nack Ballard 150 pages US$20
Book 2: Philip Marmorstein vs. Michael Greiner 240 pages US$25
Book 3: Mika Lidov vs. Hal Heinrich 220 pages US$25
[Authers: Oswald Jacoby
and John R. Crawford]
There are many who will be quick to dismiss _The BG Book_
because it was written in 1970 and knowledge has come very far since then.
However, I recommend this book to players who are just beginning to study the
game seriously because it offers an excellent overview of several central
features of backgammon thinking and analysis. Although the anaysis doen't go
very FAR, a reader will get clear introductions to:
- Basic probability (how dice work)
- Pip Counting (the basis for evaluating racing chances)
- Doubling Cube theory (the 25% rule)
- Settlements (useful concept even if you never settle)
- general strategic categories (backgames, etc).
I think this book is a fine place to start, but if you hope to get anywhere
you will need to follow up with some more sophisticated books. Magriel if you
can find it, of course. Dwek's _BG for Profit_ is a good next step,
too. Avoid Barclay Cooke's _Paradoxes & Probabilities_ and
_Championship BG_, though, because those books are wrong in their
evaluation of many common positions.
Good luck in your studies!
Albert Steg
One of my
favorite books on BG is Lewis Deyong's _Playboy's Book of
Backgammon_, becasue he alternates chapters on tactics and strategy with
sections recounting various stories from major tournaments all over the world :
California, Las Vegas, Munich, Athens, Johannesburg, Beirut.
Reading it, you get a pretty vivid picture of the BG "scene" in the 60's and
70's. You also get some understanding of how Calcutta Auctions work, and may
learn some good anecdotal lessons about the psychology of the game: steaming,
taking insurance, etc.
-- Albert Steg
Other books seeking write-ups:
A list of Danny
Kleinman books (Backgammon)
Pages Price (US$)
----- -----------
VISION LAUGHS AT COUNTING with ADVICE TO THE DICELORN 438 $64
WONDERFUL WORLD OF BACKGAMMON 132 $18
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE CHOUETTE 142 $20
DOUBLE-SIXES FROM THE BAR 135 $19
IS THERE LIFE AFTER BACKGAMMON? 148 $21
HOW CAN I KEEP FROM DANCING? 134 $19
THE DICE CONQUER ALL 228 $33
HOW LITTLE WE KNOW ABOUT BACKGAMMON 168 $25
THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT 142 $20
... BUT ONLY THE HOGS WIN BACKGAMMONS 244 $37
A Backgammon Book For Gabriel. 144 $24
The Long Road To Gammon. 176 $32
[Note: Danny will be raising the price of his publications shorty (9507)]
[Original list submited by Mika Johnsson] [sorted by date]
- Hans Berliner: ``A Program that Plays Backgammon''
- SIGART Newsletter No. 54, October 1975
- E.B. Keeler, J. Spencer: ``Optimal doubling in Backgammon''
- Operations Research Vol. 23 No. 6, November-December 1975
- P.J. Orth: ``A Comment on "Optimal Doubling in Backgammon''
- Operations Research 24, 1179 (1976)
- David Levner: ``Is Brute Force Backgammon Possible ?''
- SIGART newsletter No. 58, June 1976
- N. Zadeh: ``On Doubling in Tournament Backgammon''
- Management Science 23, 986-993 (1977)
- N. Zadeh and G.Kobliska: ``On optimal doubling in backgammon''
- Management Science 23, 853-858 (1977)
- Hans Berliner: ``Backgammon computer program beats world champion''
- Artificial intelligence 14 (1980), 205-220
- Hans Berliner: ``Computer Backgammon''
- Scientific American 243:1, 64-72 (1980)
An on-line summary by Dr. Berliner of his work in ai/games is found under
his name at either: "http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/misc/mosaic/common/omega/web/frg.txt
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/burks/frg.95
- G. Tesauro: ``Neurogammon wins Computer Olympiad.''
- Neural computation 1, 321-323 (1989)
- G.Tesauro, T.J.Sejnowski: ``A parallel network that learns to play
Backgammon''
- Artificial intelligence 39 (1989) 357-390
- G. Tesauro, ``Neurogammon: a neural network backgammon program.''
- IJCNN Proceedings vol. III, 33-40 (1990).
- G. Tesauro, ``Practical issues in temporal difference learning.''
- Machine Learning vol. 8, 257-277 (1992).
- G. Tesauro, ``TD-Gammon, a self-teaching backgammon program,
achieves master-level play.''
- Neural Computation, vol. 6, 215-219 (1994).
- G. Tesauro, ``Temporal Difference Learning and TD-Gammon''
- Communications of the ACM, Vol.38, No.3, 58-68 (March 1995)
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~jay/learn-game/systems/gammon.html
Jay Scott's backgammon in his Machine Learning in Games site.
The GAMMON PRESS (Bill Robertie)
PO Box 294
Arlington, MA
02174
U.S.A.
PHONE: (617) 641-2091
FAX: (617) 641-2660
Books, software, video, backgammon sets, precision dice, ++. The GAMMON
PRESS publishes Inside Backgammon, as well as books and booklets.
Carol Joy Cole
3003 Ridgecliffe Dr.
Flint, MI
48532
U.S.A.
(810) 232-9731.
E-mail: carlcole@sils.umich.edu
Books, software, backgammon sets, precision dice, cubes, ++. Carol Joy Cole
is also the editor of the Flint Area Backgammon News.
The Backgammon Shop (Backgammon Butikken)
Gersonsvej 25
DK-2900 Hellerup
Denmark
Tel. +45 39 40 06 07
Fax + 45 39 40 01 44
E-mail: erikg@inet.uni-c.dk
Danny Kleinman
5312 1/2 Village Green
Los Angeles, CA
90016
U.S.A.
Read Kleinman, or rely on dice.
Books on Backgammon, Bridge, O'Hell, and life.
Dansk Backgammon Forlag (Danish Backgammon Press)
Gersonsvej 25
dk-2900 Hellerup
Denmark
phone: +45 39 40 06 07
or contact Erik Gravgarrd at erikg@inet.uni-c.dk
Books, sets, dice and generel backgammon equipment. You can get all the
modern books there, plus some of the old ones from the seventies, among them
`Backgammon' (Magriel). Also some software.
Crisloid INC.
P.O. Box 2205
Providence, Rhode Island
02905
tel: (401) 461-7200
fax: (401) 785-3750
They require a minimum order of $100 to obtain wholesale prices.
L. A. Strommen
6866 Meadow View Dr.
Indianapolis, IN 46226
Tel: (317) 545-0224
E-mail: diceman@indy.net
Precision Dice and JellyFish sales & support, Backgammon Position
Analyzer.
A source for hard-to-find BG books. John C. Rather
--------------
Old & Rare Books
P.O. Box 273
Kensington, MD 20895 USA
Telephone: (301) 942-0515
John is a longtime book collector and dealer who specializes in hard- to-find
out-of-print BG books. He usually has a copy or more of Magriel's ``Backgammon''
(aka ``The Bible''), for sale at a fair price. A carefully annotated book price
list is available upon request. John's other book specialities are chess, magic
and mountaineering.
By Site:
rec.games.backgammon
The backgammon newsgroup. Articles, problems, and information
about the game of backgammon are discussed daily in this group.
fraggel65.mdstud.chalmers.se 4321
The First Internet Backgammon Server (FIBS)
http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/bg-faq.php
The backgammon faq.
Backgammon
Mirror of the backgammon FAQ in the UK. Thanks Stephen!
Backgammon
Stephen Turner's World Wide Web backgammon page.
http://www.oslonett.no/home/swelle/NBgF.html
WWW page of the Norwegian Backgammon Federation.
http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/nebc/nebc.html
New England Backgammon Club home page (under construction).
http://baugi.ifi.uio.no/~paalf/BG
Paal Fladstrups Index of Backgammon files.
http://www.ifi.uio.no/~paalf/backgammon.html
Paal's Backgammon Page.
http://www.utu.fi/harrastus/bg/
BACKGAMMONSIVU WWW page in the Finnish language
http://hdirisc9.kfk.de/www/mata/mata93/mat0m6/bg/bg.html
Marco Lau's Backgammon-Seite (German and English)
http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/mike_quinn/fibs.htm
Michael Quinn's Guide to FIBS.
http://www.dknet.dk/~kring/backgam.html
Asger Kring's (Albatross) backgammon page.
http://www.cybercom.net/~damish/backgammon/fibshelp.html
Mark Damish's FIBS help document.
http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/staff/personal_pages/eggertd/backgammon.html
David Eggert's page, which includes announcements and results for his
FIBS tournaments.
Backgammon
Stephen Turner's compilation of backgammon clubs around the world.
http://www.gammon.com/
Patti Beadles backgammon page: A central repository for backgammon
related information, and Patti's personal playground.
FIBS T-shirt info.
http://www.io.org/~takeith/bg/glossary.html
Backgammon glossary.
http://www.msen.com/~lwp/BGglossary.html
Spider's BG glossary.
http://www.phil.uni-sb.de/fun/jargon/backgammon.html
Jargon File 3.0.0 - backgammon
http://sg3.organ.su.se/~tsz/equity.html
Equity Tables for different gammon rates and player strengths.
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~jay/learn-game/systems/gammon.html
Jay Scotts machine learning in games web site.
http://www.columbia.edu/~radev/backgammon/fibsratings/
Back issues of the FIBS Rating Reports.
http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~banks/fibs/test.html
Back issues of the FIBS Rating Reports.
http://www.yahoo.com/Recreation/Games/Board_Games/Backgammon/
A list of backgammon resources around the net.
http://www.mi.aau.dk/~mortend/elite.html
Morten Daugbjerg's homepage, which includes the bearoff program BGOUT
http://www.io.org/~takeith/bg/mpd.html
"Backgammon Match Play Doubling Strategy" By Tom Keith.
http://www.io.org/~takeith/bg/met.html
"How to Compute A Match Equity Table" By Tom Keith.
http://158.38.60.54/webcon/bgframes.html
A web page bearoff analyzer (BOA)
http://webcom.com/~markplag/backgammonpage.html
Mark's (A differant Mark) Backgammon Page. Upgrade MacFibs to include
http://www.outland.com/OutlandBackgammon.html
Outland Backgammon
http://realbeer.com/realbeer/games/beergammon.html
Games - BEERgammon
http://www.pmms.cam.ac.uk/~gjm11/programs/main.html#race3
Gareth McCaughan: programsGareth McCaughan: programs (Bearoff program)
http://http://www.pmms.cam.ac.uk/~gjm11/bgm/
Some Backgammon Things.
ftp://resudox.net/pub/pc/windows/games/fibsw/html/fibsw.html
FIBS/W web page.
http://este.darmstadt.gmd.de:5000/persons/fankhaus/backgammon.html
funk's Backgammon links.
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/kw/kwoolsey/gammon/matchqiz/
matchqiz.exe Match Qiz demo for DOS. Self extracting.
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/pa/pattib/backgammon/
kvj_*.ps.gz Kit Woolsey vs. Jeremy Bagai match. Postscript format.
Typeset by jrichter@aldebaran.cs.uni-sb.de
(Joerg Richter)
ftp://ftp.cybercom.net/pub/users/damish/backgammon/
File Name Type Notes
------------ ---- -----------------------------------------------------
00-index.txt A File that contains this message.
bg-faq-ptr A Location of the backgammon FAQ (ASCII version).
bg-faq.ascii A ASCII version of the backgammon FAQ
bg-faq.php A Hypertext version of FAQ. Read online, or save from
your browser to read offline.
bg-matches D Directory containing backgammon matches.
bg-rules.html A Backgammon Rules in formated hyper-text.
bg_1.0.tar.gz B Joerg Richter's LaTeX style & font for documenting
backgammon positions and games.
blot D A New [9511] Backgammon program for DOS.
boa_v11.exe B Bearoff program. Gives cubeless probability of
winning, and best move for up to 15 checkers on
each side in the home board. Shareware.
bqdemo.zip B Walter Trices Bearoff Quizmaster Demo. (MS-DOS)
exbgdemo.sea B Demo of Expert Backgammon for the Macintosh.
Change type to "APPL", creater to "aust"
would a .hqx (binhex) be better?
fibshelp.html A Formated HTML of FIBS help screens. AUG 94
kw_jb.tar.Z B Kit Woolsey vs. Jeremy Bagai match. Text version.
matstrat.zip B MS-DOS demo of 'Match Strategist'.
pubeval.tar.Z B Gerry Tesauros backgammon 'benchmark' function.
race.tar.Z B 2 bearoff programs: 'race2' & 'race4'. No makefile.
rfibsdos.zip B Robin Davies DOS port of rfibs and sfibs.
ftp://figment.csee.usf.edu/pub/misc/FIBS_client/
tiny-fugue text interface to FIBS.
ftp://itekiris.kjemi.unit.no/pub/
ftp://www.abekrd.co.uk/pub/fibs/
xfibs08 X interface to FIBS.
ftp://shuksan.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/tkfibs/
TkFibs X Tk/Tcl interface to FIBS.
ftp://resudox.net/pub/pc/windows/games/fibsw/
fibsw MS Windows interface to FIBS.
ftp://ftp.cd.chalmers.se/pub/xibc/
xibc-X.XX.tar.Z X Tcl/Tk/Expect interface to FIBS.
ftp summex-aim.stanford.edu /info-mac/game/brd/mac-fibs-10.hqx
MacFIBS Mac interface to fibs.
ftp ftp.statslab.cam.ac.uk /pub/users/sret1/backgammon/
bg2fig Board description to fig converter.
matches Backagmmon matches.
printmatch FIBS `oldmoves' to ascii bg boards converter.
psboards --> bg2fig
ftp ftp.irb.uni-hannover.de /pub/spitz/bg/
bg.tar.gz FIBS recording/playback tools.
ftp://figment.csee.usf.edu/pub/misc/FIBS_client/ms_vs_Snoopy.ascii.Z
ftp://figment.csee.usf.edu/pub/misc/FIBS_client/ms_vs_Snoopy.ps.Z
ms vs. Snoopy match annotated by Kit Woolsey, TD-Gammon, and JellyFish.
ASCII and postscript versions. The postscript version looks great!
ftp://ftp.darmstadt.gmd.de/pub/dimsys/kodim/fibstotex.tar
FIBS oldmoves to TeX converter by Peter Fankhauser.
Requires Joerg Richters bg.tex package.
ftp://ftp.darmstadt.gmd.de/pub/dimsys/kodim/rgb-positions
Peter Fankhauser's collection of problems from rec.games.backgammon.
ftp://ftp.cica.indiana.edu/pub/win3/games/bg06.zip
A weak shareware backgammon program for windows.
http://www.austin.ibm.com/pspinfo/funtdgammon.html
TD-Gammon, the program, for OS/2
Section E: MISC.
- Acey-Deucy
- TricTrac
- Jacquet
- Moultezim
- Plakoto (Portas)
- Fevka (spelling?)
- Narde
- Gioul (Turkish variation)
- Nackgammon
- Cubeless, one point backgammon games.
- Many versions of `diceless' backgammon.
- Hyper-Backgammon
- On some boards, you can flip it over, and play checkers or chess. :-)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
From: mau@world.std.com (Michael A Urban)
Subject: Re: 3-Checker Hyper Backgammon
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1993 02:23:24 GMT
Each side starts with 3 checkers on their respective 24, 23, and 22 points.
The cube is in play. Jacoby rule in effect. Matches will start at 7 points and
work their way up in later rounds. All other normal backgammon rules apply.
From: kleef@cs.utwente.nl (Rolf Kleef) at
SMTP-Post-Office 10/15/93
Nackgammon: The same as backgammon, but with a different starting position:
instead of five men on both your midpoint and 6-point, you just put four there.
The remaining two men end up at the 23-point: 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
+------------------------------------------+ X:
| O X | | X O O |
| O X | | X O O |
| O X | | X |
| O | | X |
| | | |
v| |BAR| |
| | | |
| X | | O |
| X O | | O |
| X O | | O X X |
| X O | | O X X |
+------------------------------------------+ O:
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This was invented by Nack Ballard (hence the name), to force his bg students
to practice positional play. Games tend to be much longer, since you can't
easily start a race with a 65 or 66 opening-phase roll. In July this year, we
hosted the first European Championship Nackgammon during our series of Kater Cup
tournaments. Teun Ruardy from Groningen, The Netherlands became the first EC
Nackgammon!
[What are the cube and gammon rules for Nackgammon?]
From: vladimir@cs.ualberta.ca 1/24/95
Subject: Tapa (yet another kind of backgammon)
The word "tapa" means "bottle cap" and it's an apt name because one seeks to
block out the opponent's pieces. The starting position is as shown below
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
+------------------------------------------+
| | | OOO|
| | | OOO|
| | | OOO|
| | | OOO|
| | | OOO|
O v| |BAR| |
moves | | | XXX|
this | | | XXX|
way | | | XXX|
| | | XXX|
| | | XXX|
+------------------------------------------+
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The move direction and game objective are the same as in BG. There is one
important difference:
Blots (single men) are not taken out when hit. Rather,
the opponent's man rests on top of the blot and thus forms a point. Points can
also be formed in the usual way, by placing two or more of your men at the same
slot.
If you leave a blot at your home slot (1 or 24) and it gets covered, you
certainly lose a backgammon (unless your opponent has done the same, in which
case it's a tie).
A long doublet (5 and 5 or 6 and 6) in the initial stage of the game can be
very useful because usually the opponent would have some blots in their home
quadrant and you may cover them. The closer this happens to their home slot, the
better, because the later you will free the blot when you are bearing off.
Tapa is very much a game of strategy. Even if you get caught very close to
your home row, you may be able to force the opponent to free it by blocking
enough of his men, so that he doesn't have any other move. During most of the
game it better to move SLOWER rather than faster. Primes are not necessarily
useful, eg when the opponent has enough space for short moves behind the prime.
If nobody gets caught in the early stage, the two players try to advance
their men in "almost primed" formations. Then the passing-through of the two
armies can be a rather dramatic clash.
Tapa is quite popular in Bulgaria. In fact people play three games --BG, Gul
Bara, and Tapa-- in a row. The cube isn't used and there are no backgammons
(although there are gammons, called "mars"). I think these games (or at least
the names) have come to Bulgaria from Turkey. Some people (esp. the older ones)
use Turkish names for the rolls, eg "shesh-besh" is "6 and 5". I'd say
backgammon is the favorite recreation of Bulgarian pensioners.
Gul Bara is similar to Narde (the actuall name is Nardy where "y" signifies
the Russian letter "ery" as in "byk" (bull)), but double rolls are very
powerful, eg if you roll 1 and 1 then you get to move 4 ones, 4 twos, 4 threes,
..., 4 sixes.
From: zweije@wi.leidenuniv.nl (Vincent
Zweije)
In Kazachstan, and probably Russia too, people play a game called "Narde" on
a backgammon board. It is also played with 15 checkers each, in the following
starting position (point numbering is taken from backgammon). O's side
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
+------------------------------------------+
| | | OOO|
| | | OOO|
| | | OOO|
| | | OOO|
| | | OOO|
v| |BAR| |^
|XXX | | |
|XXX | | |
|XXX | | |
|XXX | | |
|XXX | | |
+------------------------------------------+
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
X's side
Do to language problems I never got a formal introduction to the game. I'll
have to write down the rules out of my head. It is played like backgammon, with
the following exceptions: 1: Both players move in the same direction. X moves from 12 down to
1, then to 24 and down to 13, and finally off; O moves from 24 down
to 13, then to 12 and down to 1, and finally off.
2: A point is already made with one checker on it. There is no
hitting in the game.
3: Doublets are not special. If you roll 3-3, you get to move a
checker three pips twice. Possibly the same checker.
Bearing off is like backgammon. Moving is mandatory when possible. I don't
know whether, like in backgammon, you have to move the higher of the dice if you
have to choose. It never happened during actual play.
The game is almost fully one of chance. The main thing is to take care not to
get blocked by a six-point prime (already made with six checkers in a row!).
[ There seems to be quite a few games with this starting postion, going the
same direction, where 1 blot is a blocker, and there is no hitting. The rules
vary with how many may be in a row, doubles, and starting criteria. It seems to
be a game where 'blocking' is the predonimant strategy. Some games have double
games, triple games, quad games, depending upon what quadrant the opponent has
his remaining checkers in. I've never seen this played in the USA. ...Mark ]
From: igor@krest.kharkov.ukraine.ussr (Igor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: Re: Diceless Backgammon?
Date: 27 Mar 92 00:48:51 GMT
Organization: Society of connoiseurs of female beauty
In fact, there's a version of backgammon, which is much more popular than
regular bg in USSR, especially in Azerbajdzhan and Uzbekistan.
Main features
are following:
- both players go same direction ( namely counterclockwise )
- starting position is different
- you're not allowed to hit ( which changes strategy a lot).
And, as
far as I know, there are tournaments, where people play this version without
dices, i.e. calling their rolls. Consequently, there exist time control in this
tournaments.
In this game all the men start
off the board. They enter and move around the board in the same way as men sent
home in regular backgammon. In other words, the white men enter in black's home
board and move around through black's outer board and white's outer board until
all are gathered in white's home board; then white can start to bear them off.
Black enters his men in the white home board and moves around in the same
manner.
Rules are the same as for backgammon, except that you can move any man you
want to at any time, whether or not you have men to bring in. In addition, the
roll of 1-2 -- acey-deucy -- is an especially valuable roll. You begin by
playing your ace-deuce. Then you play any number four times (in other words, you
pick any double you wish). Then you get an extra roll. and if this extra roll is
also 1-2 you get the same extras with it.
Early game strategy in acey-deucy is to try to establish advanced points as
quickly as you can, and if possible also establish adjacent points as base for a
prime. If both sides develop primes right smack up against one another, the
advantage lies with the prime that is farther advanced. Even if the man with the
farther-advanced prime has to break his first, he will probably win the game; if
he can hold his prime longer, he almost surely will win.
Credit: The
Backgammon Book, Oswald Jacoby/John Crawford
My own comments: Acey-deucy is a fun game, with a much greater element of
luck or chance than regular backgammon. 1-2 rolls are deadly. You are never
out-of-it right to the end. The pace is fast and furious (at least compared to
regular backgammon -- which, incidentally, I still prefer, but Acey-deucy makes
a nice change of pace once in a while). One key point of strategy -- block your
opponent from a play of 1 or 2 if you can. This opportunity only occasionally
presents itself, but watch for it. If you can't play your lowly 1-2, you lose
the bonus double and extra roll.
Acey-Deucy typed/submitted by Peter Nickless
(nickless@ccs.carleton.ca)
This variant is played the same
as `regular' backgammon with two exceptions; the cube is not used, and
gammons/backgammon don't exist. This often leads to very strategicaly played
games, where a back-game is more of an option than in the regular version since
staying back forever never leads to losing more than one point. Since all games
are played to to completion, `slime vigorish' to turn a game around suddenly
occurs more frequently since you cannot cube your opponent out.
Why play `one point matches'? Well, similar games occur all of the time in
tournament play. Double match point, and crawford to an even score are examples.
One point matches have been labled the `Crack' of backgammon at the New
England Backgammon Club (NEBC), and the opium of the game by others.
From: sheyn@cs.bu.edu (Igor Sheyn)
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject: Re: Greek Backgammon
Date:
4 May 1995 14:10:31 GMT
OK, here's the attempt to put down a complete set of rule for the game called
feuga in Greek.
Equipment: Backgammon board, 15 checkers for each player, 2 pairs of dice (
we play it with 1 pair, but let's keep it to bg as close to possible )
Initial checkers setup: Each player has all of his checker on the same point.
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
X
X
X
X
15
15
O
O
O
O
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Direction: Both players move counter clock-wise. Using numeration above, O
moves from 1 to 19-24 quater, which is his home. X moves from 13 to 24 and then
continues 1 to 7-12 quater, which is his home.
Goal: Bring your men home and bear them off as in backgammon.
Main difference from backgammon: Hitting is not a part of a game, hence the
point is considered made when there's only 1 checker on it ( no blots and
slotting in this game ).
Various aspects: the initial point for each player ( 13 for X, 1 for O in the
setup above ) is called "head". A player is allowed to move only 1 checker from
his head per roll. If he can't obey this rule on any given roll, he can't play
his roll fully. Exception: if your 1st roll of the game is 6-6 or 4-4, you're
allowed to play 2 checkers off your head, 1/7(2) with 6-6 and 1/9(2) with 4-4.
Priming: there's one restriction on building a 6prime. You can build a 6prime
only provided there's at least one opposing checker ahead of your prime. E.g.,
if you want to build your prime from 1 to 6 as O, X has to have at least 1
checker anywhere from 7 to 12. This rule is to prevent trivial strategy of
building 6prime right in the beginning and then just rolling it home.
Gammon: Gammon is counted in same way as in BG. Backgammons do not count ( as
far as I know ).
Cube: No cube is used ( this can be easily fixed though ).
If u have any questions or if u think I left smth out, please let me know.
Igor
From: eadengle@cgl.uwaterloo.ca (Ed
"Cynwrig" Dengler)
Subject: Re: Greek Backgammon
As taught to me by my uncle (who is a Greek):
Setup: All 15 of your men start on your 24 point (farthest point from your
bearoff).
Initially: Each player rolls 1 die, whoever rolls the highest uses both dice
to move. Play alternates with each player rolling two dice.
Movement and bearing off is the same as standard backgammon. The big
difference in Greek backgammon is that you never 'hit' an opponent's checker and
send it to the bar. Instead, you 'trap' the checker under your own. Your
opponent is not allowed to move his checker until you uncover it. In addition,
the trapped checker acts as one of your own to form a blot (ie. equivalent to
two checkers of your own colour on a point).
Because of the trapping rule, if you manage to trap an opponent's checker in
your bearoff quadrant, you can pretty much force a gammon, unless you get
trapped yourself and are forced to break the trap first. Also, backgammons are
much more common than in regular backgammon.
[Suggestions/articles from ALL levels sought for this space]
[Edited from a message about proper cube handling. ...Mark]
Always play backgammon for affordable but meaningful stakes. This is
surprisingly important. If you play "just for fun" you'll take doubles "to see
how they'll turn out" and win some of those games anyway, giving yourself
incorrect reinforcement. Likewise you'll drop doubles you should take because
"you dont' feel like playing it out." If something is riding on the game, you're
much less likely to do that. In short, it hones the senses and makes you think
about the cube all the time. There is also definite penalties and rewards for
correct cube action.
Practice practice practice.
-- michael j zehr
I think the first step in becoming a good player is to realize what a game
backgammon is. Many people think they're unlucky when they lose, and don't
realize that it is actually also a game of skill.
The first thing I learned from backgammon was to lose, even from the most
incredible positions. You shouldn't spend your energy whining about your bad
rolls, spend it on making good moves (and cube decitions!) instead.
Other than that, it's simple to describe how to become a good
backgammonplayer: Study, and read all books you can get your hand on. If you go
to a club or a tournament, watch the good players. One of my friends did that a
lot when he started. Also, don't be afraid to ask strong players questions about
a move you made, a move HE made or something like that. Most of the strong
players are very friendly when people ask them about their opinion.
You can also record matches. This can be matches between two good players, or
you can have ask a friend to record one of your matches. There's a big
difference in what you can learn from the former compared to the latter.
I played a tournament in Chicago in '92 and recorded a couple of matches, one
between Rick Barabino and Dean Muench. Afterwards I went through the match
myself, and noted the plays I would certairnly not have made myself. I asked
Dean Muench about why he did this and that, and he explained it in a very
logical way to me. He asked me which flight i played in, I answeared
'Intermediate', and he said 'You won't be that for much longer if you keep
studying like that!' I was also lucky to get an extremely interesting game in
that match.
If you get one of your friends to record your match, you get a chance to
analyse your own play. This can particularly helpfull if you do it a while after
the match has played, to see how (if) your game has evolved.
-- Asger Kring
[...]
But a must if you want to reach a high level of backgammon skill is to
build a positions database. Study positions, and remember as many benchmark
positions as you can. The most costly mistakes are bad middlegame cube actions,
and the more benchmarks you have available, the better your equity estimates can
be, and the more accurate will be your related match-equity calculations. Also,
the less time you have to spend grunting and sweating over equities, the more
time you'll have for figuring out your opponent--and you'll just have more
energy, which is at a premium in long tournaments or money sessions.
--Marty Storer
Just study and play. What else is there?
-- Roy Friedman
[...]
One last thing: someone remarked that the best way to learn bg was to
play and observe on FIBS. I might argue. Get a hold of the matches Heinrich
sells. Go through them. Many times. Roll out positions. Try and see the line of
thought behind a play. Second only to playing countless hours, those matches
were some of the most useful studying I've done.
-- Kim Scheinberg
Exerpts from `A Talk with Paul Weaver' by Walter Trice from `Anchors' (The New
England BACKGAMMON CLUB Newsletter) Oct 1994
[Paul Weaver was rated number 1 on Kent Goulding's International rating list
in June 1992, and June 1993.]
[...]
WT: What do you have to say to the up-and-coming intermediate who
has decided that he is absolutely determined to win the 1996 World Cup? What
would he have to do?
PW: Well there's no way that he can ENSURE winning it without cheating. Even
if you're the best player in the world the chances that you're going to win this
tournament are actually quite small.
WT: Okay, let's just say that he wants to give himself a damn good shot at
it.
PW: Well, first of all he needs to be in excellent shape physically. You need
to have a lot of stamina. If you're in good enough shape to go out and run 5
miles a day, then you're probably in good enough shape to play. Stamina is a
very important ingredient of success in this kind of tournament, and if you look
at Sylvester and Horan, both of them have a lot of stamina.
In addition to stamina, technical knowledge is important, so how do you get
to be a good player technically? Read the newsletters, read the books including
Kit Woolsey's MATCHQIZ material, and start doing all you can to analyze
positions and roll out positions. When I say roll out positions, I don't just
mean feed them to your computer, I mean sit down and move the checkers yourself.
When you roll something out yourself you learn an awful lot more than just the
raw numbers. You get an insight into the variations that develop in the
position, and you start figuring out for yourself what checker strategies work
and what strategies don't. You see fluky ways that you can lose the game, and
when you start seeing them over and over again, you realize that maybe they
aren't so fluky and that you should find ways to prevent them. So my advice to
any intermediate who wants to improve his game would be to get your hands dirty
and do some work and roll out positions. When I did this my game began to
improve immensely.
WT: You've certainly rolled out a lot of positions. How many is it at this
point?
PW: Well, the number has got to be over a thousand.
WT: Do you think it's important to actually play?
PW: Oh sure. Rolling out positions by itself is not going to make you a good
player. It's important to play, and also to play the strongest competition
available. To play in the toughest tournaments that you can, and to play
heads-up sessions with the strongest players that are available. Play for enough
to make it meaningful.
WT: So it's read, roll out, play. Plus jog.
PW: More than jog -- I would say run. Get yourself in good shape. Diet and
rest are also important.
WT: How much time do you devote to backgammon during the average week? Is it
like a full-time job?
PW: Well, I suppose it is. It varies -- sometimes very little, sometimes as
much as 40 or 50 hours. But lately my life has changed and with all the
travelling I'm doing and being in Brazil, I don't spend nearly as much time
rolling out positions. And I've decided that my time has come to stop rolling
things out and start playing the game for real. But I constantly review my
material. I have close to 1000 reference positions.
WT: So you don't see yourself having any more major improvements in your
game? You've just about "got it?"
PW: No! Not by a long shot. For one thing, the computer software... I believe
that within a few years someone is going to come up with a piece of software
that will nail down the equity of any backgammon position to within 1/100 of a
point. It's conceivable that it has already happened.
WT: You think maybe there's a perfect backgammon machine out there?
PW: Not just one. Enough different people are working on it that there's a
good chance that this thing will be solved by more than one person. And since a
lot of people are working on it it won't be kept a secret for long. And when
this tool becomes available I'll learn a lot, for example about backgames. I'll
learn whether it's true that different match scores will affect your opening
plays and responses. We'll get all the openings and responses nailed down, and
pretty much all the 3rd roll things will be committed to memory.
[...]
[...]
What is it that makes the better player better? It is his ability to
play through a full game making fewer mistakes than the weaker player.
[...]
From a posting to rec.games.backgammon by Kit Woolsey
IMHO, FIBS is the single best learning took for backgammon right now. Hang
around, play, watch better players... you can't help but improve your game.
Patti Beadles pattib@gammon.com
I have personally developed my skills in backgammon partly by reading the
available literature, but also by playing fairly high stakes money games.
One of the single most developing activities has been my money game session
with another Danish player. We have invoked our own very special rule that
sharpens your game considerably and hence improves your performance.
- The rule is:
- In case of any cube action -
Any player has the option of demanding
the other player to accept a proposition to be played five times.
- For instance:
- Peter doubles me. I drop. Peter thinks that I should have accepted. Now he
can demand to be paid one point five times, each time setting up the same
position with him accepting i.e. he owns the cube on 2.
With this rule in effect you have to consider any cube action much more in
depth, because you also have to consider the other side. And also there will be
no "cheap" drops where you might want to "play it safe" on the score sheet. A
drop that really is a take can prove very costly indeed.
For my friend and myself it has been a very efficient learning tool as well
as a great gambling add-on to normal backgammon.
--- Erik Gravgaard
While I'd agree that watching good players is a useful part of learning, I doubt
that there is any substitute for playing many many many games. Most really
strong players are people who spend many hours at a (real) backgammon table,
playing for $ both head up & in chouettes. Reading good books can help a
great deal, but the knowledge in them doesn't really become "your own" until you
have put it into uses over the course of hundreds/thousands of games. Because
there are many different criteria (racing chances, shot equity, timing, prime
architecture, etc.) to bring to bear on any given play, it is difficult to learn
how to the *weight* of the various considerations from reading alone. Experience
develops your feel for what is most important in a given situation. After
reading the fundamental books, and perhaps taking notes on the bits you find
"new & useful," I'd spend 5-10 hours playing to one hour studying. Write
down interesting positions that arise when you play and study them, perhaps
rolling them out by hand later. Play in chouettes as often as possible, in which
you are neither the strongest nor weakest player. Learn from your betters, and
earn from your lessers. Wonderful as it may be in many ways, I still think FIBS
is a "second best" playing option -- you just don't get as many games per hour
played. -- Albert Steg
Kent Goulding maintains the International Backgammon Rating list
for Backgammon. Copies are available for $5 from:
Kent Goulding
9201
Marseille Drive
Potomac MD
20854
Apparently it is possible to receive and
post to newsgroups via E-mail. Send mail to netnews@db.stanford.edu Put "help" in
your message. You will receive a reply explaining how you can subscribe to all
Usenet messages that contain a particular keyword or list of keywords in them.
radev@news.cs.columbia.edu
(Dragomir R. Radev)
mailto:Netnews@stanfordis good for reading
Usenet by mail.
To post to rgb you need the UTexas mail-to-news gateway send mail to "rec-games-backgammon@cs.utexas.edu
and this will post to r.g.b.
-- Radev
From: lwp@conch.msen.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
Subject:
access to r.g.b. without a news server
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995 09:42:16 -0500
This is a test post. If this appears in r.g.b., I have found a working
gateway for posting news via email. See my backgammon page at http://www.msen.com/~lwp/bg.html for
links which allow people to read r.g.b. without a news server and to post to
r.g.b. via this gateway.
-- Spider
|
