Walter Montego: Iagree with Walter. We should see the initial message in the game, it is a bug, and it should be fixed! (Are you here, Fencer?)

But you make a very good point. How can you remember and carry on a meaningful conversation about a game - let alone a multi-game match - if you are playing 100+ games concurrently? I remember the game position of almost every game I play (except for one very boring game - with a fellow countryman - who moves about once every 2 weeks) because I never have more than about 30 or 40 games running concurrently. I think BrainKing is a brilliant site, and love meeting and chatting with people from all over the world, but if all they can say is "gl" and "gg" the I suggest that they get a life, reduce their quantity of games, and concentrate on quality.

pgt: Though I tend to agree with how you approach playing games and this attitude, it is not the only reason for people to play games, nor is it the only way for others to have have fun. Playing lots of games and not communicating with your opponent is not how you or I like to play, but there's plenty of people that do play like that and it stands to reason that it must be fun for them. Maybe they think how you play is a showing that you need a life too. I can see the argument from the other point of view even if I do have trouble understanding why some play in that manner. I've seen this discussion in other places on this site and it generally gets down to name calling and resolves little. To each his own. The similar complaint is speed of play. We may not be able to communicate with opponents as we like, but at least we now have a choice in the speed of the games we play. These "actions points" that some go after are also another game on this site. I don't play them, but some people do. I no longer play Backgammon either, but here I am reading and posting to this board that is still on my favorite list. It is from when I did play Backgammon that I met a few of you and that's one of the reasons I like playing on this site.

As for losing games. I'd rather win every game, but I can have fun even if I lose the game. Especially if it was a good game. Since I only play Chess type games, the nature of a loss is different than in Backgammon. At least in Backgammon you can blame your luck. You can sometimes say that in Dark Chess too, but in the other games I play, it's either your opponent played well, you screwed up, or both, when you lose.

Walter Montego: i like to play games for the games, although i like to chat as well :)

i start some games, and enjoy the playing and chatting, then the next day i come online to play a little .. but i only see games in which its my opponents turn to move .. i then join some more games so i have some to play .. etc. in the end i have enough games going on to keep me busy when i want to, but it requires more games than i could move in all at once .. so when my life gets more busy now and then i might get in a hurry which will hurt my chatting time .. but i will still enjoy the play :)

of course i can also join only fast moving tournaments, but i am slow sometimes as well (due to real life), so thats not a real option .. the only way i can see to give me enough games to make a move in when i want to is to join more :)

The game of Backgammon is a nice feature here on this great site, but I 'm missing other gammon variants. In the variants BK offers the only difference is the starting position of pieces (and Anti gammon). There should be more variants available where the BG rules are really messed up.

joshi tm: Sounds like your talking about plakoto.Please,please fencer >:0)

Carl: No I thought of this one, I don't know if it even exist as an official Variant, but, if not, I'll be the proud inventor of it and Fencer has then a nice unique game on his great site :).

Cloning Gammon: (Players think twice before capturing a piece)

Standard Backgammon or Hyper Gammon rules (Cube can be used).
There are no Gammons or Backgammons.
Each time you hit an opponent's checker, you MAY add one extra checker of your color to your bar, marked with an X.(the destination place for your captured checkers). If no cube is used, you MUST add one piece to the bar. These extra pieces count as Race pieces, so you can bring them in anytime you want.
You can move freely with the extra checkers.(they will keep their markers as long as any of your normal (non-marked) pieces is still not in your home area, see next section)

Scoring:
You must have only your 15 normal (non marked) pieces in your home area your bear them out. You are still allowed to move marked (cloned) pieces, but, if you do, the piece will lose its marker and you must also put this piece in your home area. If no cube is used, you must put all pieces in your home area first.

If there is no cube, the winner is that player who bears all his or her pieces off, of course.

When the cube is used, each piece after the 15th (or 3rd if playing the Hyper Gammon rules) you bear off, will score you a point (duplicated with the number on the doubling cube). If any player bears his last piece off out his or her home area (regardless of other (marked) pieces on the board), the game ends and that player also gets two points.

This one is pretty fun to play, maybe there are still bugs in it. At least, the Gammon rules are now totally messed up. If you have suggestions, message me.

Reasons for editing: Removing spelling errors.

can I brag a minute, without sounding arrogant?
...it has taken me awhile but I finally made the top 25 in ALL 6 gammon variants!!!
...I'm not stopping here though, my goal is to be in the top 5 in all of them! that might take a bit longer with a bit of luck as well!
...and of course I realize I just put a target on my back, but I think I'm up to the challenge, so anyone that would care to play a game, send me an invite...
...as always, happy gaming!

LionsLair: I think the answer to the first question is "no", however who says arrogance is bad?

LionsLair:  Come and get it!  I can tell you it's hard to stay in the top 10, let alone 5, but right now I'm ranked no lower than 6th in any of the 6 gammon variants.  If you can make top 5 in all of them, you'll certainly be the best!

My latest milestone:  BKR of at least 2000 in all 6.

alanback: 6th!, now thats amazing!! you are who I am trying to catch!, or at least concidered to be in the same class as yourself, I have read a few of your articles over the years and have learned alot from you... you have made me challenge myself to be a world class gammon player...
...a BKR of at least 2000 is quite an accomplishment as well, ... I (being the student) will have to try to accomplish this as well... I love a challenge!
...congrats on your accomplishments... and keep an eye out, one day the student may best the teacher! ;o)

LionsLair: LOL never a truer word said.There is not many that say on top for very long.Thats what keeps all of us from trying:)

Well, however temporarily, I have reached LionsLair's goal of being in the top 5 in all 6 gammon variants.  Despite my previous statements, I'm not claiming to be the best in any of them, but perhaps the best all-around gammon player for the moment?

alanback: wow! very well done!

alanback: congrats! looks like you are setting the bar pretty high! I'll need to tighten up my boot straps and play a bit harder to catch you...
...again, well done! :o)

LionsLair and Hrqls:  Thanks very much.  I'm already about to drop perilously close to #6 in Nack, so success is a temporary and relative quantity!

A feather in the cap for Fencer. He's just made the first use of a new "Ban From Charts" feature and has removed two sets of rating cheats from the charts!

Group 1 - ROMANIA, laurentiu, florin, ROMANIAN Boy, hitlerica

Group 2 - DARK PHOENIX, el diabolique, zapdos

playBunny: Excuse my ignorance, but how do u know when somebody is a cheat or not?

bouncybouncy: Each of those links shows the Finished Games list. If you look down the Number of Moves colums you'll see lots of games with very few moves. Open any of these and you'll see that it's been resigned. All those resignations pump up the rating of the "winner".

Looking at florin's list you can see that he's been getting a monthly boost from hitlerica since June. That took him to #1 on the ranking table recently which is when his shenanigans became noticeable. DARK PHOENIX was the newest #1 until this morning. It was easy to see that he'd been playing the same game along with his two accomplices.

playBunny: ah right, ok i understand now, I did have florin on block anyway, but that was for a different reason. I have been playing laurentiu for some time, but he will now go on my blocked lisyt. I cant be bothered with people like this.

bouncybouncy: It has got unreal the amount of CHEATERS on this SITE!!!

"Have Fun": To be honest, i never thought people could be like that, maybe i am just the type who like to see the best in everybody, how wrong can we be aye

playBunny:  That's interesting, and pitiful.  It doesn't appear that florin has been stripped of his BKR -- which is relevant to me since I challenged him when he reached #1.  I wonder what will happen with that match.

alanback: I doubt that Fencer will change any of the actual BKRs. It's probably too complicated a web to unravel and when Fencer eventual gives us a real rating system and recalculates all the BKR histories (lol, are you reading this Filip?! ), having to program in such anomalies would be a real pain in the bum, I expect.

It is a pity that they've affected other's ratings, especially the lower rated players who've been leeched from, but hopefully the fact that they've no longer got any public incentive will mean that they'll stop playing that game in the future. What I'm not sure of is whether Fencer sent them a message or simply implemented the chart ban.

playBunny: "pain in the bum", LOL, what a lovely idiom....:)))

Pedro Martínez:  More of a euphemism ... the original is the idiom ;-)

alanback: LOL now what was the... original of idiom;) ME not being a educated man LOL;)

"Have Fun": Lol. It could be said that it has a lot of RRRs. ;o)

alanback: I think he will play you. Maybe lower your BKR.That will get LL a little closer to you;)

I don't cheat ... These games was lucky for me ... My opponent don"t see time in a game ( it was 1 hour per move ) and If he log out and don't log in this hour I won this gme ... Meabe in your eyes I'm look like cheater but I don't ... I have too lucky in these games ... If You can Bunny we could play Backgammon ... You will see that I 'm not a cheater ... Could you write private message ??

DARK PHOENIX:  In my opinion inviting a player to a game with a 1-hour time limit without clearly warning him of the unusual terms is just as much cheating as is collusion over ratings.  In both cases the win is not earned by good play but by extraneous factors manipulated by the "winner".  Which is not necessarily to say that I believe you.

alanback: Maybe playBunny will agree to a one hour game, or they could certainly play with longer time limits. Maybe a series of games, eh?

Walter Montego:  I can't imagine ever agreeing to a 1-hour game with an opponent I knew was manipulating the system.  Perhaps a 5-minute game, so there could be some assurance that the game would be completed in a reasonable time.  I don't know how Fisher clock games work, but that might be a solution also.

Of course, PB has expressed no interest in playing a match of any sort against this opponent.

Then , Can Bunny restart my BKR rating in Backgammon ??( Delete my games in Backgammon )

DARK PHOENIX:  The Bunny is mighty, but not almighty.  Only Fencer has the power of life and death over your account.

alanback: LOL and i hope he gets the rest of them on this SITE.

alanback: The Fischer clock works quite well at eliminating the use of the clock to a player's advantage. The time parameters chosen make a difference. You can start with some amount of time which doesn't matter too much. The bonus time selected will in a many move game be near the average time per move. The maximum when reached will be the most time one player can take between moves during a game. If you don't move for awhile your time will drop as it does with the other timing methods. To get more time for your clock you have to move. That's what the bonus does. None of this wait until the last minute and then get 7 days to move again. You'll only get the bonus time if you try that. Of course if the bonus is set high at 7 days that's what it'll be. You have to experiment and find the times you like for your favorite pace.

If you see 5/1.6/15 it means a starting time of 5 days, a bonus time of 1 day 6 hours, and a maximum time on your clock of 15 days. I use these parameters or similar ones a lot. It comes out to about 8 moves per 10 days not counting your initial 5 day start. The maximum 15 days can be reached with 8 or 9 moves in two days from the start. This gives either player the abilty to leave for two weeks without timing out if he can just make a few moves in his game. Obviously both players could be online and finish a game in less than an hour. If one person plays slower than 1 move every 30 hours, he'll lose time and then have to start moving faster for fear of timing out. There's plenty of other time parameters you can use too. Depends on how you like the game to progress. I would certainly recommend using a Fischer clock for any tournament as it keeps the slow and fast players more or less together, especially when compared to the use of the standard vacation timing method. For playing one on one, it's up to how you and your opponent get along or want the game to go. Fof friends or people you've played many games with, you'll know what you like. Newer opponents will depend on yourself and what time limits you like until you've played a few times.

I didn't see playBunny say he wouldn't play him, just that he was complaining about how this person happened to acheive some of his victories from how it appears. The player did defend himself here, so maybe there's more to it. You know the trouble caused by making assumptions based on incomplete data. None of the others listed have spoken up, so perhaps there's a good reason for Fencer's actions concerning them. Fencer can see every game and draw his own conclusions about the appropriateness of how someone is conducting their games.

As I've said in the past, I will not play games where a major part of the startegy is the use of the clock to win. You said so for yourself, but there are plenty of people that like having the clock as part of the game. It is certainly within the rules to use the clock in this manner, even if I disapprove of it.

Walter Montego:  In this case, Fencer has apparently drawn his conclusions, and I have no reason to disagree.

Its the Dice.Time has nothing to do with it.Sure if you time out you no how you lost.Opponents tell me Oh I just got lucky.Thats a bunch of CRAP.I don't mind loosing a game or 2 but not game afer game Thats what i call CHEATING

"Have Fun": Huh?

"Have Fun": Um ... what's the Dice?

Um!! Huh!! Let Fencer deal with it.

DARK PHOENIX: How can you play a game of backgammon with 1 hour limits? Chances are you would need sleep before the game finished, so the winner is just the person who stays awake the longest.

Earlier today i set up 9 games all with one hour time limits, they were all played, and nobody timed out.

bouncybouncy:  I just looked at your games from today, and the very first one I looked at (also the most recent) was a timeout by your opponent.

grenv: LOL how could you ever guess that he he LOL:)

alanback: Oh yes, sorry he did time out, but he knew the playtime, but all the others were played within the limit

bouncybouncy: Yes, I guess if you moved quickly, but all it would take is a couple of slow moves to throw the opponent off. I would think a fisher game with a 6 hour limit (no bonus) would achieve the same with no possibility of being screwed.

bouncybouncy: Don't let these hot shots get to you here:)

grenv: Yes, but they know the time limit, if they decide to take slow moves, then it is their problem not mine. So if i set up a load of one hou games, and say a few time out, does that make me a cheat then ???