Never mind, I was confused.

I am a bit late on this, but many thanks to Fencer for the addition of the game cube ! Now I will start also playing some backgammon here.
playBunny: I agree with you. Although doubling rarely happens more than two or three times in a game, knowing how to handle the game cube probably amounts to almost 50% of the backgammon skill. In many situations it is not too hard to find the best move out of a roll by simple comparison, although you don't even know if you have 25% or 75% of chances to win. I find assessing one's chances to win much harder.

Don't double early in the game unless you have an overwhelming advantage.

A bad double:

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1118690&i=4

Why not double early?

When you double, you surrender ownership of the doubling cube to your opponent. When you double, then only your opponent can double later. The ability to double is an important strategic advantage. You should not give up that advantage without a clear reason to do so. In money play, you should not double unless the odds are 2-1 in your favor. In match play, the doubling point varies depending upon the match score.

redsales: I'll be happy enough with the ladders too but I can't agree with likening the cube to minor additions to the moves in chess.

There might be similarities in the rationale behind their origins but after that the comparison breaks down. The cube requires additional skills. Gaining true expertise with the cube is more of a challenge that attaining the same level in chequer play, I would suggest. The en passant and castling rules hardly stretch the chess mind in a new direction.

frolind, alanback: Saying that cubeless backgammon is a subset of cubeful backgammon is the same as saying that hurdles is a subset of sprinting. It may be true but nobody thinks of them as being comparable. The are treated as separate events.

playing gammon without the cube is chronologically similar to playing chess without en passant or castling; both were introduced to liven up the game, whether for gambling purposes or not. So to further alanback's analogy, separate ratings to me would be like castling/en passantless chess vs. chess: sometimes a significant difference in game play, but in the end it's still chess. I'll be happy just to wait for ladders.

As frolind says, cubeless backgammon is just a subset of the rules of backgammon. There are many situations in backgammon where the cube is not in play. Having separate ratings for cubeful and cubeless backgammon would be like having separate ratings for chess and for chess endgames.

Czuch Chuckers: I'd like to see separate rating scales too; it would be another challenge and it would mean that the ratings are "cleaner" in as much as some people will play only with the cube while some others will play only without and being in the same rating pool makes then incomparable.

Fencer will at some stage be introducing Ladders to BrainKing. It'll be possible to have separate Ladders for chequer play and cube play.

Czuch Chuckers: The strategies for the cubeless games are a subset of the strategies for match play with cube.

I dont like the idea of not having seperate ratings for gammon games with and without the cube.... it seems like they are 2 very different games, with vewry different strategies.

grenv: Yeah, it's like a drug! You can't beat the feeling of being 4-1 down in a 5-pointer and winning gammon with a 2-cube. Better than sex, Ecstacy, crack..

(Okay, I exaggerate. It can't beat a nice cup of tea)

Walter Montego: Once you use the cube you won't want to go back I'm betting.

playBunny: I'd rather be able to set the game up how I want it played and let the site take care of all the details. I remember the bad blood from people forgetting or missing their gentleman's agreement about the dice usage not too long ago. It is true that I could play selected people that would honor it, but if I want to have an open tournament without the double cube and still have gammons count I wouldn't be able to stop someone from ignoring it and playing it their advantage when the time was right.

Walter: You could always agree with your opponent that neither will double.

The Backgammon rating formula values a match as 4 x Sqrt (Match length). This is then apportioned according to the probabilities of each player winning (which is calculated from the rating difference).

alanback: Do these other sites have a sliding scale to take into account these things you write about?

Is it possible to set up a series of games that counts gammons and backgammons but does not use the double cube?
That's how I remember playing the game. First one to five game points is a pretty good game.

Since I'm just trying out the double cube, I might like playing that way better after I've played it a few times. I'll have to see. In the meantime, it'd still be cool to play a series without the double cube and still count gammons and backgammons instead of the games always being valued at one point. A skunk should count extra, and that is what getting a gammon is all about. I definitely do not like the proposal of not counting the gammons in games that use the cube that haven't yet been doubled. If that comes to pass it should be an option for the game creator.

On all backgammon sites with ratings, the length of the match affects the number of points awarded for wins and losses. On the one hand, a longer match between two players of equal strength is worth more points than a shorter match between the same two players. On the other hand, a longer match between players of unequal strength may be worth more points if the weaker player wins, but fewer points if the stronger player wins. This is because the stronger player's chances of winning increase as the match length increases.

I'm thinking that the longer matches make the rating award more fair because it allows the luck a chance to even out and let the higher rated player supposedly better playing skills to make the points closer to the odds of their winning a series of games.

I've never played with this double cube, but when I did Backgammon we always counted gammons and backgammons though we didn't bet on the game. We'd usually just play first one to five game points. I'll have to get me a Backgammon set one of these days and see if I can get a game going. We usually play cards, so I doubt if it comes to pass. Least ways I still have BrainKing to play it on.

frolind: That should be the default selection.

Perhaps the final match type settings could have one more option, which could be the default selected choice: "Same as for normal rounds".

grenv: I have already been doing that in the cube tournament I create - but would be nice if by some way if it is a tournament with a cube, the default ending with 2 players will be the same since I'm sure I will forget to change the option in both places sooner or later.

grenv: At the top you specify the Match type as N points with cube. Down towards the bottom, below the time controls, you specify the Final likewise.
(It makes more sense to me that the match types go together.)

frolind: I see... scroll down you moron.

grenv: There are two places where you choose the match type when creating a tournament. You must choose match with cube on both of them.

frolind: Ok, it's not clear. How do you choose a tournament where all games in the tournament are cube matches?

grenv: That's already an option when creating the tournament.

For a backgammon tournament with the cube, I would suggest changing the way the tournament finishes. It should finish with a single cube match (perhaps longer) rather than a series of games, or worse yet a series of cube matches.

frolind: Those are great. For those who like life to be easy, here they are (minus Question 4 which couldn't be found):

[Q_1]   [Q_2]   [Q_3]   [Q_5]   [Q_6]   [Q_7]   [Q_8]   [Q_9]   [Q_10]   [Q_11]   [Q_12]   [Q_13]   [Q_14]   [Q_15]   [Q_16]   [Q_17]   [Q_18]   [Q_19]   [Q_20]   [Q_21]   [Q_22]   [Q_23]   [Q_24]   [Q_25]   [Q_26]   [Q_27]   [Q_28]   [Q_29]   [Q_30]   [Q_31]   [Q_32]   [Q_33]   [Q_34]   [Q_35]   [Q_36]   [Q_37]   [Q_38]   [Q_39]   [Q_40]   [Q_41]   [Q_42]   [Q_43]   [Q_44]   [Q_45]   [Q_46]   [Q_47]   [Q_48]

Most articles on gammonvillage are for paid subscribers, but the Brain Busters are free.
Here are the current Brain Busters. Type "brain busters" in the search field there (and click go) to find older Brain Busters.

Hope this is fun....

It's a set of questions posed on the Usenet newgroup rec.games.backgammon and viewable via Google Newsgroups. As such it uses text format, so the board setups are a bit awkward to read, especially as chequer movement is the "wrong" way and the home tables are on the left.

People discuss their answers but the final answer is uisually in terms of a GbnuBg rollout. For those not familiar with that it will probably look like so much gobbledegook. Don't worry too much about that; the discussions should be interesting.

Questions 1, 2 and 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Question 7
Question 8
Question 9
Question 10
Questions 11 and 12
Question 13
Question 14
Question 15
Question 16
Question 17
Question 18

Czuch Chuckers: I believe right now a 21 point cube games counts the same as a 1 point cube game.

Now don't quote me on this, but I believe it will be something Fencer will look at changing some time down the road, but it is not high on his priority list. Again, do not quote me on this since I'm not 100% sure.

Hyper Backgammon is a pretty quick game, so a 21 point cube match is Perfect for this game:

Hyper 21 - Starts November 5th

= = = = = =

Plus since some do not know how to play with the cube, some practice tournaments have been set up where NO BKR Ratings will be effected - great way to jump right in and learn.

Oct 20 - 5 Point Cube Backgammon #1

Oct 30 - 5 Point Cube Backgammon #2

How does the BKR work with these cube games? For example, if you win a 21 point match, is that worth one win as far as BKR goes?

Fencer: Thanks! Now I can stop swearing at myself for forgetting to double, just to realize that I didn't have cube access. :)

All right, I've fixed the doubling cube position. It is shown on the possessor's side which is the player who accepted the double offer.

Czuch Chuckers: yes

Sorry I am sure this was already discussed somewhere in the past 400 posts, but are games played with the double cube considered for BKR the same as with all other backgammon games?

For those of you who don't know how to play with the backgammon cube yet, I created a backgammon 5 point cube tournament where no BKR ratings will be taken - so a great way to jump in and play with the cube.

http://brainking.com/en/Tournaments?trg=11751

Fencer: Ah, beg your pardon. That one came to me as I was waking up this morning so it's untested. Naughty me made an assumption. I'll delete the list just posted as there's nothing else new on it.

playBunny: The 16) was always working. Or is there some problem with backgmmon matches?

The first doubling cube tournament.

I understand, grenv. I think it is a good idea. I just can see the humor in it too.

rod03801: Not only read them, but count the occurences of each. I recently played a 10 wins match and it isn't at all useful. Might as well hunt around for the score, which is buried somewhere on the page.

LOL.. oh no, you have to read the names???!!!!

I get what you're saying..I'm all for anything making things as simple to understand as possible.. It is kinda funny though..

Don't mind me..

SueQ: I think for example one person highlighted in yellow and the other person highlighted in red no matter who wins or loses

playBunny: Even if each player was in the same column all the way donw the list it would be easier, but it seems right now to be designed exactly in the way as to be the hardest to read.

playBunny: What do you mean by #3...different background colours?

The list so far.

1) Would be nice to have the current score up next to the playing board instead of buried down in the "game information". Or maybe next to the Points, have the current match score for each player as well.

1a) Change "Points" to "Pips".

2) In the table of "Finished games of this match" which displays who won each game, it would be nice to see how many points were won in each game (without having to select each game and counting the "D"s!)

3) In the list of games which make up a match, the winner is highlighted with a yellow background, no matter which player won. (Example) It would be easier to read that table if each player had a different colour. So Marfitalu could be in yellow (when he won) and Tulip in cyan (when she won). The loser would always be in white, though.

4) A time out forfeits the whole match, not just the current game.
[playBunny: i don't like this one. My opponent in a 5-pointer is about to time out. I don't like winning that way. We're bearing off and I've effectively won already, so it's okay, but I'd hate to get the whole match just because he missed the end of this game.]

5) No draw offers on single games.

6) Show the cube on the correct side of the board after a double has been accepted. That is, with the owner, the one who is able to offer a double.
Done

7) Change the "D" and "+" in the moves list to "Double" and "Take". [Fencer says that's a biggie because notation is language-neutral and the the notation code was designed without translation requirements in mind. Might be okay if other languages don't mind "Double", "Take" and "Drop", perhaps?]

8) For completeness, Add an explicit "Drop" to the moves list (though it would be "-" in the current notation).

9) Auto-roll. Doesn't give the Dice/double choice but goes straight to the dice. Useful for players when they know they won't be doubling for a while.

10) Buttons for [Roll] and [Double] instead of links.

11) Use the words "Take" and "Drop" on the "double-offered" buttons rather than "Accept" and Reject". (Dropping the cube makes more sense to me anyway because it also means dropping the game.)

12) A note at the end of the moves list of a finished game saying "XXX wins P points (Cube 2 x N)" where N is the "degree" of the game, 1, 2 or 3.

13) Display the dice roll in the moves list. [This one's a high priority for me]

14) Implement the request-resign-accept/deny dialogue.
14a) Or highlist the "Warning: N points will be lost" message, for example, in red.

15) Allow the whole match to be resigned.

All: If gammon is still possible you shouldn't be allowed resign, so it would only be an issue if you haven't borne off yet but are close enough that it is inevitable. In this case it's usually only a few extra moves.

BIG BAD WOLF:
too cool! ...guess I'll become a member now!
...been waiting a couple years for this, call me a hard sell, but I just never felt good about jumping on the bandwagon when the site didn't work right for the games I prefer to play...
cuddo's to fencer! :o)