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17. May 2012, 12:41:15
grenv 
Subject: Re:
pedestrian: we don't really need these notifications until the end of the match IMO

18. January 2012, 01:52:26
grenv 
Subject: Re: Backgammon does not count triple??
joshi tm: I realize it would be rare, hence asking... since it may not have been noticed but still not work. Hopefully the code is in one place and it's broken everywhere and will be fixed everywhere :)

16. January 2012, 06:08:01
grenv 
Subject: Re: Backgammon does not count triple??
playBunny: Wonder is it works in regular old backgammon... would be rare but possible.

21. November 2011, 15:31:15
grenv 
Subject: Re: As luck would have it.
playBunny: Right, the back 2 need to land on the opponents midpoint. this is as likely as 2 move fools mate in chess, but still the answer to the theoretical question :)

21. November 2011, 04:49:36
grenv 
Subject: Re: As luck would have it.
Walter Montego: Simple in theory.. how many moves minimum to get the pieces off.

2 farthest - 4 each
5 next farthest - 3 each
5 closest - 1 each
3 next closest - 2 each

total 8 + 15 + 5 + 6 = 34 moves

34/4 (assuming doubles) = 8.5, which is 9 turns.

Assuming 7 probably counted pips, however being 7 out cannot be borne off in 1.2 moves for example :)

11. November 2011, 17:48:38
grenv 
Subject: Re: Swop dice
WellyWales: Because you can't use both numbers... and in this case you need to use the highest number. If you swapped you would move 1 but not be able to move 2, which is an illegal move.

21. October 2011, 12:25:58
grenv 
Subject: Re: resigning
Nothingness: if you resign after bearing off at least one, it will be 3-0... otherwise it will be 5-0 (or 7-0 if you're pieces are still in opponents area).

So get one piece off first, then resign if you can't mathematically win.

20. August 2011, 23:08:14
grenv 
Subject: Re: this is what i always thought it meant
Pedro Martínez: Was the post removed? It was a proper link to a respectable slang dictionary (beaver is an animal, any other usage is slang). If that offended someone then they need to grow up and join the rest of us in real life.

20. August 2011, 19:51:40
grenv 
Subject: Re:
toedder: i did do something stupid. Anyway, must be a bug in the program then, since the calculation involves probabilities 1 and 0 only.

20. August 2011, 16:03:28
grenv 
52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 44, 33, 22

isn't that 21 chances? did you forget 33 and 22? or did i do something stupid...

Either way double is correct, and simple since control of cube is not in the calculation. Must be either a bug in the program or user error. ;)

1. August 2011, 16:08:09
grenv 
Subject: Re: Anoyne else get Déjà vu feeling dice rolls?
Anjil: 11 games, or 22 dice rolls, is not enough to know anything... this set of results is random enough. I guess the biggest anomaly is 8 fives and only 1 one .. but you need to collect about 100 starting rolls to even begin the discussion.

Of course, someone could query the database and post the stats... :)

20. July 2011, 23:00:31
grenv 
Subject: Re: How much of an advantage can using a computer give someone in Backgammon?
Walter Montego: Easiest way is to play the game through a computer yourself afterwards and see if the player made any mistakes. Most players will make a few mistakes.

in reference to your longshot vs safe... the computer would decide just as easily as any other move... with math.

For example if you had a choice.. keep the game 50/50 or make a move that is 30% likely to win and 70% likely to give the opponent a 70/30 advantage... what would the computer do?

move 1: 50%
move 2: 30% + 70x30% = 51%

Move 2 wins.

The human may think this is a difficult decision (because the %ages are hard to calculate so it feels like a gut decision).. but not the computer.

17. March 2011, 04:17:05
grenv 
Subject: Re: 6 1/2 years later
Pedro Martínez: 160 turns in 5 years... about one every 11 days or so.

These people live in some parallel universe - all that matters is having enough games to guarantee there will be a move waiting for you at all times... it's a drug.

17. March 2011, 03:14:11
grenv 
Subject: Re: 6 1/2 years later
Czuch: Looks like I narrowly missed the second round. - and my last move was in 2005. Kinda glad I didn't make it.

29. November 2010, 14:46:44
grenv 
Subject: Re: Getting yourself banned
Modified by grenv (30. November 2010, 00:57:49)
moistfinger: Guess I should rethink my other handle then. Got any other ideas?

16. July 2010, 01:06:29
grenv 
Surely the easiest way to analyze this is by getting the source code and running a large number of tests... Fencer? I suggest making at least the random number generating code available so others can analyze properly. Either it isn't a defect and can be proved, or it is and can be fixed.

2. May 2010, 15:33:43
grenv 
Subject: Re: Most games are begin with same rolling dice numbers..
Pedro Martínez: Great machine, and here was i thinking they paid 1000 people to sit at their cubes and roll dice!

If there is a defect it would seem not to be the random number generator but that the code doesn't use the generator in the particular case mentioned, but instead just gets the last number... sounds like a caching problem?
I wonder if those games were played with 2 people on the same computer? moves happening very quickly? We need more of this type of data most likely, in order to replicate the problem.

2. May 2010, 14:36:36
grenv 
Subject: Re: Most games are begin with same rolling dice numbers..
Pedro Martínez: Well, that explains my searches not finding it. :)
It was closed in 2008... i'd say it should be re-opened and investigated. I'm sure anyone with access to the historical database could publish the statistics for a start.

2. May 2010, 14:25:11
grenv 
Subject: Re: Most games are begin with same rolling dice numbers..
pedestrian: Was this added to the bug tracker? If so I couldn't find it.

2. May 2010, 04:07:56
grenv 
Subject: Re: Most games are begin with same rolling dice numbers..
Thom27: That's a wierd bug... increasing the odds of the second roll equaling the first? What kind of twisted algorithm would cause that?..?..

Unless you wrote code that generated a random number first, then used that to determine whether to roll or just use the first result, ... but why write that sort of code?? It just doesn't seem like a plausible defect.

Any ideas?

18. January 2010, 16:56:11
grenv 
Subject: Re: Holy crap
pgt: There should be a way of passing your current tournaments in your will... could end up having your grandkids finish the tournament for you. Maybe someone not even born yet will play the winning move years from now. :)

3. January 2010, 19:14:15
grenv 
Subject: Re: Holy crap
AbigailII: yeah, and i notice it's also 120 moves, but only one game... glad i didn't enter an anti-bg tournament.

3. January 2010, 01:27:57
grenv 
Subject: Re: Holy crap
Czuch: they have played about 120 moves in 5 years... that works out to 24 moves a year, which is about a move every 2 weeks... unfathomable - almost impossible given the 7 day limit.. they literally have to almost wait until the last second on every move!

4. November 2009, 17:42:53
grenv 
Subject: Re: Bias
Resher: If both numbers were generated at the same time, wouldn't you expect 100%..? To what do we attribute what is being seen.

4. November 2009, 06:02:49
grenv 
Subject: Re: Bias
playBunny: oops, second roll can be doubles... gotta get some sleep.

4. November 2009, 02:37:23
grenv 
Subject: Re: Bias
AbigailII: Ok, but if you take out the doubles, there are only 30 possible rolls I guess... right? so 1 in 15 then?

that makes sense... first die 2 in 6, second 1 in 5... 3x5 = 15

4. November 2009, 02:22:04
grenv 
Subject: Re: Bias
pgt: Just to be clear... is the suspected behaviour that the first move for each player is the same? So if I roll a 3-1 so does my opponent?

If so I checked my last 7 games and didn't find it at all...

Expected would be 1 in 9?

3. November 2009, 23:09:21
grenv 
Subject: Re: Most games are begin with same rolling dice numbers..
pedestrian: Can you publish statistics that prove that it isn't coincidence... or perhaps Fencer can?

3. August 2009, 18:19:01
grenv 
Subject: Re:
playBunny: I'd be more interested in if the player's moves were identical to an easily utilized program... since even computers make minor mistakes, the odds of the player making exactly the same mistakes over an extended time is... ?

27. June 2009, 15:50:51
grenv 
Subject: Re: Only one move?
Vikings: I think this game is shown from the other player's point of view, so 5-2 was the roll... 5-1 is the current roll about to be played... no?

27. June 2009, 15:18:44
grenv 
Subject: Re: Only one move?
Vikings: Looks like maybe 5-2 was the roll? Then it would make sense.

15. June 2009, 19:53:28
grenv 
Subject: Re:How many dice rolls per second.
alanback: The answer is clearly 4 kgs.

24. May 2009, 02:00:30
grenv 
Subject: Re:
AlliumCepa: dices? like a salad?

Why all this talk about the randomness of the dice? There appears to be no evidence that it isn't.

3. March 2009, 13:39:56
grenv 
Subject: Re: Unrated Triple Gammon
tonyh: Why even bother to play without the cube? I don't.

23. February 2009, 02:03:07
grenv 
I guess it's just stock standard dementia then ;)

23. February 2009, 01:55:06
grenv 
Subject: Re:
coan.net: I can't even find a brains tournament using the cube... i was hoping to find one and can't :(

23. February 2009, 01:51:15
grenv 
Subject: Re:
"GERRY": lol. Are you using an online translation program"?

19. February 2009, 22:57:21
grenv 
Subject: Re: Backgammon rating cheats
nikos: Problem is you can ban the user, but the person behind it can always start another one.

9. February 2009, 15:39:14
grenv 
Subject: Re: Backgammon rating cheats
playBunny: Yep, most of the very high ratings are impossible without cheating given the ounce of luck in the game. That 3000 rating for example.

Perhaps we need to set up a team of "agents" to root out the cheats. :)

31. December 2008, 22:05:56
grenv 
Subject: Re: Ludo Autopass
Thad: Workable solution, but I'd hardly call it simpler. Hands up who had to read that twice to fully understand it ;)

31. December 2008, 18:12:30
grenv 
Subject: Re: Ludo Autopass
rod03801: The solution is simple... add a button to the move page "Pass and autopass until I can move"

That way the player has a choice in the game. This could be used in cube backgammon games when a double is possible... i should be able to essentially say "I'm not doubling so please start autopass now"

29. December 2008, 19:39:16
grenv 
Subject: Re: Autopass
Pedro Martínez: It was implemented incompletely. Since then no action has been taken to make it work properly.

29. December 2008, 04:21:20
grenv 
Subject: Re: Speed indicators
Pedro Martínez: ah, but no way to handle with the cube. A player should be able to choose in the game to sutopass in the current situation despite having the ability to double.
Unfortunately this oversight means autopass isn't working 90% of the time when it should.

28. December 2008, 00:52:19
grenv 
Subject: Re:
UzzyLady: I apoligize - I thought playbunny was making a joke... outlier is a fairly common word. And as you showed the internet makes all words knowable in a few seconds anyway - why wait for me to respond?

I am making an assumption - it isn't a perfect system. It is, however, better than the one in place now - which is nothing. Come up with a better formula and I'll back it up.

27. December 2008, 23:49:22
grenv 
Subject: Re: Threaded
playBunny: Nice try, but you know what an outlier is. I would use this as a filter for tournaments or waiting games for example.

27. December 2008, 23:31:48
grenv 
Subject: Re: Threadless
playBunny: Too many in this context simply meant the number that starts to affect your ability to keep up. If I play 10 games I may do all my moves quickly, going to 20 may be the same (I just play 2x as many moves to make up for the extra games), however if I go to 1000 games it's unlikely I'll be moving 100x faster to compensate.
I may move a little faster though, which is why the average can't be over too long a time.

27. December 2008, 23:29:13
grenv 
Subject: Re: Threadless
paully: In my mind that makes you an outlier, not to mention annoying if I happened to also be online.

Of course we could apply advanced mathematics to this problem and get a better result, I can't be bothered figuring that out - until someone does my simple formula would be good enough for a start.

27. December 2008, 17:00:29
grenv 
While I agree with the complaints that an average wouldn't be *exact*, I still think it's a better indication than nothing. I think you guys are talking about outliers.

Also, in response to the queries about number of active games: I don't want to know how quickly someone plays, I want to know how quickly someone plays *each game*. I don't think that doubling the number of games will double the number of moves, but if it does then clearly that player isn't playing too many games.

27. December 2008, 08:48:47
grenv 
Subject: Re:
AlliumCepa: a graph is just a series of results, so my formula could certainly be graphed if you want to show history.

It isn't meant to be clairvoyant, so while doubling the number of games *may* not mean twice as slow, it's the best guess with the available data. Of course you could discount time where no moves are available if you want to be more accurate -
moves made / time with at least one move available, over, say, the last month.

"moves per day" = moves / days. It *is* an average. Otherwise I would say "moves made today" or something like that.

27. December 2008, 02:11:46
grenv 
Subject: Re:
AlliumCepa: I disagree... the fact he has 200 games now is vitally important. In this case he will be twice as slow because he has twice as many games... This is meant to be something indicating *current* ability to play quickly.

Also, I would argue "# of moves per day" implies an average (though I admit I needed to say over how many days - hence the mod later).

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