Luke Skywalker: Maybe the problem is with the word "torus", which is certainly unfamiliar outside geometrical circles (no pun intended). How about "doughnut" or "inner tube"

Wasn't there a problem with gothic chess? Copyright issue maybe?

Pythagoras: My deepest apologies for the confusion. I was not referring to anyone in particular!

A few minutes after I posted a message containing a generic reference to computer programs, one of my chess opponents berated me for accusing him of using computer help . . . sounds like a guilty conscience working overtime!

here are some links

http://www.bkgm.com/variants/DominoBackgammon.html

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Games/Board_Games/Serious_Backgammon.html

Marfitalu: No, I never have. I wouldn't mind trying it. However, I predict that someone here would have a computer program that would play perfectly every time, would shoot to the top of the ratings and stay there.

Marfitalu: Actually it sounds boring, as there should be one and only one correct way to play, with one player (probably the first) always winning.

playBunny: A worthy suggestion, I'll take it under advisement. Fax me a waiver of any copyright claim.

Fencer: I agree, since it would be a very different game.

While I'm in a creative mood, I thought of another variant that I call hybridgammon. The game would be played in sets of two matches with the players taking opposite colors; assuming the colors are black and white, then white always sets up in the backgammon position, while black sets up in the nackgammon position. Thus in each set each player will start one game in the nack position and one in the back position. Black always rolls first.

Another way to approach it would be to play, say, 7 point matches, with the players alternating starting positions. Again, black (nack) would roll first.

The player who starts in the backgammon setup would have a slight advantage in each game, so it's necessary to do something to balance the advantage.

I would like to see two changes that I think would make hypergammon more enjoyable.

1. Doubles are the same as any other roll, the player can use the number on each die only once.

2. Players may not form blocks, i.e., may not have two checkers on the same point.

playBunny: Just what is the value of that information?

Eriisa:

Eriisa: One thing we already have enough of is moderators

an option that allows you to disable cloak mode for other players?

plaintiger: The whole idea of cloaking is a bit silly anyway, but IMHO you have no right to information about others if you're not willing to share that same information about yourself.

plaintiger: To get what you want you would also have to have autorefresh on game screens -- do we have that?

It would be nice to have graphs that tracked our position in the rankings as well as the ones that track our ratings!

playBunny: If you're honest and straightforward, you will probably say the same thing now that you said before.

mctrivia: YOu don't like being a big frog in a small pond?

jolat: Even so, I find it hard to believe you would abandon this site altogether for lack of one game. It seems to me more appropriate to play that single game elsewhere. Of course, you are free to do as you wish! Chacun à son goût ;-)

Fencer: Neither do I. I dropped IYT in favor of BrainKing.

Since the BKR ranges for different games are different, it would be nice to be able to specify a different BKR range for each game. For example, if you want to set up a tournament in Backgammon and Nackgammon, there is no BKR limit that will identify, say, the top 10% of players in each. If you set the lower limit at 2100, you won't have a Nackgammon tournament, and if you set it at 1800, you probably won't get the backgammon tournament you wanted.

pauloaguia: No question about it. And, of course, you will shorten your list more by playing opponents who are offline than by playing those who are online.

I have had the same experience, logging on to find a large number of games needing moves. My list is sorted by time remaining to move. If an opponent in a game with a short time window happens to be online and sorts his games the same way, then we will be passing moves back and forth rather than working through our other games.

This can be disconcerting if you have it in your head that you have to get through all the games that were there when you logged on. However, if you think about it logically, do you really want to bury the game with the shortest time window under all your other games, just because it is also the one in which your opponent moved most recently? You will still have the same number of games in your list, regardless of which one you choose to move in next.

The way I think of it, I have a certain amount of time for playing, and if I don't get to the games with a long time window, so be it. Those are the games that can wait, by definition. I will play the most urgent game first, regardless of when my opponent moved.

This may have been requested before, but is it possible to provide an option to post messages in a fixed width font? This will allow tables and diagrams, including ascii board positions, to be posted.

playBunny: I suspect it would be popular with many web surfers who have no interest in BrainKing ;-)

mr. shumway: Just use the dropdown box to select a game that is not dark.

I want a feature that allows my friends to get friends with the friends of my friends friends without learning Farsi.

playBunny: Who will decide which British pronunciation is "proper"?

reza: Actually, no. However, I would be interested in a translation.

There must be other websites where you can indulge your whimsical desire to hear speech that you can't understand!

Here's one to get you started: http://pumamouse.com/southafricanotr

reza: Why is the ability to read enhanced by phonetic symbols? Students of languages learn to read them at the same time as, or before, they learn to speak them; similarly, the written word is often easier to understand than the spoken word. If you know the language well enough to read it, I don't think the ability to pronounce it adds anything to your understanding. Similarly, if you don't understand the written word, I don't know what additional understanding would be gained by the ability to pronounce it.

grenv: "you did WELL"

Pedro Martínez: Applying that definition, then, the term appears to be inappropriately used below. The definition describes refactoring as a process to make the underlying source code more readable and understandable, without changing the output or such things as the appearance of the user interface.

Fencer: I don't think refactored is a word, or if it is, that it means what you want to say . . . did you mean to say "redesigned"?

MidnightMcMedic: But I have had no response to my feature request! (and no indication anyone but Princess Alison has a sense of humor!)

MidnightMcMedic: I disagree, if you'd ever dealt with this person you would understand why the requested feature is so important!

nobleheart: It's good discipline to train myself not to look!

BIG BAD WOLF: No, it doesn't block in-game chat :)

Please give me an option to turn off game chat, so I don't have to put up with the nonstop babbling of a certain paranoid schizophrenic I was matched with in a tournament! (Yes, it's that one!)

ColonelCrockett: So where was yours?

Princess Alison: Which reminds me of a poem by Ogden Nash:

A one-l lama, he's a priest.
A two-l llama, he's a beast.
But I'll bet you a silk pyjama,
There's no such thing as a three-l lllama!

Despite his last line, Nash later admitted that there is a type of conflagration called a three-l lllama.

Princess Alison: One. However, smilleys has two.

BIG BAD WOLF: Thanks!

Princess Alison: Is there a description anywhere of what HTML tags work in the message board? Is it just links and fonts?

wellywales: What would I have to do to make the actual image display in my message?

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/nantouillet/smiley/duel.gif

Eriisa: Oh, it does end a game -- as I said, a new game starts, but the match continues. I don't need to be told that a new game started, any more than I need to be told that my opponent moved -- I know that automatically when the game shows up in my list, and I knew it at the time I rejected a double (or resigned a game, as the case may be).

The same goes for "You resigned the game." Of course I did, I just did it didn't I? And in most cases, it didn't end the match.

Eriisa: A backgammon match with the doubling cube is played to a certain number of points. This usually requires more than one game to be played. A game may be worth 1, 2, or 3 points, in each case multiplied by the current value of the doubling cube (which starts at 1). When a double offer is rejected, the person offering the double is awarded points (equal to the cube value before the double was offered) and the match continues with a new game.

Why is it necessary for the system to send me a message telling me what I just did? I can understand getting a message when my opponent rejects a double, although I don't get any messages about other game events ("Your opponent rolled double threes!!" or "Your opponent left a blot on his 6 point!"). I suppose it's a vestigial reflex left in the system after the conversion to multi-game matches -- it was easier to leave it in than to program it out.