Fencer: thank you very much, sir. i think and hope that will help make the role of the cube in a match a little clearer to newbies totally unfamiliar with it. would have helped me a couple weeks ago when i was a cube newbie (would that be a "cubie"? ).

Fencer: my suggestion was very simply to replace the word "with" with the phrase "that employs" or "that uses" in the first sentence about the doubling cube. in other words, changing

"Backgammon (and its variants) is the only game which can be defined as a match with a doubling cube"

to

"Backgammon (and its variants) is the only game which can be defined as a match that employs a doubling cube."

thanks.

Fencer: i still think that change i suggested to the first sentence about the doubling cube (in the backgammon rules) would be helpful. right now the first sentence sounds like the doubling cube plays some part in defining a game as a match. that needs to be clarified.

you can trust me on this. i understand the subtleties of the English language a lot better than a lot of U.S. college graduates of recent years.

Fencer: if that doesn't seem a likely mistake, that's because you know what a doubling cube is for. believe me, if somebody reads those rules who has no clue what a doubling cube is for, they're going to come away still having no clue what a doubling cube is for.

Fencer: i still think that change i suggested to the first sentence about the doubling cube would be helpful though. right now it sounds more like backgammon and its variants are the only game that can be defined as a match by using a doubling cube. statements that can be understood in either of two ways make rules confusing.

Fencer: beautiful. thank you, Filip.

here's the suggestion to which i just referred:

i'd also like to suggest that the first sentence about the doubling cube be changed to, "Backgammon (and its variants) is the only game which can be defined as a match that employs a doubling cube."

as it is (saying that the game can be defined as a match with a doubling cube), it could be taken to mean that the doubling cube is somehow used to define the match. i'm a pretty smart guy, but it took me many readings of those rules and the playing of a match just to figure out that that wasn't what that first sentence meant.

Walter Montego: exactly, so exactly. i hope the sentence you mention will be added to the doubling cube rules, along with the suggestion i just made about rewording the first sentence about the doubling cube. i think together those will clear up a lot of the confusion with which those rules are currently leaving people.

i appreciate your tip on strategy as well. i will keep that in mind. :)

alanback: i think the term "straight game" would be clearer - since, when you get right down to it, a "single game", a gammon, and a backgammon each constitute a single game of backgammon (or hyper backgammon or whatever).