reza: That shows the weakness of ELO ratings in Backgammon. They were designed for chess.

If you are within 400 points of somebody in bg, it's an even up 8 point "wager". The top players are within that window of her.

playBunny: Some of the high rated provisionals will play. Bilko came in high and played, as did alanback (who stayed high) and el diabolique (who probably will remain).

That said, I am in a game with molotov right now (and rolled 6-6 from the bar in the opening , but there's still lots of play left), but she doesn't respond to invites very often.

I would love to reset my rating and go back to the provisional.

BuilderQ: I suppose, but allowing a player to reset thier rating and going back into the provisional mode would allow abnormally high rating to be created.

Pedro Martínez: That is exactly right. The provisional ELO-style rating would be too easy to manipulate.

playBunny: I have also never turned down a game request by anyone with the "rating window" where I don't have to lay 14-1 without good reason and offering a counter proposal (usually a longer time limit). I have also, on occasion, accepted a game from someone 400 points below me.

I do play for rating. It's part of the competition on here. I will say ELO ratings are not a good fit for BG, but that's the way things are on here. I know different systems are out there, but I don't know enough about them to reccomend one.

On the feature request side, it would be nice if we could wager Brains one here. Not sure about the legality of that in the Czech Republic, and everywhere else for that matter, but it is worth a thought or two. I know I've mentioned it before. I'm not agitating, just thought it would be a good thing to bring up given the context.

ScarletRose: You have a good point, but I want to state that I _DO NOT_ cheat to achieve my backgammon rating.

That said, Spirou's comment applies to backgammon, as well. As "Big Jim" at the Flint BG Club says, "Ultimately, it all comes down to money."

(edit) -- And I want to invite you all to the Flint BC Club. We meet at the Days Inn on Bristol Rd. right accross from the GM Plant. (http://www.flintbg.com/). You can find me in the $2 chuoette.

grenv: My humble and sincere apologies to those offended.

grenv: If children learn to debate, then they will learn to think for themselves. If that happens, all hell will break loose.

danoschek:

JamesHird: Buy a membership, if you can get past the corruption. lol

Have a nice life.

gekrompen hoofd: Very poetic, but addresses not the issue at hand. You have accused the proprietor of this site with corruption and dealing unfairly with customers.

How has he done so?

gekrompen hoofd: Start counting... I'm up for a while.

gekrompen hoofd: How is Fencer dealing in a corrupt or unfair manner?

gekrompen hoofd: A council would not be democratic, it would be an oligarchy -- the exact opposite of what you say it would be.

Also, hurling Yiddish insults doesn't make your case and better.

This is a game site, not a chat site.

"Play the game!" -- Taber (played by Christoper Lloyd) from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

gekrompen hoofd: "...for God so loved the world that he sendeth not a Council."

rabbitoid: I like that idea, as I like playing "thematic" chess tournies.

Fencer: By specification, are you refering to pixel width?

Fencer: Wouldn't the row layout work on a 240 pixel format screen with only the addition of smaller boards?

Fencer's call, as he is doing the work, but just some thoughts I had.

A layout for mobile phones (except the Treo, which is 240 pixel format) would be too burdensome, I would think.

bwildman: lol

bwildman: Close, but actually the opposite. It would make playing a lot easier by not having to be at home to play and not having to lug a laptop. The iPaq is much lighter.

I don't know if there is a big call for this, but I would find it very nice if there were a mobile version of this site, or at least "mobile friendly" graphics.

Maybe an AvantGo channel for BrainKing so games can be played offline? (ok, that's probably a bit much and there would likely be bandwidth issues).

Any thoughts?

Though, word, deed, and action...

4 counts of off-topicness!!

I am deeply offended by that last post. I have many friends who are lumberjacks, and only a few of then are transvestites.

Dresden: In all seriousness, I think it's a good idea. It's probably just an added graphic.

rod03801: Is it time to bring up Gin Rummy, too?

Vikings: When conducting rollouts, you need to select an arbitrary number of games. 108 is considered to be the smallest statistically signifigant number of games to get an accurate assesment. I simply multiplied the number by 10 to get a larger sample.

An initial rollout of 1080 games shows the Back position to win 56% of the time (providing equals are playing). That's about -.120 for the Nack side.

In a money game (gammons and bg's counting), the eqiuty is even worse at about -.280 for Nack.

As I stated earlier, it would be intersting as a teaching tool or as a handicap to get a weaker player to play ( I might see if I can get my boss to play ), but the Back side's race lead is a huge advantage.

It might also be interesting to learn backgames as well.

Vikings: It might be interesting as a handicap match, but the Nack opening position is severely behind in the race. True, the Nack position has positional compensation, but I don't think there's enough and would take the race lead any day.

If you want proof, fine. I'll BG Blitz the position and post the equities tonight.

Vikings: It got caught smoking in the boys room.

Multi-player games (3 or more) won't work, but Gin is 2 player. With 10 cards dealt to each player, the hand can't go more than 32 ply + whatever pickups are made. While the hand _can_ theoretically go long, in practice, they don't.

You can also add the variations, such as straight gin and Oklahoma.

:)

I've alway wondered what Gothic Fortress Loop would be like. :)

A PDA version of the site?

Be great if you could choose the games in question, like back and Nack, or chess with varients, or other games with related varients.

You would want to double round the chess, though.

Thematic tournies, where the starting position is prearranged (usually an opening or variation), might be fun.

Also, if these could be user defined?

Just a thought.

Tiddley WInks? :)

I think Gin Rummy could work on this site.

Will it replace the single point matches, or will it be a seperate "Pro Backgammon", like on IYT?

Pig Latin, maybe?

Here is an idea that I came up with in a flash last night. It's a tournement format for backgammon, called "Duplicate Backgammon". It is similar in concept to Duplicate Bridge, where all teams play the same cards.

It would work like a double RR, but each game has the same rolls, but with each player playing different colors, hence, the rolls are "opposite". This would add much more skill to the game, as a player must play both sides of a rollout simultaneously.

Of course, some precautions would have to be taken to prevent a player from "looking ahead" in the rollout, but hiding the next roll until both games have moved should be relatively simple to program.

That's how I got my membership. Good luck.

I'm glad to see this varient added. I've like this game for a long time. One suggestion I would reccomend, and is reccomended on the Chess Varient web site, is to shift the pieces 4 files over so that the rooks occupy where the K and Q are.

This does not affect the playability of the game as the board "loops" and is a tremendous visual improvement.

Yes, I have play tested it many times OTB.

(K B N R R N B Q)

What is it?

Wouldn't pegging take forever?

2 handed euchre would require on 24 moves (12 each)

http://www.chellman.org/euchreForTwo.html

Not the most complete, but the only resource I could find.

If they have to be 2 player (and I see why they should -- partnership games could become a joke with collaberation), 2-handed Euchre might be a good choice. I'll find the rules if you're interested.

Thanks.

"This post has been changed from the original. It has been formatted to fit your screen."