The game as described by Pythagoras.

alanback: 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.

I'd think there are a few wee problems with that prediction. The first is that there probably is no such program. Domino-backgammon is rather an obscure variant and so someone would have to be a real enthusiast to write such a program. The individual moves could be done using the GnuBg engine, of course, but there would still a fair bit of programming to handle the mechanics of the game and the interface, etc. That's within the capabilities of a decent programmer. However, playing perfectly would mean choosing the correct sequence of dominos for both the player and the opponent. Given that the branching factor is so high, finding the solution would be best served by having dedicated neural net, which is highly specialised programming. Then that program would have to be in the possesion of someone playing here. And finally that person would have to be comfortable with using a computer to make their moves.