I was playing at Yahoo when they implemented a ladder system. It started off being fun, then quite a lot of cheating started up, players were throwing games to each other to maintain their positions...they reset the ladder every 3 months, but this didnt stop them, they usually held the top 10-20 positions, and took it in turns to be #1, yes they accepted challenges, but very selectively, it became such a joke, and also became very nasty, I stopped playing there, because, really what was the point?
I have seen a succesful ladder system run at cases leagues, that can have some pretty strict rules implemented, but yet again I have seen the top positions manipulated in one league, this went on for ages until one of the players fessed up about it. Its fine to say that players have to accept challenges to keep ranking, but they can be selective in which challenges they choose, you can't very well make players accept EVERY challenge.
The thing which helped the ladder leagues at Cases work is simply you can throw out the cheats, but it takes a lot of dedicated time and energy to maintain the ladder properly.

I have been asking for the FIBS rating system here for ages, a ladder based system would encourage cheating, just like the BKR does. (speaks from experience) personally along with the bg bug, the lack of rating system, the lack of mulitpoint gamed, and lack of interest in this game I would recommend players intersted in this game head to www.dailygammon.com...its free to play, and to be honest, I personally think my membership at such a NON bg related site is a bit of a waste of money. I have lost 2 #`1 postions here due to losing major rating points with timeouts, (site related) its a letdown, and I just cant be bothered anymore

It doesnt slow the servers down at IYT or dailygammon Kevin, both are faster sites than here, with more members playing, perhaps if programmed correctly it won't slow the server at all.

You are correct Mike, GT and this site are the only ones with this bug. I have played at a lot of the online sites over the years and have never struck it before, and it is a basic rule, as is the rule there should never be a draw in the game of backgammon. It can give a player a huge advantage to NOT have to play the higher dice.
And Kevin as for notifying Fencer everytime it happens so it can be fixed manually, well that sounds terribly time consuming to me, wouldn't it be far easier just to fix it so all of the gammons are coded correctly. I have seen this fault in backgammon, nackgammon and backgammon race here, so I guess it is in the other 2 variants as well.
And I am going to mention the rating system again, the BKR is unsuitable for the gammons, it is the same rating system which was originally used at Goldtoken and is really does not give a good indication of player strength.

How do we know it is a lot of work for Fencer to program the game correctly? I haven't seen him mention that anywhere or is it just your opinion Kevin?

IYT doesnt have this particular bug, it will be fixed at GT (we have only waited hmmmm how long now lol) I always consider with a game like backgammon, or chess for that instance which has particular rules, then they should be implemented correctly after all these games have been around for thousands of years.
So there should be no draws, no illegal moves, and a game friendly rating system (ie FIBS). So far BK is down on all 3 points, its only a matter of time to see if Fencer chooses to implement them or if the people who wish to play the more serious gammons move on elsewhere. Y'know everyone keeps asking for more games but how about getting the ones we have right first...Just my opinion :-)

I have just discovered a wonderful mac friendly backgammon game, which offers (at last) a lot of features found in jellyfish and snowie. Great database options as well, and the ability to download games from certain sites to analyse...the link for anyone interested is
http://www.bgblitz.com/index.html
you can download and use the demo or pay the more than reasonable shareware fee.

Its all in the prime I think, all those checkers, its easy to make a nice big prime and lock the opponent in, a checker or 2 left on the bar, and the shots are usually there as they find themselves stacking up in their home board.
I guess I play it a little like race as well, but then I tend to treat my race games like regular backgammon really.
Of course at present most opponents are feeling their way and dont seem to be playing with much strategy ...(yet)...:-)

The Dream Team is primarily a fellowship for the backgammon variants. We have a strong team already and are open to all bg players who are looking to play with some really nice people.
We have weekly fellowship tournaments happening. Just pop on over or send me a message and I will invite. The only players unwelcome at The Dream Team are those who practise bad sportsmanship!

1 day moves, Nackgammon, Games start on the 7th...come along and have some Nack fun!

I started a 5pt game expecting to see the doubling cube...ahhhhhh now I find I have to play 5 games instead (too late to delete) I also would like to know if a gammon is going to count in a 5pt game? LOL or do I just have to play and find out?