Fencer: Captured pieces ... Sweet.
Your highlighting the move squares and red check lines is nice touch.

Fencer: Looks great.
Would add list of captured pieces.

Good news:
You earned a new achievement - My three sixes
Roll 2 sixes 3 times in a row in a single game of backgammon or its variants.

Bad news:
It was Anti Backgammon

Good news:
Was on the bar and opponent had doubled up on the 6th triangle.

beach: It is the International Day for Tolerance!

http://www.un.org/en/events/toleranceday/

What about incorporating a player speed rating?
Each player would have a speed rating, e.g. between 0 and 100, 0 being infinitely fast and 100, playing at the time limits.
The rating would be calculated and averaged for each move made as follows:

Time Taken per Move / Time Allowed per Move

and added to their overall rating:

(Total Time Taken per Move - Total Vacation time used) / Total Time Allowed per Move / Total Number of moves

For tournament creators, they could add a minimum required speed rating.
For the entrants, the pending tournament could also display the speed rating of the slowest player, so they have an idea how quickly it may progress.

Mélusine: That indeed is a very low valuation!

We could have a player buy out , 100 players @ $100 each. And then a further $100 ea / year for the operating costs. These players could then become Maharajahs as well as business owners, though judging by some of the forums, it would make an interesting management team! :)

Anyone thought about using Crowdfunding to raise the capital?

Valuation is an opinion.
"Ask five website buyers what they think your website is worth, and you’re likely to get five different answers. Each buyer would likely have a different valuation number and potentially a different method for creating the valuation."

But for fun only, these calculators returned the following results for Brainking.com (try facebook.com which has known value and you will see these calculators are somewhat off):
http://www.worthofweb.com/calculator/ $22,372
http://www.siteprice.org/ $14,241
www.yourwebsitevalue.com/ $9,168

Bernice:Believe you have the exchange rate the wrong way round! The NZD has strengthened against the EUR, so your membership is actually cheaper. A black rook is now 40% cheaper than it was at the beginning of 2009 for you!
Fencer will have to put up his prices :)

I believe it was a proposal for an alternative referendum to Brexit.
However one is a democracy whilst the other is an autocracy. Which is which is your guess!

The RNG or rather pseudo rng has a near random distribution of dice output across the site rather than by individual.

As I always get double 6s in anti-backgammon, it means less double 6s to go around for everyone else.

Now, if only crosseyed and myself could swap our numbers

crosseyed: Yes, happening to me too.
For example in Beach's tournament Christmas Greetings
Christmas Greetings
the completed games against Doris and tigar4o are not viewable.

Fencer: Black Rook for all kind of action

Gabriel Almeida: Depends what S-B rules will be applied at the time the second round is created! Thom27 still has a chance if S-B Hrqls rules are applied!

ketchuplover: I would willingly pay more for a litre of water were I in the middle of a desert, than I would being in the middle of Scotland.

Marshmud: No, but I do play chess. Point of post was offer something to your question. Additional point, imho, not negative, but vein of thought. What do you disagree with?

Marshmud: Pretty much all of the dedicated chess sites do. And plenty apps available for your phone too. Haven't seen any with the bonus system though.

I think you have a challenge on your hands though. Online turned based games have evolved considerably. Whilst I do like this site, it is a dinosaur, played by dinosaurs.

Look at http://www.kongregate.com/ or some of the turn based games available for phones and tablets.

aaru: lol, AlterMann is part of the Derp Trolling group and is changing the NTP used by the BK servers in your games with him :)

ketchuplover: What exactly does G/120 days mean?

rabbitoid: nsa put another worm in your system? :)

Actually, what would be really useful to some players, is the ability to take back their move after their opponent has moved.

For example, in Artful's case (Artful Dodger vs. Wilhelmina), whenever Wilhelmina sent him back to base, he could undo both Wilhelmina's move and his own and re-roll.

Of course, you would need a cap on the number of undos, say about 30 per game, with the ability to undo any number of moves at any time up to the cap. So if you were being slaughtered at battle boats, on move 29, you could undo 30 moves and restart with a new board. Brilliant I say

Roberto Silva: I would argue that in Espionage and its variants, its makes no difference if you are white or black.

Bernice: What that means, is when I make a move, it is sent firstly to England, then to the West Coast USA before heading to the Czech Republic!

C:\tracert brainking.com

Tracing route to brainking.com [81.91.83.6]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 585 ms 1 ms 2 ms 192.168.1.1
2 27 ms 26 ms 26 ms 85-211-192-1.dynamic.dsl.as9105.com [85.211.192.
1]
3 37 ms 68 ms 37 ms 80.40.155.118
4 76 ms 37 ms 37 ms 80.40.155.107
5 37 ms 37 ms 38 ms xe-9-3-0.bragg001.log.as13285.net [80.40.155.37]

6 40 ms 38 ms 39 ms 80.40.155.70
7 70 ms 42 ms 42 ms xe-9-1-0-scr001.thn.as13285.net [78.144.0.238]
8 45 ms 41 ms 41 ms host-78-144-0-143.as13285.net [78.144.0.143]
9 83 ms 54 ms 48 ms v209.core1.lon1.he.net [216.66.84.213]
10 52 ms 52 ms 51 ms 10gigabitethernet4-2.core1.fra1.he.net [184.105.
213.146]
11 62 ms 68 ms 71 ms 10gigabitethernet1-1.core1.prg1.he.net [184.105.
213.234]
12 58 ms 59 ms 60 ms 216.66.84.27
13 61 ms 60 ms 59 ms gw1-web4u.cas.ip-anywhere.net [81.0.255.17]
14 58 ms 58 ms 72 ms 81.91.95.17
15 62 ms 60 ms 59 ms 81.91.95.10
16 75 ms 78 ms 64 ms web.brainking.com [81.91.83.6]

Trace complete.

happyjuggler0: I see you have the number 2 rating in backgammon. Congrats! It was not my intention to de-skill your achievement and now understand your reaction to my unlearned and naive point.

Herlock Sholmes: Card games, yes, they have huge value for me and have enjoyed playing them from a young age.

Whilst there are similarities with dice games (playing with what you are dealt or rolled), card games hold many more dimensions. For example, one of my favourites is Black Lady (I believe called Hearts in the US). Whilst the rules are simple, it is extremely combative, probabilities can only be calculated by remembering which cards have been played, there include many elements of bluff, as well thoughtful decision making in the strategy one will adopt.

I can't see how a dice game can compete with that, monopoly an exception!

happyjuggler0: "It is a common mistake of people who don't understand the game of backgammon very well to downplay the element of skill. Some of these people even sometimes put the word skilled in quotes, as if it is not actually worthy of the name skill."

Is that a fact? Then why don't you enlighten me rather than try and ridicule me?

Herlock Sholmes: I should have added, as a player who does not enjoy dice games, I do not believe in providence and destiny is one of your own making.

I grew out snakes and ladders by the time I reached school age, however, I still enjoy the odd game of monopoly :)

Herlock Sholmes: QED

happyjuggler0: "the skill is in managing that which luck gives you"

Very true, however, I would add that the only skill required , if you can call it a skill, is working out probabilities. For example, a 'skilled' backgammon player only wins over the long run, through having a better understanding of probabilities than their opponent.

Herlock Sholmes: Interesting insight. Thought there might have been a few responses to this.

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."

I wonder if those that mostly play dice games believe that fate or destiny is general providence and those that play primarily non dice games believe that indeed fate is controlled through their own choices in life!

Vikings: "459 and counting Anti Backgammon (SL-Mark vs. Vikings), it'll probably go at least 650, I like to extend the games when I am in control just to see who will resign"

LOL, and have you compared the number of doubles (esp x6s) we have each had in this game!!!

Will join you in the NeverEnding anti-backgammon tourny

32 left

Gabriel Almeida: Firstly, the pawn must get into a Fellowship. How does that bit work?

Deb4858: Nothing to do with "In Private Browsing", which is called "Incognito" in Chrome.

If you want to copy your favourites from IE to Chrome, click on the spanner at the top right hand side, select Bookmarks, then Import Bookmarks and Settings.

“Programming today is a race between software engineers (Fencer in this case) striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning”

hoky: Great!
But what is the difference between England and Great Britain? And where are my wins for Scotland?

Bernice: Cyber attack!

Come on England: Pawns are not abe to use auto vacation. Instead the vacation days are set manually under settings. When these vacation days are selected, it will reduce the number of available vacation days and naturally increase the time before time out occurs.

Of course, selecting vacation days and then later cancelling them, seems to be a ploy to irritate and confuse some that might be watching ;)

Pedro Martínez: Interesting. How would a game of Battleboats, for example, end in a draw? There is no situation where a draw can arise in this game. One could use the "Offer a draw" link, but pointless in this game as there is always a winner!

Herlock Sholmes: Perhaps this is to do with psyche of the average BK player, all kings I’m sure, but less brain :)

Being beaten in a dice game, well it was simply that the die favoured the other player! i.e. luck.

Beaten in a game of skill, however, then the loser can only critique themselves.

Pedro Martínez: Thank you, interesting. There is predicted to be a peak in solar activity in 2012, the result of which (depending upon the polarity) could wipe out many communications. Maybe this is what MadMonkey is referring to, that possibly he will not be able to move on BK

rabbitoid: Yes, I saw the film. Not the best, but I have my snorkel and flippers ready :)

MadMonkey: "2012 The End"
The end of what?

MadMonkey: Thank you.
Wasn't really thinking about myself. Essentially then, a pawn cannot play in a team tournament. Your caveat understood.

Yes, my membership will be up for renewal at the start of next year. Hopefully Fencer will have another bonus run over Christmas

Is it possible for a pawn to join a fellowship? Asking as I believe this is the only way team tournaments can be played, i.e. between fellowships.
In other words, what I am really asking is, can a pawn play in a team tournament?

alilsassy: And if that doesn't work, just click it again to go from descending to ascending order

aaru: Yes, though it has been there for a while now.
It allows you to see all those who sit at the top of the ratings list with a BKR of 2500+ despite the fact they have only played and won 4 games against low rated BKR players!

The PayPal gambling policy:
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/use/index_frame-outside&ed=gambling


PayPal are having to pay out big time in various law suits. Two examples below:
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1017-954672.html

http://www.dmnews.com/PayPal-Pays-10M-to-Settle-Online-Gambling-Case/article/81600/


So, they are being ultra cautious now.

Czuch: Yes, you are right. The act did not specifically ban online gambling, rather it outlawed the financial transactions to gambling providers, which would include direct transactions through credit card etc. (as you state), but also includes transactions through the likes of PayPal.

Hence, as you are experiencing, it is very difficult to get the money into a gambling provider, more so as the overseas providers also check users ISPs to ensure they are not from America.

PayPal is worried that its directors may be arrested if they transact between a US citizen and an online gambling provider. Indeed a fellow scot was arrested in 2006 on this law.
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/gambling/How-US-gambling-laws-sent.2794677.jp


Fencer, take note and be careful if you travel to the USA