mctrivia:
I can't beleive they don't allow prize money in the US!!

It's not gambling if you're entering a competition, which isn't based on chance, but purely on skill!

You'd be paying an entrance fee ... and the winner gets a prize!
That's a bit different from gambling!

grenv: Actually, its not illegal. Brainking.com is not a US based website and as such does not come under the duristiction (sp?) of US law, either federal or state.

There are some state laws which prevent citizens of that state partaking in private gambling games (either online or offline in their own home) but these are about as enforceable as a law against same sex couples performing acts of love on one another.

pokerstars.com, 888.com etc all operate as overseas websites and as yet the US government is still floundering about in the dark, having tried and failed to stop its citizens from playing poker online.

The only reason they want to stop it btw is because they aren't getting any taxes from it :)

mctrivia: Maybe it's ok if you can't cash out and the money is used to pay for membership, and if the amounts are kept small it probably wouldn't be targetted.

The site itself would fall under Czeck law, so Fencer would be ok. It would be technically illegal for U.S residents to use it from inside the U.S however.

grenv: I don't beleive it is ilegal if you can't cash out in the form of money. I.E. have to pay membership or buy shirts. But I am not a lawywer though. Also being an internet site. I beleive the laws of the country the server and offices are in are what mater.

The usual games would also co-exist meaning that you can still 'play for free'.

I am a poker player, money is simply the means used to keep score. Thats not to say that players aren't ranked using some form or rating... you see where I'm going with this.

Playing for fun is good... but wouldn't it be nice if we could also have a BrainBank linked to our brainking accounts. We deposit money via whatever secure method can be implemented, and tournaments we play in can have cash prizes - eg, tournament entry is $1, 10 entries, winner takes $10.

Could also have money staked on single matches.

Thoughts?

yeah -- let's start with Tori Shogi and work our way up to Chu Shogi maybe.

Fencer, enjoy your rest and thanks for creating/maintaining this site. But when you do develop more stuff, don't forget some Shogi variants.

LOL Busted.

MidnightMcMedic:

TKR101010: And I once again vote for Dark Cylinder Chess .....

Greetings all, and happy holidays to everyone :)

I realize that Fencer has already responded to the Shogi Variants thread here and that things are in the works for next year, but since people are sharing their opinions on the matter I thought I'd share mine too ... I vote for Chu Shogi :) Tenjiku Shogi too, if possible.

Fencer, no rest. *cracks whip* back to work...NOW...well sorta LOL

Thunks :-D

Fencer: Happy holidays :)

Many things are planned for the next year. I am just taking a rest.

I'd like to see Shogi variants here please. I'd also like to see Shogi handicap games implemented, as my enthusiasm for the game far exceeds my ability. I was thinking about the simplest way to introduce handicap games and I wondered if the following would be a possibility: When you create a Shogi game, as well as seeing white and black in the 'Your Color' drop down box, you could also see '1 Piece Handicap', '2 Piece Handicap' etc, up to '8 Piece Handicap'. If you choose one of the handicap game options then a number of settings would automatically apply to the created game: You would have the white pieces, your first move would consist of the removal of the handicap pieces, it would be a 'normal' game, and it would be unrated. Making all handicap games unrated would get around trying to translate the handicaps into a BKR value. I thought this system might let Shogi players explore handicap games on a 'just for fun' basis. After a certain period of time, perhaps a year or two, there might be enough statistical evidence from the logs of games played to assign BKR values to the different handicaps.

Shogi variants would be great. Tori shogi would be a good one to start with, as it's small enough that the piece movements can be learned quickly. Another one to consider might be Minishogi, which looks like the Los Alamos Chess of the shogi world: standard pieces and rules on a 5x5 board.

headius: I agree with headius here. Even adding a modest Shogi variant such as Tori might garner even more interest in Shogi in general. Those members that feel Shogi is a little too bizarre to approach can get a better feel for the smaller 7x7 board. Go Shogi!

headius: Ok, I'll repeat my feature request in hopes more Shogi fans will pick it up. I would love to see Tori, Wa, and Chu shogi on BK, and I would guarantee to sign up for a paid account immediately if they were available. There are no other places online that fully implement any of these variants, and I have a stack of friends who want to play. Come on you Shogi fans! Voice your support! :)

I was woundering if there could ba a way I could post my current BKR for one or several games on my own web site using either SSI or a on the fly generated graphic with a 4 digit number in it. My server has the capability of executing prety much any type of scripting.

I was thinking of puting an ad for BrainKing on my web site and would like to be able to include my BKRs in the ad. It would also be nice if I could add something so you could track people I refered and have myself added to the brain referel automatically.

grenv: It's "done good".

I fourth the idea ... perhaps Fencer will forth it.

grenv: "you did WELL"

reza: I second (or third) the suggestion to have a single in game note and be able to edit it.

And you did good finding the grammatical error. Some of us english speakers should've went to class more often.

reza: When in this thread, I believe to associate a note with move number would be useful also.

mctrivia and Czuch: Firstly, thanks for the answers. Since English is aforeign language to me, my ears and eyes are more sensitive to these things! And yes, I agree too. Would be excellent if we could edit our notes.

reza: correct

reza: Gramatical errors aside(reza you are correct) I agrea with Big Bad Wolf it would be nice to be able to edit notes.

BIG BAD WOLF: sorry to be off topic but shouldn't it be "Would be nice if we could edit in-game notes (TO SELF).?"

Answer me in a message please so that it won't remain off topic more than this .....

Sorry to interrupt!

Would be nice if we can edit in-game notes (TO SELF).

Now that the notes can be places above the board where you can see them, in games like Dark Chess, Espionage - I like to try to keep track of my opponenets pieces.

It would be nice if I can just edit my one note instead of having to copy-paste it all into a new note with the couple of changes/additions that needs to be done.

MidnightMcMedic: OK, you have my permission to delete my off-topic messages from now on :)

Fencer: Then it's not pure refactoring, but more of a revamp, which includes some refactoring and some user interface redesign. Of course, if you want to keep calling it refactoring, that's OK, just let the good people at Wikipedia about your view as well ;)

alanback: The changes in the view are tightly related to the refacroring process.

Pedro Martínez: Applying that definition, then, the term appears to be inappropriately used below. The definition describes refactoring as a process to make the underlying source code more readable and understandable, without changing the output or such things as the appearance of the user interface.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refactoring

alanback: It's a programmer's word.

Fencer: I don't think refactored is a word, or if it is, that it means what you want to say . . . did you mean to say "redesigned"?

Fencer: happy refactored new year, then

rabbitoid: The whole BrainKing view layer will be refactored next year.

Fencer: there are too many settings options to fit in a single horizontal line (with my default font), unless I open my browser in full screen. why not split it into 2 lines? or make submenus?
(in french the line is almost full. as can be expected, in german it overflows already)

I would love to be able to imbed pictures into my messages without using links. I can think of many reasons to why this may be bad but was thinking that to allow the BigBoss to imbed pictures from there own server might be nice. Even if they could do it for news events only.

Fencer: Like 'Backgammon', 'Nackgammon', etc. for one type tournament; like 'Gammons' for mixed gammon types; or like 'Different' for different type of games.

TC: What do you mean by "fails 'type of game' column"?

On the tournaments page, fails 'type of game' column. The name column does not give the right info. Some of them are in other languages also. Would be good, to see 'type of game' without clicking on it!

Daniel Snyder: Once a tournament is set up, the time limit can not be changed.

The only thing that can be changes is the title & description - and only after it is approved.

When someone is signed up for a tourney... the director of the tourney should notify when changes are made in the time mode... Or now allow any chages once the tourney is complete...

playBunny: technically it wouldnt be cheating though :)

(just like playing 11 hour games only ;))

Hrqls: It's possible but quite tricky, I'd imagine. Most likely the Cheat Watchers of the Backgammon D/B would be hot on their trail at the first sniff of villiany.

Thad: people could start to play for streaks ... starting a lot of games and only finishing the ones first in which they are winning .. could deliver weird stats

mctrivia: Yes, that's what I mean. Wins (or losses) in a row starting with the most recently completed game and counting backwards.