crosseyed: It did seem like an unusually strong reaction to a pretty tame emoticon.

Dice Cheater: You are acting like a spoilt child because you can't get your own way. I am hoping that a moderator will delete your vile posting.

Dice Cheater:
I have just got back from two weeks camping holiday with the family with limited internet access. I've just played a move in all my games. I would have lost them all with no holiday allowance. I want to win games by out playing ( or out lucking) my opponent not by time default. There is a life outside brainking.

Marshmud: Reading on, do you still wonder 'why would you be heckled?'. Just glad no-one branded me a nazi, yet :-)

Walter Montego: Well that's exactly it, well put, Walter. The time control 'doesn't stop us from playing and finishing a game much faster'. It shouldn't. Time controls for board games were invented to maintain a good dynamic play, that holds true for live games as well as internet games. Now, had this website retained its early dynamism then all would be good but it didn't and I dare venture that it's the abuse of what are clearly over-generous time controls and holiday settings which one of the main reason for this loss. That's my opinion.

Aganju: Though my time controls might leave more time on the clock than you or I would use, it doesn't stop us from playing and finishing a game much faster. I try to set the time parameters for the maximums that I'll tolerate.

Another proposal for extending time on a Fischer Clock would be to allow both opponents to stop the clock if they both agreed and let either of them start it again.

happyjuggler0: This is a very good way for getting the time parameters and most of the other things about a game that you prefer. There is one thing that an accepting player can do that I do not like. He can shut off the auto-pass even though you created the game. I have never understood why Fencer set it up this way nor does he have an option to let the game creator decide to allow the auto-pass by turned off or left on.

ThunderGr: Oops! Wrong name. That is what I get for casually reading the posts.

I'll just leave the suggestion out there for anyone with open slots for games. Use the "waiting games" feature to find time controls you like, and use the "new game" feature to create your own open invitations.

happyjuggler0: Excuse me? I do not have any complains whatsoever. Why would you refer to me?

ThunderGr,

Have you ever considered setting up game invitations for the "waiting games" list? You can set up your own time controls and other parameters, and if it is a commonly played game you are likely to get some acceptances in a day or two (or much faster).

Walter Montego: I agree that Fisher Clock is the way to go.
However, I would prefer if it allows to use a bit of vacation, because it happens sometimes during the year that you cannot play for some days. For example, I do often international business travel, where I am on the road with colleagues for several days, often without internet access except late at night in the hotel. So, I play around 8 to 12 times a day all my moves in all games, for maybe 340 days a year, but there are maybe 5 periods of 3 - 5 days where I cannot play. I prefer an even tighter Fisher Clock than you proposed - for example initial 3 days, 6 to 12 hours bonus per move, max 3 days. That forces both players to move 2 to 4 times a day (I understand that this is not good for everybody), and I never even get near the timeout, except those periods described above, where I lose many games. So I wish there would be a way to have very tight Fisher Clocks with 10 days vacation per year, that would be perfect.

Walter Montego: The "Limit to Time" is actually "Limit for one move", as it was explained to me by aarou here

moistfinger: OK, I have sent you the same game invitations that I sent Dice Cheater. Good luck!

Dice Cheater: I have sent you two match invites and the first paragraph of this post.

Here's a couple of 5 point matches. The time parameters are about 3 moves per week. With the maximum time set at 8 days 1 hour, the game will time out if someone doesn't move in a little over 8 days. With the Fischer Clock in use, the amount of vacation time I or you have left does not matter. The clock keeps running. I usually move everyday and sometimes all day. You and I have played before, though it has been awhile since our last encounter. I only have 11 games currently running, so you won't have to worry about me making hundreds of moves trying to keep from timing out in a multitude of games with other players. Though I like to chat while playing, I also observe radio silence. Just depends on what's happening.

If you turn off the chat feature, I will not play any more games with you. Same thing if you shut off the auto-pass if we play Backgammon.

If others would like to play with similar time controls or longer matches let me know. Though I do not play a lot of different games, I like Dark Chess, Embassy Chess, Backgammon, and a few other games that are listed in my finished games list, if you're interested. I am against what I consider slow play, but I have room for many games and certainly do not want an opponent to time out in a game. It is easy to set up the Fischer Clock as Fencer has the game invite page set up. I always wonder why more people don't take advantage of the Fischer Clock. Especially those that do not like endless games that never end. It takes awhile to get a feel for how you like the time parameters, but it works well for me. My favorite time controls that work well for my life situation and also leave me time to be on extended work assignments are these time parameters:

Initial time between 4 and 7 days
Bonus time 1 day 18 hours
Limit to time 11 days 1 hour

I could play a standard time of 30 days and vacation allowed and I'd still move nearly every day. I won't play with those time controls because I want the game to either be over or to be played.

El Cid: Well put again.

Dice Cheater: This is what you need

Dice Cheater: So, you can't stand that the other players impose their playing velocity to you, but you want to impose yours to them...
Like it has been said, no one here is forcing you to choose 7 day normal vacation games (in fact you have some games that have smaller time controls). If a player has a time gap to play, (s)he can use it. If it uses more time, it starts losing vacation hours, if even then he uses more time the game will eventually timeout. Yeah, it's kind of frustrating when you see a player with 50 games that connects everyday and it usually has +40 in his turn, but he plays within the time gap he is allowed to, so I can't blame.
Moreover, if you have only 7/20 possible games you can have, it is less likely to have a game in your turn. Like it has been said every time this matter comes up, this is not a realtime game site, so it is expected that the games last. Even so, there are countless time gap controls so that each player can use the ones that best fit his play style.
And this is not defending slow play... it is just remembering that each of us has the possibility to choose which games we want to play, so we got to face the consequences of the opponents we choose (especially if you are not playing tournaments)

Dice Cheater: Yep, I second that.

crosseyed: Why defend slow play? Slow play sucks.

Dice Cheater:

Roberto Silva: Well put.

Dice Cheater: You only have 7 games running, so it must seem like an eternity when you are expecting players to make a move and they have not done so. Perhaps if you played more games it would not be so bad for you. There are no rules that say players must make moves when you expect them to. If you can't take the heat you should leave the kitchen as the expression goes.

BGBedlam: You're alright m8

Dice Cheater: boy oh boy, I really started something there. It was only a joke. I.ll keep quiet in future.

Roberto Silva: You have 10 hours vacation days left so your post is quite clearly about defending your own lethargic playing style. Indulge me, crawl back under that rock.

Dice Cheater: " I'm simply not interested in playing matches that last a year or more."

Then DON'T join games with time controls that allow that to happen. You've been told that plenty of times. Why do you keep blaming players for your inability to understand the site rules?

If a player has 7 days to make a rule, he's entirely within his right to take 7 days to make a move. Whatever else he does during those 7 days is his business. Why should he have to interrupt his personal and professional life to come here and indulge you?

Dice Cheater: Why would you be heckled? I suggest you join quick playing tournaments and stay away from the endless tournys. You know you have the control to play at your own time limits.

"given free membership then start games with a generous time control"

You seriously believe this?

Dice Cheater: You have just 7 games out of the 20 that is your limit. I am pretty sure you could, if you wanted to, start games with faster players.

ThunderGr: Not naming names but I'm currently playing two of these ghosts.

BGBedlam: I haven't been entering any new tournaments for six months now (except team tourneys), so my game count is down considerably. But I still see enough opportunities and have enough moves to make.
It's coming back to finding the group of people that want to play fast, and make tourneys within that group - that should fix this issue.

Dice Cheater: Well, I do not know where you find your opponents, but most of my backgammon games go through blazingly fast. To me, the site bustles with life :P.

BGBedlam: Oh yeah, plenty to say about that. As per usual we'll both be heckled for mentioning this elephant in the room but who cares at this stage. My current findings about slow play is what I call 'ghost' players, there are more and more of these here these days (I'm only aware of those who play backgammon). I suspect they are given free membership then start games with a generous time control but only play when they are about to time-out even though they visit the site to make one or two moves every single day. It looks like some matches are being played but the truth is they last forever and that's simply not the way backgammon is played. I'm simply not interested in playing matches that last a year or more. Due to the above this website now feels dead, there's very little dynamism left. Pity.

It's quiet in here. Anyone got any thoughts on slow play! ;)

ketchuplover: it is you have to click on the drop down menu!

Its 22 euros

a 6 month white rook membership. That option is not on the Paid Membership page. Please explain. Gracias in advance

Bernice: SB scores are worked out for individual sections of round robin tournaments and don't apply to individual games. They are a way of deciding what to do when there's a tie and can't be used to compare performance in different tournaments nor to track progress over time.

In your May Flame Pit Dice Poker tournament, you and Bwild both got 3 points, so the winner of the section/tourney is decided by the quality of your wins, which your SB score tries to measure. The 3 opponents that you beat managed to score 1+1+2=4 points between them. But the opponents that Bwild managed to beat scored 3+1+2=6 points between them. So Bwild's wins are judged to be more impressive than yours (since 6 > 4), so he gets awarded the top spot.

Does that help?

thanks for all of that LOL....Im still none the wiser....

Carpe Diem: Oops! You are right of course.

happyjuggler0: "Your S-B is decided by the number of games your collective opponents have won. If you play against players A,B,C,D, and E, and player A won 3 games, and players B and C won 2 games each, and players D and E won 1 point each, then your S-B score is 9. If the player you are tied with under the "points" column has a higher S-B than you, then s/he wins the tournament at BrainKing. If you have a higher S-B, then you win the tournament. If you have the same S-B, then you both win the tournament."

Vikings: I am going to push back on that, because at the very least it seems misleading or confusing, if not just plain wrong.

S-B is a tiebreaker system. If you win four games and tie one game, then the tournament table will say that you have "4.5 points".

There is also a column labeled "S-B". If someone else also has 4.5 points, this method will decide which of you wins the tournament, or sometimes the tournament will be a tie if both of your S-B scores are the same.

Your S-B is decided by the number of games your collective opponents have won. If you play against players A,B,C,D, and E, and player A won 3 games, and players B and C won 2 games each, and players D and E won 1 point each, then your S-B score is 9. If the player you are tied with under the "points" column has a higher S-B than you, then s/he wins the tournament at BrainKing. If you have a higher S-B, then you win the tournament. If you have the same S-B, then you both win the tournament.

One can argue that this makes sense, or not, but it is how things work here. If nothing else, everyone plays under the same system.

your S-B score is based on the amount of wins that the people you beat have won. So in the first tournament your opponents won a combined total of 6 games where as your opponents that you beat in the second tourny won a total of 4 games combined

Query? I had an SB score of 6.0 in a game of Dice Poker I won the other day and havev just come equal in number of games and my SB score is 4.0...I havent lost THAT many games in the last 2 days to go that far down? Any suggestions please.

Aganju: thank you

speachless: looks like you cannot have 40 pieces on the ace point... It gets automatically reduced to 16.
I can only agree with your issue, that is certainly a bug.
Regarding your question - technically, an administrator can do whatever at any time. However, typically they would want to do it now and not 5 moves later. I recommend you send a personal message to Fencer, and put the link to the current game (not two moves back) in it.

is it for an administrator possible to correct ONLY the points calculated by brainking after a move or does he need to restart the whole game? my opponent got from 39 to 16 after a roll of double-2, so 15 pieces disappeared... i wrote already about the issue 2 days ago through the contact form but didn't got any answer, so I'm wondering if I should move on and maybe loose the game cause of this single error, even if I was supposed to win?
Cloning Backgammon (TheAlchemist vs. speachless)

How is it possible?
Last action of player 'X' - 1pm. But his games still move on... (I'm not blocked by player 'X')

Happy Birthday to Pedro Martinez :) hope it is a real real good one ;)

ThunderGr: you're very welcome

speachless: My apologies. I corrected the original post.

ThunderGr: you wrote *Speachless wrote much more....in HIS comments*
HER please, I'm a woman :-)