frolind: Those are great. For those who like life to be easy, here they are (minus Question 4 which couldn't be found):

[Q_1]   [Q_2]   [Q_3]   [Q_5]   [Q_6]   [Q_7]   [Q_8]   [Q_9]   [Q_10]   [Q_11]   [Q_12]   [Q_13]   [Q_14]   [Q_15]   [Q_16]   [Q_17]   [Q_18]   [Q_19]   [Q_20]   [Q_21]   [Q_22]   [Q_23]   [Q_24]   [Q_25]   [Q_26]   [Q_27]   [Q_28]   [Q_29]   [Q_30]   [Q_31]   [Q_32]   [Q_33]   [Q_34]   [Q_35]   [Q_36]   [Q_37]   [Q_38]   [Q_39]   [Q_40]   [Q_41]   [Q_42]   [Q_43]   [Q_44]   [Q_45]   [Q_46]   [Q_47]   [Q_48]

Most articles on gammonvillage are for paid subscribers, but the Brain Busters are free.
Here are the current Brain Busters. Type "brain busters" in the search field there (and click go) to find older Brain Busters.

Hope this is fun....

It's a set of questions posed on the Usenet newgroup rec.games.backgammon and viewable via Google Newsgroups. As such it uses text format, so the board setups are a bit awkward to read, especially as chequer movement is the "wrong" way and the home tables are on the left.

People discuss their answers but the final answer is uisually in terms of a GbnuBg rollout. For those not familiar with that it will probably look like so much gobbledegook. Don't worry too much about that; the discussions should be interesting.

Questions 1, 2 and 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Question 7
Question 8
Question 9
Question 10
Questions 11 and 12
Question 13
Question 14
Question 15
Question 16
Question 17
Question 18

Czuch Chuckers: I believe right now a 21 point cube games counts the same as a 1 point cube game.

Now don't quote me on this, but I believe it will be something Fencer will look at changing some time down the road, but it is not high on his priority list. Again, do not quote me on this since I'm not 100% sure.

Hyper Backgammon is a pretty quick game, so a 21 point cube match is Perfect for this game:

Hyper 21 - Starts November 5th

= = = = = =

Plus since some do not know how to play with the cube, some practice tournaments have been set up where NO BKR Ratings will be effected - great way to jump right in and learn.

Oct 20 - 5 Point Cube Backgammon #1

Oct 30 - 5 Point Cube Backgammon #2

How does the BKR work with these cube games? For example, if you win a 21 point match, is that worth one win as far as BKR goes?

Fencer: Thanks! Now I can stop swearing at myself for forgetting to double, just to realize that I didn't have cube access. :)

All right, I've fixed the doubling cube position. It is shown on the possessor's side which is the player who accepted the double offer.

Czuch Chuckers: yes

Sorry I am sure this was already discussed somewhere in the past 400 posts, but are games played with the double cube considered for BKR the same as with all other backgammon games?

For those of you who don't know how to play with the backgammon cube yet, I created a backgammon 5 point cube tournament where no BKR ratings will be taken - so a great way to jump in and play with the cube.

http://brainking.com/en/Tournaments?trg=11751

Fencer: Ah, beg your pardon. That one came to me as I was waking up this morning so it's untested. Naughty me made an assumption. I'll delete the list just posted as there's nothing else new on it.

playBunny: The 16) was always working. Or is there some problem with backgmmon matches?

The first doubling cube tournament.

I understand, grenv. I think it is a good idea. I just can see the humor in it too.

rod03801: Not only read them, but count the occurences of each. I recently played a 10 wins match and it isn't at all useful. Might as well hunt around for the score, which is buried somewhere on the page.

LOL.. oh no, you have to read the names???!!!!

I get what you're saying..I'm all for anything making things as simple to understand as possible.. It is kinda funny though..

Don't mind me..

SueQ: I think for example one person highlighted in yellow and the other person highlighted in red no matter who wins or loses

playBunny: Even if each player was in the same column all the way donw the list it would be easier, but it seems right now to be designed exactly in the way as to be the hardest to read.

playBunny: What do you mean by #3...different background colours?

The list so far.

1) Would be nice to have the current score up next to the playing board instead of buried down in the "game information". Or maybe next to the Points, have the current match score for each player as well.

1a) Change "Points" to "Pips".

2) In the table of "Finished games of this match" which displays who won each game, it would be nice to see how many points were won in each game (without having to select each game and counting the "D"s!)

3) In the list of games which make up a match, the winner is highlighted with a yellow background, no matter which player won. (Example) It would be easier to read that table if each player had a different colour. So Marfitalu could be in yellow (when he won) and Tulip in cyan (when she won). The loser would always be in white, though.

4) A time out forfeits the whole match, not just the current game.
[playBunny: i don't like this one. My opponent in a 5-pointer is about to time out. I don't like winning that way. We're bearing off and I've effectively won already, so it's okay, but I'd hate to get the whole match just because he missed the end of this game.]

5) No draw offers on single games.

6) Show the cube on the correct side of the board after a double has been accepted. That is, with the owner, the one who is able to offer a double.
Done

7) Change the "D" and "+" in the moves list to "Double" and "Take". [Fencer says that's a biggie because notation is language-neutral and the the notation code was designed without translation requirements in mind. Might be okay if other languages don't mind "Double", "Take" and "Drop", perhaps?]

8) For completeness, Add an explicit "Drop" to the moves list (though it would be "-" in the current notation).

9) Auto-roll. Doesn't give the Dice/double choice but goes straight to the dice. Useful for players when they know they won't be doubling for a while.

10) Buttons for [Roll] and [Double] instead of links.

11) Use the words "Take" and "Drop" on the "double-offered" buttons rather than "Accept" and Reject". (Dropping the cube makes more sense to me anyway because it also means dropping the game.)

12) A note at the end of the moves list of a finished game saying "XXX wins P points (Cube 2 x N)" where N is the "degree" of the game, 1, 2 or 3.

13) Display the dice roll in the moves list. [This one's a high priority for me]

14) Implement the request-resign-accept/deny dialogue.
14a) Or highlist the "Warning: N points will be lost" message, for example, in red.

15) Allow the whole match to be resigned.

All: If gammon is still possible you shouldn't be allowed resign, so it would only be an issue if you haven't borne off yet but are close enough that it is inevitable. In this case it's usually only a few extra moves.

BIG BAD WOLF:
too cool! ...guess I'll become a member now!
...been waiting a couple years for this, call me a hard sell, but I just never felt good about jumping on the bandwagon when the site didn't work right for the games I prefer to play...
cuddo's to fencer! :o)

Vikings: That's correct. Even if it's obvious that you won't be gammoned, a resignation will cost a gammon or even a backgammon unless a man's been taken off first.

frolind: I can see how that would be annoying in turn-based games. At Vog, where it's real-time, that sort of foolishness is rare (perhaps because it's more hassle asking for the resignation than it is to say no each time). I'm okay enough with the current way at the moment, though I'm concerned for those players who get caught out and lose points needlessly.

BBW I've slightly changed what I said in that post so it may not read as you originally saw, but the bit about avoiding backgammon by resigning a gammon wouldn't be the case. (Like you, I did think it might but it's more about losing more points than you should rather than fewer.)

LionsLair: yes, the "bug" where you have to use both dice has been fixed.

BIG BAD WOLF:
ok, thanx... I understand, I just haven't seen anything about it...
one other thing, I gather from vague skimming of other posts that the 'bug' has been fixed in the dice program?... meaning that whenever possible that both dice must be used?

I like the current resignation system, even if it requires making some extra moves to get it right. On dailygammon we often see people complain about people who repeatedly offer a normal resign when gammons or more are possible. That's not a problem here.
A possibility to resign the entire match at once could be nice, though.

LionsLair: I've already asked Fencer about that. The cube games are not separate variations and so they "share" the same ratings scale. There are arguments for having the games as separate (another rating scale to climb) and for not (it keeps things simpler, not least of which is the length of those dropdown boxes!). Fencer's all for simplicity at this point!

He did mention, though, that when he unveils BrainKing's Ladders (in due course, lol) we'll have separate ones for cube and non-cube backgammons, so we can use those to demostrate our respective chequer and cube skills. :-))

LionsLair: That actually came up a long time ago when Fencer was first introducing the game. Since the cube has been added to all the gammon games (6 versions currently), Fencer did not really want to add a variant for the cube version and double the number of games. (Then the question of doing it like other sites and make 3 points cube version a different game then a 5 point cube version, etc...)

In the end, Fencer liked the idea of making the cube an additional "option" to the game rather then making it a new game.

BIG BAD WOLF: I read that to be that you don't want to resign because it will calculate points by where you are when you resign, and not give the oppertunity to resign for fewer points that would be the likely result

BIG BAD WOLF:
...would it be a problem or is it just not implimented yet to list games with the cube as "pro" games...?
...I realize it would be alot of extra space to list new BKR ratings for each "pro" game of the 6 existing 'gammon variations... but the fact is a good "pro"gammon player may only be an average 'normal' game player... an average player may only win 40% of the time in a normal game and yet win 65% of "pro" games...
... :o) just a suggestion since you're taking them!

playBunny: I never thought of that, but I believe I understand what you are saying.

That is if I resign in a game where I'm currently only in "gammon", then I would only lose the 2 points. But that might be something I do because of how my men are setup, there is a good change that I might be "backgammoned" and lose 3 points - so beter to resign and get 2 points then chance losing 3 points. (At least that is what I think you are trying to say.)

There's a major departure from how we understand backgammon to work.

Resignation has not been implemented in the standard way. Fencer didn't realise that resignation is a multiple-choice request that the "winner" accepts or rejects. Instead, we have a Brainking version that automatically decides whether it's a normal, gammon or backgammon loss depending on the postions of the men. If there's a man on the bar or in the winner's home table then it's a backgammon - regardless of how the winner's men are positioned. If the loser hasn't yet born off a men then it's a gammon. Otherwise it's a normal loss. There's no choice for the loser and hence no requirement for the winner to accept or reject. An example of how strange this is - if you resign when it's your first move then you will lose by a backgammon!

The result of this is that resigning is not an option unless you are going to lose by a gammon anyway. To have a normal single-point loss means having to play the game out until you've taken a man off the board. Only then can you resign a single.

I've spoken to Fencer and my feeling is that he's put a lot of effort into "The Bug" and into getting the BG+cube together and that adding a request-resign--accept/deny dialogue is one complication too far. As resignation is only a shortcut, it's not as serious as The Bug, ie it won't mean the wrong player losing, but it will extend games longer than otherwise or cause unwary players give away points that they needn't. Because of that last possibility, I've requested that the warning be highlighted in red or something.

(I'll add the short version of this issue into the list but thought it deserved a separate post)

BIG BAD WOLF: Indeed! There's a rule called the Jacoby rule which states that gammons and backgammons don't count unless the cube has been turned at least once (when, if you accept, you should be taking into account the game position and risk). It's a very reasonable rule for Hypergammon given that gammon is so common.

If someone has a way the rules can be writen to be beter understood, I'm sure Fencer would be happy to accept any suggestions and/or corrections.

= = = =

WOW - playing a hypergammon game with a cube, I never thought about how easy it could be to be gammoned or even backgammoned.

grenv: I interpreted the current rules to express the same thing, but with the concept of possession reversed from how "everyone" thinks of it.

frolind: Yes, it seems to be worded incorrectly. In fact most rules speak of the player with control of the cube, rather than in possession. This may be a translation problem, but it seems a strange way to describe it.

On a related topic, I think the part in the rules about cube possession should be changed to something like:
"If a double offer is accepted, the player who accepted the offer becomes the possessor of the cube which is shown on the player's side of the board with the new value.
(...)
After the first double offer is accepted, the next offer can be sent only by the cube possessor ..."

playBunny: Yea, I'm always for things looking as "correct" as possible even though since I've never used the cube outside of computer games, I don't even notice anything as being out of place.

But that is the purpose of these suggestions - things that would be nice if it can be done, but not neccessary to play the game correctly.

grenv: I agree, though it's nice if it looks correct on the board for the same reason that BBW's idea about having the scores near the board is good - it saves having to hunt around the page for the information.

BIG BAD WOLF: It should be closer to the person who can double. However the way it is now you can tell pretty easily because you have the option of doubling before the dice is rolled.

In regular games on a real board it actually is necessary to have the cube in the correct place to keep track.

frolind: Just so I understand how it works, if I double and my opponent accepts - then the "cube" will actually sit closer to that player then myself since the other play now has control of the cube, correct?

So at the start, the "1" should be in the middle - then after that, the 2,4,etc.. cube should be in the upper right / lower right of the board?

frolind: "Showing the cube on the correct side of the board" ...I mentioned that one to Fencer as well. I would prefer it be changed but it is something I could get used to.

I also agree that a time out should resign the whole match.

5) No draw offers on single games
6) Showing the cube on the correct side of the board after a double has been accepted (sorry for repeating that, Fencer;))

BIG BAD WOLF: Actually the score being more prominent applies to other matches as well. I never know the score as I can't be bothered spending the time looking for it, but in a doubling cube match it can be very important tactically.

4) A time out forfeits the whole match, not just the current game.

Fencer has been good at trying to fix any "bugs" and such which mess up the game play with the cube, but I know I have a couple of other suggestions and and sure others have minor suggestions also - so as an attempt to get them all in one place, please feel free to add other suggestions so we can get a list toghether for Fencer (when he gets some extra time).

1) Of course tournaments with the cube is my big suggestion, and Fencer already said this should come at some point.

2) Would be nice to have the current score up next to the playing board instead of buried down in the "game information". Maybe next to the points, have the current "score" for each player also

3) In the "Fished games of this match" section which displays who won each game of the match, would be nice to see how many points were won in each game (without selecting each game to see it there.)

Anyone else have any "minor" suggestions.

lol.. I know.. and the time limit on it is only 1 hour...

lovelysharon: Lol. What if he never conmes back? The never ending match.....................