Shreela: i used to have the same problem when playing games games would keep popping in the way of older games that i hadnt moved , here what i did and it worked for me .in the settings page do this and it should work
Sort next games by, last move time in the drop down box , and the the ascending box

BIG BAD WOLF: I'm still using the "time left" (ascending) setting, and I started through my game list. I played about 8 games through when a game that I'd already made a move in popped back up into my list (I had the games list page open in another tab to check).

So, I clicked the Play Later button to get back to the order I hoped to play through. After completing my move in the next game, the same game that I just skipped came back up.

So my new configuration is not doing what I hoped it would: To play through my game list, one turn apiece. GT is setup so that if someone is currently online that their game pops back up into the active gamelist also, but when we click on the Play Later (or Skip) button, it allows us to get through the entire game list before games I've already made one move in come back up for play.

That's what I was hoping for here, without having to manually setup each game through the dropdown, or constantly load a game just to be able to click it. If I wanted to play live, I'd play through a game server with a client or at a java site

malynemo: You'll have to use English for me to read that. Maybe you'll want to check out the Czech board if that's what language you're typing in.

tak odpovězte. jak se máte?

čauky lidi jak se máte?

i just want to say that brainking is one of the best websites that ive ever been on! thanks fencer and thanks everyone else! (even if you r just sat there!!)

Thanks pauloaguia, and BIG BAD WOLF I changed it to last move time, ascending.

Shreela: Like pauloaguia said, the option in "Settings will give you a few options:

That is why you click "Next" on a game, what game it will take you to:

"The same column as on Main Page" - Does what it says, in the same order as on main page

"time left" - (Ascending) will play the game with the least amount of time left first.

"last move time" - This will play the game by how long it's been sitting on your move. This (in my opinion) is the best way to go through ALL the games that you have a turn for - giving all games at least 1 turn before going back and giving a game a second turn.

pauloaguia: hmmm... but that isn't necessarily the order they're on your homepage though (just noticed this part from your post)

Shreela: Goto Settings -> and then on the option "Sort next game by " choose "time of last move" ascending
(sorry if the labels aren't accurate... I'm translating as I write it)

Hi, how do I set up my NEXT options so that I play the games in the same order they're on in my gamelist, and play each game only once even if an opponent is online.

The way it is now, I can't get through my list if someone is online because if they play then their game comes back into my playlist.

I know I can manually choose my next opponent from the other dropdown, but having to do that each time can be a pain.

Or I can click on the Play Later button, but that requires the page to load to click, I would like to play through the list, one play per game, but haven't found out how to configure this. Thanks

(changed having to haven't)

Cranky Franky: I just wanted to clarify that in 1968 I think, the World Backgammon Champion, Luigi somebody, did lose to one of Dr. Hans Berliner's Backgammon programs.

I am fuzzy on the details but not the result.

EdTrice: At the Quantum level everything does happen,

...it happens often enough to produce the same stable patterns and a stable universe. The bell jar pattern happens randomly, but it's always a bell jar shape. I know this isn't a physics or science board but..why isn't there one of those here?

Just a thought.

Hrqls: In backgammon it shouldn't matter because the "randomness" is the same for both players, but it can mess someone up who is used to a more random kind of randomness.. lol.. it doesn't take much to mess me up.

You can predict with more than random accuracy what might happen in a game of backgammon. If bumping a piece back exposes the attacking piece, then odds are good for getting a number that can bump that piece back. That's normal, but I've seen more doubles and big numbers nearer the end of games than at the beginning. There should be no discernible pattern after several games. 10 doubles in a roll I can believe but not a pattern showing up in 10 successive games. Again, I'm not complaining and the fact is this could just be my imagination talking.

An artificial intelligence can't play well against a moderately experienced player. Thinking in backgammon is much more intuitive than chess. There isn't a program that can beat the best backgammon players in the world, not even close.

Cranky Franky: lol ... completely digital of course :)

when a computer 'calculates' a random number it looks up a value in a very fluctuating function

when you dont seed the random call it will take the first value from that function .. and the second value on its second call .. that why unseeded calls always produce the same series

most language allow you to perform a seed with the clock of the processor which will then place you into an area of the function where you havent been before and there a new series will be produced .. but still its a series with some periodic repitition

Hrqls: Build computers with mechanical arms that can shake and roll the dice. A scanner can read and enter perfectly random numbers into the game.

How much is the prize?

EdTrice: i believe there is some high prize offered for anyone finding a way to create better random numbers on a computer .. random number generators are very important in many fields of applied computer science

(i dont know if the same prize is offered as which is offered for a new record high prime number though :))

Just as a side note to all, there is a great deal of published papers on randomness in the artificial intelligence community. Believe it or not, if a chess program is capable of generating "better randomness", they get better use out of their hash tables, which helps to reduce the size of the game tree searched, which can help it get to a deeper search depth in the same amount of time!

I experiemented with different random number generation routines, and, sure enough, in the grand scheme of things, some code produces "better randomness" than others.

But please take a look at the huge number of active gammon games shown on the statistics page. With so many games in play, the odds are, evenly unlikely rolls are going to happen.

As one Quantum Physicist said: "If you wait long enough, everything will happen."

Fencer: I am not trying to pick a fight here I just wanted to know how the dice worked on here because it is not mentioned in the FAQ section. I didn't know this subject had been brought up before and you had already been over it. Also wanted to let you know what was said. I see NOW they were just joking around by the post from them below. I hope there are no hard feelings. You got a very good site here. Keep up the good work.

Backgammonfan28: Gee, have you ever heard of sarcasm? lol

LOL! Can anyone give me a hand with Farsi?

Marfitalu: French is almost done. But thanks anyway :-)

Bry: Try Georgian instead. That's what I really want here.

bumble: I've offered to do that, but Fencer didnt take me up on it...

Bry: When you've finished the Lancashire one.

Fencer: When do you want me to start the Bulgarian translation?

Fencer: Thanks, Fencer! :)
It's a pleasure to work with the BrainKing translation tool!

estanto: Great work so far :-) I am already trying to find someone to help you.

Luke Skywalker:

the server mangles the url. copy it to your address bar

Luke Skywalker: can't see it, Luke...:)
ESTANTO: THX for the explanation...:)

Esperanto flag: http://brainking.com/images/langs/eo1.gif

Pedro Martínez: It's a green flag with a white rectangle area containing a green star.
- The translator is already able to see it! - :)

What flag is going to be used for the esperanto version?

Rose: You are exactly right! :)
There are about a million people in the world that are familiar with this language. There are existing thousands of books, e.g.
So I think, there may be a few Esperanto friends on this site, too, that would be happy to be able to use their favourite language here.

estanto: Having no clue what Esperanto was I looked it up. Is this what Esperanto is: "An artificial international language with a vocabulary based on word roots common to many European languages and a regularized system of inflection."

I am currently translating BrainKing into Esperanto.
About 70% of the task is already done. It will be available to the public in a few weeks, I think.
Is there anybody interested in helping me to finish this task or to review the already translated texts?
Ĉu iu povas helpi?

Fencer: I didn't complain about unfair dice, i just said that it's too normal and that the period of the expected distribution of the 21 rolls is too short..........

I thought I was seeing a pattern, but I guess it was just my imagination. Real dice aren't influenced by board position, so I was wondering if the rolls here were being influenced in any way. I'm not complaining BTW, but I was curious about this.

Fencer, I can't imagine wanting to play elsewhere. Like I said. I actually kept a log of dice rolls and found it to be very fair.

Just to make it complete - dice are not prerolled (which is what I call unfair and some sites really do it) and they are absolutely random. And any event which is not impossible (i.e. rolling a double ten times in a row, for example) can happen and it's NOT a bug.

Fencer:Thats OK, I like unfair dice and I am staying right here!

ClayNashvilleTn: I wasn't talking about you :-)

Fencer: Sorry That was my first and will be my last.

Please don't raise any new complaints about "unfair" dice. It's pointless and useless. I am tired of explaining it again and again. Who doesn't like it, can play elsewhere.

Bry: I understand it is completely random.
The bad thing is that it's too random. Almost never things get wild (to have a 66, 2 consecutive times and then 2 44). The expected distribution of all 21 rolls has a very short period.
I mean if you take, even 6·36 = 216 rolls, then the odds for each of the 21 possible rolls, will be almost the same with the theoretical. I would prefer a large value of 200·36 = 7200 rolls, to be each different roll near on the theoretical value..........

I wish I had tracked how often I get doubles while on the bar. shssssssssssssssk

Backgammonfan28, Sorry you are feeling that way. I actually looked at your game (quickly). You opponent only has two more doubles than you. However, I know how you feel. I sometimes feel that way myself. Very frustrating.

Computers , as a rule, do not do random numbers very well. Generally it is pseudo-random. Usually keyed of of some "Random Seed" and the CPU's real-time clock. At one point I was so frustrated with my rolls that I created a program to keep track of my rolls. I felt I got the dredded 1,2 too often. To my suprise I found that the dice were quite random. Especially for a computer. I think Fencer did a good job with this.

does leaving cake and chocolate out for the dice fairy count as cheating ?...if so i had better eat it all myself

Backgammonfan28: I have noticed lately that in my opinion, it seems the dice favor the lower rated player
And did you ever noticed that when you're stuck in traffic the other lane is always moving faster? ;)

It's called selective memory... and it's a fact of life I'm not attacking what you said or anything...