Let's see if I can beat Psion Backgammon on highest level then

[ParadigmShifter]

New game walkthrough

I'll play first move when I get some beers.

I'm going to play first to 11 I think, will probably take a few days. Or it could all be over in 1 game lol

I'm going to ignore where it autodoubles if you roll a double for deciding who goes first (very nonstandard optional rule that, you can't turn it off though). So the actual match score may get out of sync if that happens.

Skill level 4 is the highest. Let's go! Let's see how this will work. I expect a lot of arrows will be drawn in MS Paint.



Not rolling my own dice so I skip that part.

I have the cyan pieces and am moving anticlockwise. My home board is in the bottom right. Need to get all my men in there before I can start bearing off. Opponent moves clockwise.

First roll is a 5-1, I rolled the 5, CPU rolled a 1 so I have 5-1 as my first move.



Opening moves are well studied strategically so there should not be much debate.

I'll play the first move once I get some beers.

Doubling cube is on 64 in the middle of the board, which means the game has not yet been doubled. Once someone doubles (can only do that before you roll the dice) the opponent takes the cube (if they accept the doubled stakes, otherwise they resign), and only they can double afterwards (so doubling alternates between players after someone doubles for the first time).

There's no beavers (immediate redoubles), that's a silly (optional) rule anyway, only used in games for money, not matchplay

EDIT: Got beer. Not going to draw any arrows yet

Only real playable moves are:

A-G running 6 with one of the back men
L-Q, A-B (pile 6 on the Q (7) point), split the back men
L-Q, S-T, again to the 7 point (Q) but slotting the 4 point in my inner board
L-R, running 6 from the 13 point to the bar point (7 point, point R as it says in this version of the game).

All those moves leave a blot (piece on its own) somewhere on the board. If opponent lands on your piece you are off to the bar in the middle and can't move again until you get all your pieces off the bar (they start coming in from top left for me, bottom right for CPU).

I don't have to take the 5 first if I don't want you can press Z to change the dice order btw.

Rules that I think the game knows but many people do not know:

* If you have a legal move you have to play it, can't pass
* If you can move both dice rolls you must do that, even if there is a situation whereby taking one of the dice rolls would mean you couldn't play the other, that is not allowed. I think Psion backgammon knows that rule.
* If you can only use 1 of the dice rolls, you must take the highest roll if you can.

Those last 2 rules are ones people often do not know.


EDIT: Right, gonna play my first move. Generally accepted best move with 5-1 is put 6 men on the 7 point (Q) and split your back men, I believe. That's how I play 5-1 opener anyway. It's not a great opening roll. (3-1 and 6-1 are the best opening rolls)

Right, forgotten how this plays, you don't type where you want to move to, you type the place you move from, that's a bit strange lol You can take back moves before you "lock them in" (i.e. you can look at moves on the board then take them back, which you can also do in tournament play, it's not like chess where if you make a move you can't take it back.



Going to play that then.

CPU rolls 5-3 and makes his 3-point, so he has a blocker in his inner board. (That is the move I would have made too in his position)



I roll 5-2



So lots of choice what to do now.

[ParadigmShifter]

Piece on point A (24 point) can't take either move so it's stuck there. (You can't land on a space where your opponent has 2 or more men).

Options are really:
Run with piece on B (23 point) to G or I. I prefer running twice with it if I do that otherwise it is hit with a 6 or a 1 rolled.
Ultra safe play: L-Q, Q-S. That's too safe for my liking
L-Q, Q-N. That leaves me with just 2 pieces on the midpoint (13) which is a bit light and moving to N isn't too big a risk (will be hit only with a roll of 6-4).

First or last option are probably best.

I've noticed it does not show the pip count, and I'm too lazy to count lol

Running with B is the "running game" option where you try and race the opponent. It always helps to know the pipcount though when racing, which is a bit of a shame lol.
L-Q and Q-N is the steady play, but it does leave the midpoint a bit light.

I think I prefer the steady play myself



That may set up a nice bar point (R) or the 5 point (T) "the golden point" which is the best point to have early game. Bar point is also good.

Probably gonna play that.

... I play it, CPU gets a 3-2, plays it safe



Probably what I would have done too. It could have hit me on A that's very risky though

I roll 6-3, nice. Play here should be obvious chaps

[ParadigmShifter]

This is the obvious move, make the golden point which I just said is the best one to have early game, especially when the opponent has not moved its back men.



Play that... Probably want to run with at least one of my back men if I can soon to give some backup to the light midpoint.

CPU gets 2-1 and brings a man down from midpoint to its 10 point (J)



I roll 3-3, first double of the game.



(You get to take doubles twice so I have 4 moves of 3).

I can hit on J by moving piece from A with 3 of those. Then I have to decide what to do with the other 3. That's the aggressive play.
I can make the bar point which abandons the midpoint. That's the blocking play.

I could go even more blocking by playing L-P, L-P, S-V, S-V making P (9 point) and V (3 point). That still abandons the midpoint.

I think I am liking the aggressive play more, and if I do that I may as well prepare for running by moving B-E as well. That keeps the best connectivity of my pieces. You don't want to have large gaps between your men.

Making the 7 point for a 4-prime (4 points in a row) is very good blocking play though. Then the back men are a bit isolated though.

[ParadigmShifter]

This is the move I like best I think. I am a very aggressive player lol



If the opponent dances (i.e. can't get off the bar, by rolling 55, 66 or 56, 4/36 = 1/9 chance of that) I think that's good enough for a cube (double the stakes). Even if he gets on he might not hit me.

My blots are 3 away from 2 stacks as well so if it gets on and rolls a 3 as well he has to pick which one to hit. That means a 3-3 is a bit of a disaster though

... so I play that.

CPU does roll a 3, but also rolls a 5 so has to use the 3 to come back in. Then it slots its 1 point (F-A) since it can't be hit at the moment since you can't move backwards. Not sure I would have done that.



I could double if I wanted don't think I should do that.

So I roll, 5-3. Nice again

[ParadigmShifter]

I could play safe with E-J, Q-T.
I could make my back men safe and hit in my inner board E-J, S-V* {* after a move means hitting a blot}.

Or I could do the obvious and attacking play and hit and make another point in my inner board with Q-V*, S-V. That clearly looks the best, might double him next roll.

I play that



CPU dances (can't get on) with a 66.

Only question now is AM I TOO GOOD TO DOUBLE? (I may win a double or triple game from this position so it would make sense for CPU to resign if it thought that was likely).

I've never seen Psion decline a double before I think though, or I may be confusing it with an online version of Backgammon I play lol.

I think I should double here.

You win a gammon (double game) if your opponent has not got any of its men off the board when you get all yours off.
You win a backgammon (triple game) if they haven't got any off and they still have a piece either on the bar or in my inner table (i.e. points S-X for him) when you win.
As soon as you get one man off, you can't be double or triple gamed.

[ParadigmShifter]

I double. (Press D to double instead of pressing enter to roll).

I CONSIDER YOUR OFFER
I RESIGN

so I was too good to double there I think lol

That was probably a mistake on my part. I should probably only have doubled if he had not got stuck on the bar last roll.

1-0 to me then.



So I was wrong about Psion always accepting doubles, I think it is backgammon247 online where I have never seen the computer turn down a double (maybe right at the end when it is mathematically impossible to win?)

I have GNU backgammon I could analyse the game if you want.

That was a quick game anyway.

EDIT: Obviously it's early days - winning post is 11 points won - and most games are doubled at least once so only gaining 1 point isn't very common.

This does not know how many games we are going to play so it does not know about the Crawford rule.

The "Crawford rule", named after John R. Crawford, is designed to make match play more equitable for the player in the lead. If a player is one point away from winning a match, that player's opponent will always want to double as early as possible in order to catch up. Whether the game is worth one point or two, the trailing player must win to continue the match. To balance the situation, the Crawford rule requires that when a player first reaches a score one point short of winning, neither player may use the doubling cube for the following game, called the "Crawford game". After the Crawford game, normal use of the doubling cube resumes. The Crawford rule is routinely used in tournament match play. It is possible for a Crawford game to never occur in a match.

I will be using that though if it applies (so what that means is I will ignore any doubling cube action if 1 player is on 10 points, always accepting the double, never doubling myself, but game is worth only 1 still (or 2 or 3 if it's a gammon or backgammon of course)).

Note that the Crawford rule only applies to 1 game, normal doubling cube rules apply for the rest of the match.

[ParadigmShifter]

Ok I worked out how to get GNU Backgammon to analyse games where you tell it what the rolls were.

I should have doubled the turn before (not doing so was "bad"), and I was too good to double when I did (said it was "doubtful"). Not doubling turn before got a ? and Doubling when I did got a ?!

Looks like Psion played some bad moves, it only complained about my cube decisions though. Cube decisions are one of the hardest things to do correctly in backgammon though.

I can tell you what moves it thought we should have made though if anyone is interested in that.



So it thought the CPUs move of 3-2 was "doubtful".
And it looks like it didn't like the move it made after coming in from the bar (slotting the 1 point) at all, gave it a ??, said it was "very bad"

This was the analysis of my bad double



So it thought I had a 30.8% chance to win a gammon there (and 78% chance to win overall).

What "cubeful equities" mean is that it thought (it rolls out a ton of games from the position and sees what happened with "best" plays from then on) that I would win on average 1.058 points, by doubling I reduced my equity (expected number of points) to 1.00, a loss of 0.058 points on average.

EDIT: GNU backgammon is excellent by the way, not the strongest backgammon program, but it is free

It absolutely batters me if I try to play against it though lol.

[ParadigmShifter]

Modern computers do really like to double early though, human players tend to play a bit safer I think. Which is probably why computers are the best players now (similar to chess). They use neural networks and Monte Carlo simulations to make their decisions I think, it's certainly not rule based any more. Obviously Psion Backgammon can't do much of that (maybe it does a bit of a roll out, like all the next move possibilities, maybe the one after that as well)?

So that game was fast, gonna start another.

Match Score:

Me 1 - 0 Psion Backgammon. Match is up to 11.

I win the roll off with a 3-1. That's probably the best roll (6-1 is second best).



Only really 1 option here.


Which is this, make the 5 point (the golden point!)



CPU rolls 44, also makes its 5 point



So good starting rolls for both of us.

I rolled 6-3 in response there

I'm thinking I should probably run with one of my back men, taking both rolls with it, going from A-J.
Could play L-U slotting my 4 point (U). Usually I'd want more than 2 men on Q if I did that, can only make the 4 point with a 2 or another roll adding up to 9.
L-R and L-O brings in more men to try and make points in my inner table, but leaves a man 6 away from the enemy (so would be hit with any 6, 51, 42, 33 which is a lot of chances to hit)
Or I could play A-G, L-O, which is better than playing a blot to the 4 point (U) I think, still leaves a man 6 away (and 1 away) so pretty likely to be hit. But if I am hit I can hit back if I come on immediately and also roll a 6 as well.

[ParadigmShifter]

I prefer this move, a bit safer. The risky play moving L-R, L-O had some merit too though, since I am slightly behind on the pip count already because of the CPUs roll of 44.



CPU rolls another double, 22, which does not hit my blot.

Plays this, then I roll a 54



I definitely don't want to play the safe move (J-S) I need to start either blocking or piling men into my inner board (bottom half of board) to try and set up some blitz plays (which means a lot of hitting and counter hitting instead of purely blocking plays).

I can't move the piece on A at all.

I think the best play looks like L-Q, J-N
More risky blitz tactic would be J-N, L-P leaving 2 blots

Could also play L-Q, S-W that still leaves my blot on J and buries a checker behind the CPUs back men, but if I then hit I'd want to cover that blot at the same time.

Decide to play L-Q, J-N



CPU rolls 64, and continues to block me in and keep itself safe. It's winning this game at the moment.



I then rolled 53

Still can't move piece on A.
Definitely don't want to do L-Q, N-Q that's not setting up any new points.
L-T seems the best play see if I can make the 4 point (U) at some point
L-Q, L-O is the attempting to set up a blitz play. Might have to do that since I am well behind at the moment.

[ParadigmShifter]

Go with my first idea



Maybe trying to set up a blitz is better though, we'll see. I need something to happen soon anyway lol

CPU rolls 33, another double, leaves a blot, continues to block me in



I roll 52 so can't hit (needed a 1)

Think I need to move piece on A with the 2 so it can escape with a 6. 5 looks like L-Q again.
Other option is to use the 2 to make point N, and do either S-X or L-Q which would leave me with a blot 1 away too.

I go for A-C and L-Q to try and escape from the back



CPU rolls 63, makes the M point, leaves a blot on V. Could be my chance...



I roll 41. I can hit or I can make my bar point (R)


Decide to improve my blockers rather than hit



CPU got a bad roll, 32



And I got a 31, big decision point for me here

I decide to go for this, a bit less risky than hitting and leaving a blot in my inner board. Can only be hit with 61 or 63, so that's 4/36 or 1/9 chance. Unless it can hit me in its inner board, but that's probably a loss if it does that anwyay



CPU got a 51, and decides not to run



I roll a 54. Think I may have to hit now with Q-V, R-V, that will leave 3 blots though, none in inner board however, and I make 3 points in my inner board.

That's looking like the play... I think CPU should have started running there.

I would only get hit with 16 or 46 so 1/9 again. It might dance. If it gets on and hits me in inner board it would leave a blot.

Decide to go for it, now is the chance



CPU got 52, so back on but did not hit.



I rolled 53

Didn't see I'd also get hit with 52 last move, so it was 1/6 chance to not get hit.

Think after that oversight I will adjourn for today carry on tomorrow. Tense game this one so far. I think the CPU has not played good so far, but it has had better rolls. It does not run when it should, I predict a lot of board crunching in its future (maybe not this game, but over the course of the match).

If it rolls a 22 after I make my move I will lose though I think 25 also very bad for me. 24 - pretty bad for me lol

EDIT: Oh, but I can see I can hit with my roll of 53 and make another point. Think I will win then. I really need to roll a 6 pretty damn quick though to get my back man moving, otherwise I will crunch my board.

Maybe I should also have thought about doubling before rolling as well lots of ways to hit and make another point. If CPU dances it's in trouble, I'm probably too good to double then for a while.

CPU should probably have hit me in its inner board last move then and hope I dance/couldn't hit back instead of playing safe last move. It's playing too safe and it does not run when it can/should. (I did just roll a 3 though, so would have hit back). I think it probably should have hit me there though.

At least the GNU analysis of this game will be interesting, think my decisions have been a bit dodgy too lol.

[ParadigmShifter]

Didn't see I'd also get hit with 52 last move, so it was 1/6 chance to not get hit.

Lol that's mad it DID roll a 52. Why didn't it hit (on R)? I had 4 blots. I was basically forced to hit because it was well ahead on position and as soon as it escaped (if I kept playing safe) it would win easily, I needed to make something happen as a kind of desperation move. Not hitting back seems like a very poor move. Would have been well ahead if it did, look at its inner board (better than mine). If I didn't get back on immediately or not hit back when I came back on it could probably have mopped up a few more checkers, piling on the pain. I should definitely have doubled there! Good job I adjourned.

I predict I should win the series anyway lol It's definitely not "highest level" style play which is a shame since it is on the highest level.

EDIT: I still would have hit back with a 53, but I would have 2 men back (making a point in its inner table though) to CPUs 1 on the bar. Its inner table is better than mine (4 inner board points vs. 3). I'm confused anyway lol. Maybe that is its top secret plan to defeat me, play weird moves

[equinox]

And yet when I played Leisure Genius Scrabble seriously (RZX), everyone kept saying "that's not a word!"

[ParadigmShifter]

Scrabble Deluxe you mean? (they did do a compilation with Psion Scrabble as well looks like).

I'm 4-0 up against Deluxe Scrabble though and last 2 games were severe beatings (see other thread). EDIT: Obviously I know a lot of words that are only played in Scrabble, never crop up in real life and most people would say "that's not a word!" though That Scrabble program also knows a few of those (not enough looks like!). Psion Scrabble - does not know as many silly words.

Psion Backgammon is obviously going to win some games cos of the randomness. It was way ahead there and its just made a terrible play I think so I am in the driving seat here, at least for now. Think I will be too good to double if it doesn't get back on after my next move.

Anything can and does happen in Backgammon though, which is what makes it a good (well, exciting anyway) game. It's more balanced/noob friendly/luck based than Chess and Scrabble (where the best player usually will win most of the games) anyway. Better player will still win in the long run, which is why I am calling this one as a win for me in a match up to 11. (Match up to 11 isn't really "in the long run" though - cube could easily reach 4x and gammons - double games - are pretty common too). So it's a very swingy game as in you can be miles behind in match score and still catch up.

[ParadigmShifter]

And yet when I played Leisure Genius Scrabble seriously (RZX), everyone kept saying "that's not a word!"

Ah I didn't see there was an RZX of Scrabble Deluxe, I'm assuming it was you who recorded it (player name is EQ so I guess so).
Some silly words looked like they were played in that game yeah, some I am not familiar with so I wouldn't have tried, did not watch the RZX to see who played what words though (just skipped to near the end, sorry!). 345 is a respectable score anyway... no bingos though

In the Scrabble playthrough thread I rejected a few word suggestions thinking they weren't words but they actually were.

Oh I see you had "show thinking on" had not tried that before. Surely that has to help the human player since you see some of the CPUs letters which they might not then play?

There's also a RZX which says it was recorded with rollback (dunno if it was same one - I'm unable to download it) - that's not cricket though you could roll back challenged words!

[ParadigmShifter]

Not as much interest in Backgammon as there was for Scrabble then I guess!

I return to the game and play my 52. Current Match Score is 1-0 to me (first to 11)



Looks like I am now winning this game, from being behind all game so far. CPU can get right back in it with 46 though. Otherwise no 6s for ages and bad rolls may allow him a chance later

CPU rolls 36 and dances.

I'm too good to double here I think, not going to make same mistake as last game I reckon! You have to make a double decision BEFORE you roll the dice. As soon as you roll you miss your opportunity.



I still think the CPU should have hit me the turn before with its 52.

I don't double, and roll 52 again.



I could play M-T which means I would still be hit on 46 or I can play O-V which is safe unless CPU rolls double 1s or double 4s

I play it safe (don't want to take too many risks when you think you are ahead), and that was a good job cos CPU did roll a 46 lol.



Critical moment now. I could cube here.

I decide it's worth a double in this situation so I turn the cube. CPU accepts, playing for 2 points at least this game. Then I roll 32, can send him back to the bar again. Need a 6 pretty soon though!

[ParadigmShifter]

So I hit with the 32

CPU rolls 51 and finally decides to hit me in his inner board, should have done that a while back I think.



I roll 66 and am stuck on the bar.

CPU rolls 32 and makes a 6-prime, which even if I come off the bar I can't move past until it has to break it. So I wasn't in the lead for very long lol



It might be advantageous for me to get hit again, if I were the CPU I would not hit me again even if I could.

CPU could double me back soon, might resign then.

CPU could crunch his board late game and I still have 4 points in my inner board so I'm not totally losing the game.

I get 61 so I'm back on the board, I think I should hit again, if I get hit back I then want to roll a 1 so I can make a point in the opponents inner table (assuming it doesn't hit me meantime on its 1 point).



If it doesn't hit me or gets stuck on the bar for a while I am going to crunch my board pretty quickly until it breaks the prime.

Other option is to play bar-A, Q-W giving the CPU more targets to hit (leaves blots on Q and O). I need men on the bar to avoid a crunch and try to make points in opponents inner board to try and hit while it is bearing off. If that goes wrong I am likely to lose a gammon though. CPU is too good to consider doubling me now.


I go for the latter option since having men back on the bar is the only way to get back into this now, have to play a back game. (Back games are cool though, when they work lol). They don't work very often though ha ha. You need to be a long way behind to avoid a crunch.



If I was the CPU I would not hit back if it can avoid that.

CPU rolls 31 and correctly (in my opinion) does not hit back



Meh I roll 33 looks like I have to hit again. Still want to leave some men unsafe and not break any of my points in my inner board if possible.



Looks like I have to play O-R*, R-U, U-X and then probably S-V

Which is what I do



CPU dances with a 33, that's bad for me too. Gonna have to crunch my board if it doesn't get back on and hit me.

I roll 4-2, make a 5 point then and leave a blot on 4. I want the CPU to roll a 4 right now then. Or I want to keep rolling 66 lol until it rolls a 4

[ParadigmShifter]

Gets a 63 so dances.

I roll another 33

Gonna have to do this. Board is crunched now need to get sent to the bar.



CPU rolls 65 and hits?! I wanted to be hit, should have avoided that make me crunch more. Wish I had more men on the bar and less crunch though lol



Could have avoided hitting me by playing the 5 first.

I roll 33 and dance. Dancing is good as long as I don't get hit on the 1 point and it makes a 6 prime at the same time. I want to roll a 1 as late as possible I think or keep rolling big numbers to avoid more crunch

CPU decides to double. I've crunched too much and I need more men back than this to play a back game... so I resign. CPU was too good to double there surely.





Dunno whether to analyse that straight away I think I made a lot of dodgy decisions that game, but so did the CPU.

Match score after 2 games:

Me 1 - 2 Psion Backgammon

That was a good game though with the lead flipping to me and then back to CPU.

Hopefully there will be at least one example of me attempting a back game this series though. Don't think Psion knows how to play a back game very well so I doubt it will, except by accident

[ParadigmShifter]

GNU analysis is in, it's not impressed lol




So PAPER colour means for cube decisions
INK colour means play decisions. Green is doubtful, red is bad.

CPU should have doubled first, missed several good opportunities to do so.
My double was "very bad" lol Turns out I wasn't winning there I think if I had got a 6 and with the CPU seeming not to be hitting me when it had chance, I was in a decent enough position. I was wrong.
Redoubling by CPU at the end was also "very bad", was too good to redouble.

I'll have a look and see what moves it really didn't like and what it thought was the best move instead.

Anyway you can probably see why if I play GNU Backgammon, it gives me a proper battering

[ParadigmShifter]

Well it's not GNU Backgammon playing this is a battle of the Speccy vs. me, who isn't as good at Backgammon as he is at Scrabble

Game 3 begins.

CPU gets 64 opener and does this, which I often do, however modern computers tend to prefer H-B, F-B making your own 2 point. That used to get frowned upon because 2 point is easily jumped over (better to have blockers farther back), but modern computer analysis has shown making any point in your inner board is good really.



I roll a 11 which is good I think the recommended play is to make the 5 point (T) - the golden point! and the bar point (R), leaving a blot on R but hoping for a quick 5 to make a 4-prime. I can't hit on N because I can't move 1 off my midpoint which I would need to do to reach N.

So I do that.

CPU rolls 41 and does this



Then I roll a 43. My blot is now 6 away so probably want to move it since I can't cover it. Probably take the 4 down from the midpoint to P. Or I could split my back men. Or I could slot my 4 point (U) with Q-U and play L-O hoping it doesn't get hit (2 away is better than 6 away for a blot, only hit with any 2 or a double 1, still 1/3 chance of being hit that though). If I leave my blot on Q it gets hit with any 6, 51 or 42 which is 15/36 chance = 41.67%.

[ParadigmShifter]

I go for the risky slotting play, would be terrible if CPU rolled 26 of course.

It rolls a 44 and does this though, makes its own golden point again, like it did with 44 last game



Then I roll a 31



S-V, U-V making my 3 point seems best here I think

Which I do. CPU rolls 45 and does this



I then roll 22. Making N point and moving both back men up 2 seems best there so I do that. CPU rolls 52 and does this.



And I roll a 31. Probably just bring one in with O-S. Or I could do N-R, leaving blots on N and O, but that has better building opportunities if I don't get hit.

Gonna adjourn for the day I think, this game is pretty even at the moment but whoever hits first will have a good advantage I reckon.

Speccy leads 2-1 in the match.

[ParadigmShifter]

I resume this game. Go for the safe move O-S.

CPU doubles. I think the golden rule when doubling is you should be ahead in the count, position and timing I think? CPU is only ahead in the count (slightly) but I think my position is better since I have made more points, so I accept.



CPU then gets a good roll of 33 and makes a 5 prime. I then roll 21



Which is not very good. Probably want to wait a bit longer with my back men (not that they can move with a 21 anyway) until the CPU position gets a bit worse. Unless I roll 66 or something.

So I inch up a bit (still can get hit with 64 here) then the CPU rolls 54 and makes its 1 point.

I roll 52 after that



I play safe again, CPU gets another double 33 again, could have played safe and not made his 2 point, just playing 1 checker there and still leaving 2 on H (its 8 point). It's very bad for CPU if I roll a 55! So I probably won't lol

[ParadigmShifter]

LOL I do roll a 55 ha ha. Might redouble on next turn then?



So I hit twice, CPU rolls a 52 and can't bring any on.

Might be too good to double will have a think about it. Although his inner board is scary if I do get hit so CPU might accept.

Whoops hit enter instead of doubling so ho hum. Probably still be ok to double next go?

I roll 61. CPU also rolls a 61 so moves 1 off the bar. I should definitely double now, should have last turn too I think, even if CPU declines I go ahead 3-2 in the match, just need to make sure I don't get hit before CPU has to crunch its board.

I redouble and CPU accepts so missing chance to double last go wasn't a big deal.

Then I roll 43



So this is a high stakes game now.

43 move is pretty straightforward then CPU rolls 62 and dances again. I then roll 21, now I have a 6-prime. Clearly winning here now. Although I still have to avoid getting hit before I break my prime (it does not matter if I get hit now before I break my prime, CPU can't jump past it so will have to crunch his board like I did in the last game).

CPU rolls 11 so has a point in my inner table. I can bring my pieces round leisurely now I hope meaning CPU has to crunch board before I break the prime.

43 move is in blue and 21 move/CPUs move in green



66 looks like the WORST roll I could get here lol so hopefully I haven't called it like I did with the 55. EDIT: Nope 66 is not too bad I can't move off my 7 point with a 6

[ParadigmShifter]

I get 61 and CPU gets 64.

CPU is about to start crunching its board. I want that to happen of course so if I am hit I can get on easier. So I want low rolls now, if I roll a 55 and then get immediately hit that would be bad for me.



I get 62 CPU gets 21



CPU board crunch has started. I want more of that to happen before I break my prime preferably, then I should win easily

53 for me, 41 for CPU



66 for me, I can only take 1 of them, this is a forced move. Probably have to break my prime next turn but then I can start bearing off. If I get a really low roll I might not break the prime yet, we'll see. Still want CPU to crunch more.

CPU rolls 41



55 is bad here for me if I roll that. CPU has crunched enough for that hopefully to not be an issue though.

[ParadigmShifter]

65 is bad too Another forced move, can only take the 5.



So if CPU hits and I don't get on for a few turns it may be able to catch up. Hopefully it won't hit...

It doesn't hit, rolls a 21.

I roll 52. I don't want 3 men on the 6 point so I don't bear one off this time.

CPU rolls 33 and can only take 2 of them. It's crunched a lot now.



So I'll start bearing off now. I might win a gammon here for 8 points!

Oof another bad roll for me, 65, forced to bear off from 5 and 6 point leaving 2 blots. Likely to be hit here. That was another forced move.

CPU rolls 43 and hits. Now I have to avoid constantly being hit on my way back round. Have enough of a lead at the moment to survive I think. Have to get back on first though of course (any 456)



I get back on with a 61, can't make my other blot safe (can't bear off now of course either until I get all my men in my inner table again), but it misses with 32 rolled



I roll 31 and make my blot in inner table safe and advance 3 with my back man... hit on any 3 or 12. It's also hit with 55, so maybe I want to think about this a bit longer before I confirm it. Chance to be hit here is 14/36



And if I only advance 1 with my front man and move my blot in inner table 3 I am hit with an5 5 or 41 which is 13/36 so a bit better chance not to be hit.

Or I could hit on X there's a couple of ways to do that but if I am hit back would be worse. But if I just leave a blot on X he only hits with a 1. Or I could hit with U-X W-X and make 4 points in my inner board meaning CPU is less likely to get on. Hmm gonna have to think this through for a while and I need to get another beer from the fridge

If I hit and CPU doesn't get on I am more likely to win a double game for 8

[ParadigmShifter]

I talk myself into going for the hit and making a 4 prime. I only get hit back with any 5, or 66 so 13/36. If I get hit twice with 56 that is not very good though lol. If CPU fails to roll a 5 or 6 I have might get a gammon, especially if I hit the other checker too.

I cross fingers and commit to the play



CPU does roll 56 lol but only hits once? Worried about me rolling a 6 to hit in its inner board? I would probably have hit twice there I think? His other blot is 6 away so if I get on have a fair chance to hit it? We will see. GNU analysis of this game should be interesting too.



Exciting at the end here

I dance with 22, CPU gets 43



I need to come on and hit this roll I think or I will lose this game too I think

I roll 63 and come back on but can't hit. So I make the opponents 6 point and move a checker in my own inner board. Need opponent not to jump over me here really.



CPU rolls 32 and moves 1 checker twice. I probably would have advanced both, jumping over me with 1 to be closer? Gonna have to do some maths to see if that was a good idea for CPU or not.



My first thoughts are it looks bad... time to do some quick (or leisurely) maths