knudsen@ihnss.UUCP (01/12/84)
Could anyone recommend a good book on backgammon? I dimly recall seeing a very fine one once in a bookstore. I am learning my own ideas and heuristics about this game and would like to see what serious players have to say. Also, what do you think of existing computer backgammon programs? I have the old Radio Shack cartridge for my Color Computer and the new Shack LCD portable game. I'm now beating the COlor cartridge fairly well and I caught it making some very dumb endgame moves. I can beat the portable too, but haven't seen any bugs yet. Are such things worth playing as a beginner, or am I in danger of learning bad habits from cheap computers? Are there any good programs out there (I've heard there is a Un*x game) at all? Wold it be worthwhile to write my own? mike k
robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (01/13/84)
I would like to recount my experience with a computer backgammon game. It will not answer your question, but it is slightly amusing. I learned to play backgammon by playing the UNIX version of backgammon. I was addicted to it for a few weeks, and after a while I was able to beat it fairly regularly. One day I found myself among some human beings playing backgammon, and I played a few games with them. I made a very unusual opponent, since I had never used a backgammon set before. I didn't know how to set up the pieces, or how to determine who went first. I had quite a bit of trouble with the mechanics and customs of rolling dice and moving the pieces correctly. Therefore it was difficult for my opponents to understand why I was able to win every game... - Toby Robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison or: allegra!eosp1!robison (maybe: princeton!eosp1!robison)