Here are the new rules, I will also update the news post and the OP in this thread with the new rules.
Grand Prix Round 2 - Backgammon (Take 2)
If you read the forum thread, as instructed, you would know that there were many legitimate concerts with the format for round 2 of the grand prix. As state, the grand prix itself is an experiment, and changes are constant. If we ever do this again, it should be a much smoother operation. In the meantime, I have completely rewritten the rules for round 2.
More importantly, I have also decided to sacrifice one of the principals of the grand prix itself. I originally planned each round to last a week or two. Now I realize that is not possible due to the online ad-hoc nature of the competition. Therefore, participants must expect that while any individual round of the grand prix will be somewhat short, the entire competition may last for months. Anyway, here are the new updated rules for the backgammon round.
The backgammon round of the tournament will consist of a swiss tournament of six rounds. Every participant will play six opponents, one per round. In each match the opponents will play repeated games of backgammon until one of the players has scored a total of 5 points. The first player to reach five points is the victor.
The game will still be played according to standard backgammon rules using the doubling cube. One variant to those rules that will be used is the Crawford rule. No other rule variants will be in effect. Any digital or physical mechanism of playing backgammon is permitted.
The first round of the tournament will be seeded by convenience and also randomness. Each player who actually wishes to participate in this first round must email grandprix@frontrowcrew.com before Wednesday, March 20th 2013 New York time declaring that they wish to participate. A lack of any email will disqualify a player from the second round, and they will score zero grand prix points. In that email a player may either declare the name of their first round opponent, or request to be randomly paired. In the case of an odd number of players, a player will be randomly selected each round to receive a bye. Rounds after the first round will be seeded properly based on performance in earlier rounds.
It is up to the players to coordinate with each other and play their backgammon match within 7 days. If the first match must be completed and reported by Wednesday March, 27th 2013 New York time. Both players must submit the final scores by email to ensure they match. The score, and not just the name of the victor, is important for tie-breaking and seeding purposes.
If there is improper reporting, or if a match is not played or reported on time, the match will be scored as a draw. If the reports of both players conflict, it will result in a draw unless one player provides evidence to prove their opponent is lying. Anyone caught lying or cheating even once will be immediately disqualified from the entire grand prix. The opponent of a cheater will receive a total victory for that round. If you trust your opponent, no evidence gathering will be required for this round.
just to clarify if someone refuses to make a pairing and you show evidence that you had tried is that considered a victory for that person? Also what if a time is scheduled and one person shows up but the other doesn't and an attempt is made by the person who showed up to contact the other is made, but there is no response? I assume it would be the same answer as the first since the situation would still have to devolve into one person trying to contact the other.
just to clarify if someone refuses to make a pairing and you show evidence that you had tried is that considered a victory for that person? Also what if a time is scheduled and one person shows up but the other doesn't and an attempt is made by the person who showed up to contact the other is made, but there is no response? I assume it would be the same answer as the first since the situation would still have to devolve into one person trying to contact the other.
If someone is unresponsive, actively avoiding playing, etc. that could be considered forfeiting the round. The draw happens when both players are simply unable to play within the time frame for logistical reasons. If you think your opponent may have forfeited the round, just send in an email to grandprix@frontrowcrew.com. I will investigate and make an appropriate ruling.
One of my clients sat me down and taught me the basics of Backgammon today. Linkigi, I'll see you at PAX! (I'm still not super sure how doubling/betting works, though)
EDIT: How does the point system work with the new first-to-5 rules? Did we abandon the 100-starting-points system entirely?
EDIT AGAIN: Wait, does this mean that winning a game of Backgammon would net you 1 point (unless you used the doubling cube)? I'm confused...
I will explain the scoring in this post for people who fail at looking up the rules on the Internets.
You play a game of backgammon. Assuming there is no doubling, the winner gets one point.
At any time during the game on a player's turn before they roll the dice, they may double. When they double the opponent has two choices. Choice number one is to forfeit. In that case the player who doubled wins the game and gets a point. If they accept the double, they take the doubling cube and it doubles. Now the game is worth two points. The player who accepted the double and took the cube is now the only player who can double. If they double and the other player accepts, they pass the cube and the game is worth 4 points. If the other player resigns, the player who doubled wins with 2 points. You can double in this manner back and forth as much as you want. But remember, you can only double on your turn before you roll the dice. And since you pass the cube, you are limited to one double per roll.
If a player wins the game with gammon, meaning the opponent was not able to remove even one checker from the board, then the score is doubled. The winner gets the score on the doubling cube x2. So if you win gammon in a 2 point game, that is 4 points.
It is also possible to win a game with backgammon. That means that when you win, your opponent still has pieces on the bar and/or in their opponent's home quadrant. In that case the winner is awarded the score on the doubling cube x3.
You will play repeated games of backgammon against each opponent until one of you has scored a total of 5 or more points across all games. That player is the winner of the match. This could take at most 9 games, but usually less.
The Crawford rule comes into effect when a player is exactly one point away from winning. In our case that number is four. So let's say for example I win two one point games, you win a one point game, then I win a two point game. The score is now 4-1. For the first time in our match a player is within one point of victory. That means the next game we play is the Crawford game. The doubling cube may not be used at all in that game. It simply remains at 1. Although gammon and backgammon still apply in the Crawford game. If the Crawford game does not end the match, then play continues and the doubling cube comes back into effect. There will not be more than one Crawford game per match. It is also possible to have no Crawford game. If the score is 3-2 and the player with 3 wins a 2 point game, the match is over, and a Crawford game was never played.
Scoring points even if you lose the match is important for the swiss tournament seeding and tiebreakers, so keep track in your reporting.
People, whenever you email grandprix make sure you include your Internets name as it appears on the scoring document. I have no idea who you are with your real names or email addresses.
The matchups have been announced. Everyone opted for random seeded except for Linkigi and Yoshokatana. We have an odd number, Creamsteak ended up getting a BYE, so gets full points for round 1. We only have 23 people in this round, so we may only need 5 rounds of swiss instead of 6. Just look at the second sheet in the Google Doc to find your opponent.
Although I don't think this has been officially stated, I would expect that using an AI or an external memory aid (e.g. opening tables) is expressly forbidden for this game.
However, there are some areas that seem more grey. Most notably, most of the backgammon software I've tried includes an automatic pip count as a standard feature, which is typically enabled by default. The pip count simply adds up the total distance from home over all of your checkers.
Considering that there is no time limits, and I expect everyone should be able to add numbers together, such a feature doesn't really provide any advantage and merely serves to save time. However, since it might be considered an external aid, clarification is warranted.
Comments
Grand Prix Round 2 - Backgammon (Take 2)
If you read the forum thread, as instructed, you would know that there were many legitimate concerts with the format for round 2 of the grand prix. As state, the grand prix itself is an experiment, and changes are constant. If we ever do this again, it should be a much smoother operation. In the meantime, I have completely rewritten the rules for round 2.
More importantly, I have also decided to sacrifice one of the principals of the grand prix itself. I originally planned each round to last a week or two. Now I realize that is not possible due to the online ad-hoc nature of the competition. Therefore, participants must expect that while any individual round of the grand prix will be somewhat short, the entire competition may last for months. Anyway, here are the new updated rules for the backgammon round.
The backgammon round of the tournament will consist of a swiss tournament of six rounds. Every participant will play six opponents, one per round. In each match the opponents will play repeated games of backgammon until one of the players has scored a total of 5 points. The first player to reach five points is the victor.
The game will still be played according to standard backgammon rules using the doubling cube. One variant to those rules that will be used is the Crawford rule. No other rule variants will be in effect. Any digital or physical mechanism of playing backgammon is permitted.
The first round of the tournament will be seeded by convenience and also randomness. Each player who actually wishes to participate in this first round must email grandprix@frontrowcrew.com before Wednesday, March 20th 2013 New York time declaring that they wish to participate. A lack of any email will disqualify a player from the second round, and they will score zero grand prix points. In that email a player may either declare the name of their first round opponent, or request to be randomly paired. In the case of an odd number of players, a player will be randomly selected each round to receive a bye. Rounds after the first round will be seeded properly based on performance in earlier rounds.
It is up to the players to coordinate with each other and play their backgammon match within 7 days. If the first match must be completed and reported by Wednesday March, 27th 2013 New York time. Both players must submit the final scores by email to ensure they match. The score, and not just the name of the victor, is important for tie-breaking and seeding purposes.
If there is improper reporting, or if a match is not played or reported on time, the match will be scored as a draw. If the reports of both players conflict, it will result in a draw unless one player provides evidence to prove their opponent is lying. Anyone caught lying or cheating even once will be immediately disqualified from the entire grand prix. The opponent of a cheater will receive a total victory for that round. If you trust your opponent, no evidence gathering will be required for this round.
As usual, any questions and discussion that are necessary may be posted in the official forum thread for this round. Good luck.
EDIT: How does the point system work with the new first-to-5 rules? Did we abandon the 100-starting-points system entirely?
EDIT AGAIN: Wait, does this mean that winning a game of Backgammon would net you 1 point (unless you used the doubling cube)? I'm confused...
You play a game of backgammon. Assuming there is no doubling, the winner gets one point.
At any time during the game on a player's turn before they roll the dice, they may double. When they double the opponent has two choices. Choice number one is to forfeit. In that case the player who doubled wins the game and gets a point. If they accept the double, they take the doubling cube and it doubles. Now the game is worth two points. The player who accepted the double and took the cube is now the only player who can double. If they double and the other player accepts, they pass the cube and the game is worth 4 points. If the other player resigns, the player who doubled wins with 2 points. You can double in this manner back and forth as much as you want. But remember, you can only double on your turn before you roll the dice. And since you pass the cube, you are limited to one double per roll.
If a player wins the game with gammon, meaning the opponent was not able to remove even one checker from the board, then the score is doubled. The winner gets the score on the doubling cube x2. So if you win gammon in a 2 point game, that is 4 points.
It is also possible to win a game with backgammon. That means that when you win, your opponent still has pieces on the bar and/or in their opponent's home quadrant. In that case the winner is awarded the score on the doubling cube x3.
You will play repeated games of backgammon against each opponent until one of you has scored a total of 5 or more points across all games. That player is the winner of the match. This could take at most 9 games, but usually less.
The Crawford rule comes into effect when a player is exactly one point away from winning. In our case that number is four. So let's say for example I win two one point games, you win a one point game, then I win a two point game. The score is now 4-1. For the first time in our match a player is within one point of victory. That means the next game we play is the Crawford game. The doubling cube may not be used at all in that game. It simply remains at 1. Although gammon and backgammon still apply in the Crawford game. If the Crawford game does not end the match, then play continues and the doubling cube comes back into effect. There will not be more than one Crawford game per match. It is also possible to have no Crawford game. If the score is 3-2 and the player with 3 wins a 2 point game, the match is over, and a Crawford game was never played.
Scoring points even if you lose the match is important for the swiss tournament seeding and tiebreakers, so keep track in your reporting.
(Also, thanks for the clarification. I'm ready to kick/get served ass now.)
Firstly, I apologize for the slight tardiness. My Internet was offline most of the day and it just now came back online. I'd like a random seed.
If you land on top of another stone, he turns into a goomba and dies.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amh4XYkHbJgfdGNoSTZRZVlXVF9fR0dETF8zcFhUWWc&usp=sharing
So far, I've tried playing on FIBS and that worked pretty well, so that seems like a pretty good option to me.
However, there are some areas that seem more grey. Most notably, most of the backgammon software I've tried includes an automatic pip count as a standard feature, which is typically enabled by default. The pip count simply adds up the total distance from home over all of your checkers.
Considering that there is no time limits, and I expect everyone should be able to add numbers together, such a feature doesn't really provide any advantage and merely serves to save time. However, since it might be considered an external aid, clarification is warranted.