News

Blunders and Bugs

I have added a blunders page where you can search your move history for your most embarrasing moments.

There was a bug in the match play of computer opponents where the computer would never redouble, even when it should. Now that it redoubles correctly it's playing a more formidable match game.

Double clicking on a chip now moves it to the furthest point it can move. This helps a lot when you are bearing off. You can just use double click outer pieces to bring them home.

On some browsers there was a bug where you could not reroll the first roll when the computer rolls the same as you. You had to reload the browser to reroll. This is now fixed.

Bug Fixes, More Themes

I have resolved some issues that were causing the AI to slow down and hang intermittently. In specific game scenarios, where the board arrangement and dice rolls were detrimental, the AI had to process an exponentially increasing number of moves as it searched forward. To prevent the AI from being overwhelmed, I am now pruning some of those moves as it looks ahead. As a result, the CPU usage under heavy AI load has significantly reduced.

In addition, two new themes have been added for Pro accounts. A grey theme and a new brown theme.

Board Themes

This release sees the addition of different board themes. You can choose your default board theme from the settings page. Boards can also be selected from the game negotiation panel at the start of the game. If you are playing a game versus the computer you can change your board theme at any time with the "Game" side menu. Some themes are for the Pro account holders and will only be available to them or to anyone they are playing. More board themes will be coming soon!

The panel that summarises the end of each game has been redesigned. The styling has been improved and now displays game equities and mistake and blunder counts as well as all the other usual information.

Pro Account Free Trial

Live game move appraisal has been added. In the Game sidebar moves will be marked with a yellow (mistake), orange (error) or red (blunder) based apon the strength of the move. If the move is unmarked it is considered good. Cube decisions will also be similarly marked (mistake,error orblunder), but this cube marking will only appear at the end of the game.

Limited length match play up to seven games has now been opened up to free accounts and I have also implemented a free 14 day trial for players to try out the pro account features. No credit card is needed. Just head over to the upgrade to pro page to activate your free trial.

Site Search

After updating the styling of the site and making things easier to read, we have added a table of content panel and a shortcut panel to the learning pages. And because we will be adding more content over time we have added a handy search feature to help you find any information you are looking for.

Speed, Bugs and Content

This release fixes a bug that caused slow app loading for players with a large number of historical games. Those who have playerd a lot should notice now that the app loads faster. There are a number of small bugs that have been fixed. And some new content has been added about rolling doubles and the golden point.

Pro Account Launch

After a huge amount of work we are launching the first set of features for pro users. Get full access to more opponents, match play, move hints and game analysis for only $5.99 a month. Revenue from these accounts will help us add many exciting features to Backgammon Buddy more quickly. I would love to see you join us on our journey to making the world's greatest backgammon site.

Learning Content For Beginners

We have written some content to help beginners learn the ins and outs of the game. Some instructions on setting up the board and using the doubling cube.

Two Player Crawford Rule

This release introduces the crawford rule to two player match play. I fixed the broken volume control setting and a number of bugs in the live game analysis.

Crawford Rule

I have been gradually implementing the crawford rule. It is now functional when playing one player match games. Match resignation has been implemented where you can resign from an entire match without needing to resign games. Also there are some minor improvements in how the user interface behaves.

Game info and resignation

The side panel now carries more game information and the ability to resign the present game. Match game display is improved. The ability to chat in two player game has been moved into the side panel and improved. Some bugs in the ratings adjustment summary have been fixed.

Turning down the AI

Players now have the option of playing 3 difficulty settings in solo games. These modes provide gradually harder computer opponents. We also finally have match play and the doubling cube complete and this feature is now entering a play testing phase for select user accounts.

Connections interrupted

I have improved the look and behaviour of the game when the connection to the server is lost. Also traced down the reason for the occasional dropping of connections when it shouldn't.

Bugfix release

Some bugs were introduced such as some games not ending correctly when they should, being unable to move after a roll and the two player in game chat not working. These have been rectified with this patch.

Content and styling updates

I have made some improvements to the styling and added some content under a new Learn menu item where I explain the basics of playing the game. I will be expanding this over time with more articles and content so people can improve their game. I have also added the ability to keep the moves history sidebar open while playing the game and still be able to see the whole board.

There is now a new button in the top right of the side panel when the panel is open. Pressing this toggles the board view from overlay and side-by-side. The use really depends on your device and screen size. On mobile devices the overlay view works best. But on a large desktop screen side by side is preferable.