Giving the Competition Some Advantage

yendi · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 16

Hey,
Since I’ve started with FIBS and self-analyzing on GNUbg, my backgammon level has definitely improved. I didn’t realize how much better I had become until I visited some friends over the weekend and played a few rounds of backgammon. Whereas usually these guys are good competition for me, this time around I felt that I was way better. So my question is this: What ‘concessions’ can I make on the backgammon board that will level out the playing field?
Thanks.

Gin · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 24

Congratulations on improving your skill level. This is more proof that practice and analysis really do work in the long run. Here are a couple of things you could do to make sure that future backgammon games with your friends are challenging for all of you (provided that they don’t go off and improve their skill levels as well!).

• Allow your opponent re-rolls. For example, you could say that for a unlucky throw of his, he could re-roll the dice, or if you had lucky dice, they could make you re-roll. You could settle ahead on how many re-rolls allowed per game (three sounds like a fair number).
• Allow your opponent an opening roll of 3-1 (or any other strong opening roll).
• Allow your opponent to own the doubling cube from the beginning of the game.

All these ideas are there to allow the opponent added advantage from the beginning of the game, however if the player is really weak, you may want to spend your time rather giving him tutorials so that his level improves. You’ll also be creating worthy competition in this way.