The Machine\u2019s rather\u2026 unconventional\u2026 64 opening<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis 6\/4 opening, according to XG2, is nearly a blunder (losing 0.072 equity). This is way too loose, it will be hard for me to roll something that doesn\u2019t hit, and hit on a point I want to make. Not something an app that claims to play at nearly master strength would do. When checking the app for my big ranking table, XG2 concluded that it plays on strong expert level (nearly world class) with a PR of 5.2. But keep in mind, this app can\u2019t blunder difficult doubles, because it can\u2019t double. I\u2019ve seen a number of apps playing a strong checker game, but blunder with doubles (and so do I).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless this app plays a good game of Backgammon, certainly better than many of the \u201cbeginner\u201d level Backgammons out there, and as it\u2019s fast, fun, free and beautiful, it\u2019s great for a fast, casual game of backgammon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, just install it and have fun. Just don\u2019t expect too much. I hope the author invests more into self-playing to improve its strength, and into a few more features. Matches would be great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Update – September 2022: played another few games against it, recorded\/analyzed with XG2, and have to adjust its rating to “advanced” with a PR of 12. The games were difficult, and the Machine made its share of blunders, some very severe like this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhite to play 44<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nEvery beginner will find out that the 44 is a wonderful way to bring this game home safely. You can get all three blots to safety, and the one on 17 is safe for now; should I roll a 6, the 17 blot can help hit one of the blots. So 12\/4 7\/3 10\/6 is the obvious move. The Machine decided to do the opposite and moved 17\/5 10\/6, leaving a direct hit on 7 for no good reason (and an indirect shot on 12), a -0.184 blunder. And as the dice gods want it, I rolled 65 and won the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ll play some more and see if the rating changes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Review Quick facts AI strength: advanced (PR 12) multiplayer: no tutor \/ analysis: no price: free, no ads app store link Summary: perfect in its design and presentation, it lacks the features that a good backgammon app needs; its AI could use a few million more self-play training matches. The computer game \u201cDoom\u201d kicked off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-279","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":357,"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/279\/revisions\/357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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