Introduction

This is the third article where we are going to look at how you can use modern technology to improve your game and also get more enjoyment from it on a day-to-day basis. In the first part we covered some of the history of the game and in the second we looked at backgammon-playing computers. In this article we will discuss playing on-line.

FIBS 

Back in 1992 The Internet was in its infancy and it would be five years before most of the world would come to recognise it. However, some intrepid early pioneers were already using it, although in fairness it has to be said that it was extremely difficult and many hours were wasted trying to get the darned thing to work – I should know I was there!

In the backgammon world Expert Backgammon (the first PC program) had just become available so players were getting used to the idea of playing against computers. As noted earlier the boom time was over and sometimes people had to travel miles to get a game.

To overcome the problem Andreas Schneider created FIBS (First Internet Backgammon Server). For the first time players could compete on-line. As you would expect the user interface was quirky and there were connectivity and cost issues (remember having to use dial-up and being charged by the minute?).

However it was an immediate success and was enthusiastically embraced by the backgammon community. For the first time players could be accurately rated based upon performance using the ELO method first used in chess. In ELO terms 1500 is an average player, 1800 is a strong expert and 1900 is a grandmaster.

1997

FIBS was more or less the only on-line site for five years but once the Internet saw 1000% growth in 1997 other companies began to enter the market.

The Internet of 1997 was light years ahead of its 1992 cousin and program user interfaces were much better. First out of the block was Gamesgrid and because of its excellent interface it soon attracted the best players. Back in 1997 most people were still hesitant about buying things over the net but backgammon players seemed to be the exception and the secure payment system of Gamesgrid worked well from the outset.

Netgammon quickly followed suit and as the appetite for on-line play grew so did the number of on-line sites. Most of them had (and have) a resident bot (computer program), such as GnuBG or Snowie, that players could pit their wits against for free.

Cheating

One of the concerns of on-line play has always been that unscrupulous players would use a bot such as Snowie or GNU to “assist” their play and indeed this has happened from time to time. Nowadays the on-line sites can quickly detect patterns of play that indicate someone is cheating and instances of malpractice are extremely rare.

You can never completely eradicate the possibility of cheating but it is becoming harder and harder for the cheat to prosper. The backgammon community punishes quickly, via ostracism, anyone caught using underhand tactics.

The Present

The makers of Snowie entered the on-line arena when they launched TrueMoneygames in 2002. The four sites mentioned so far had the market to themselves for a while but then came the boom in on-line gaming. It started with slot machines and then moved to poker. This was partly driven by the maturing of the Internet, but the fundamental driver was broadband connectivity. Being on-line all day and not having to worry about the cost creates very different social behaviours from having to watch each cent.

The phenomenal success of poker took everyone by surprise but demonstrated that there was a vast market for those who wanted to play on-line at any time of day or night and from widely diverse locations. Poker also created the idea of hybrid tournaments - qualifying in satellite tournaments on-line and then playing in a live final.

More recently a number of new sites have entered the market, the most successful of these has been Play65, (www.Play65.com), which has seen phenomenal growth in its short life. Where you have many similar sites competing for the same market small differences in approach and marketing can make a huge difference in the number of players that use the site.

Gammon Empire studied the market long and hard and then came up with a recipe that was attractive to the players. Some of those features are as follows:

• Free use of their backgammon school for real money players
• The minimum first time deposit is only $5
• A 24 hours support team (in many languages)
• The software supports more than 18 languages so each player can play in his own language (critical)
• The biggest backgammon tournaments ($50,000 monthly tournament and many more weekly and daily tournaments)
• Excellent fraud detection system.
• There are players from all levels so you'll always find someone to play against (beginners, intermediate and professionals)
• Prompt payment.

For the moment this is a winning formula but the rate of change is rapid and the on-line sites will have to move quickly to keep up with changing trends. In the last two months four more sites, including Ladbrokes, have opened and PartyPoker will shortly launch PartyGammon.

The backgammon on-line boom is set to really take off. Let’s enjoy the ride.

Summary

We have completed our brief analysis on-line play and selected our on-line site of choice, Gammon Empire. We had already selected GnuBG as our computer program of choice. We are ready to look at how we can use the two in harness to develop our backgammon skills.

Do you want to use what you've learned? Try our recommended Backgammon Server of this month – Play65. Join 24/7 backgammon games and tournaments with 12,000+ players from all around the world. Click here to play.

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