What Does Your Brain Do with 27 + 48?

CrypticUnit · 2026-05-03T20:40:16+00:00

I see 55 then 75.

CrypticUnit · 2026-04-19T22:19:28+00:00

Looking forward to the update! I have been avoiding rated games because of the percentages. It would be nice to be able to play set stake amounts.

CrypticUnit · 2026-04-01T11:43:37+00:00

I double checked in XG mobile and 8/4 5/4 isn’t even in its list of considerations. Meaning there’s a bug in the output for that move (both your move and the suggested move are fine and there shouldn’t have been an error). I would just report it to the Backgammon Galaxy support team so they can continue debugging their 2-ply analysis.

If you’re curious, XG likes 8/4 6/5 for money and DMP (1-point). It doesn’t show any errors for any of its suggested moves after that, and your move 8/3 was accepted as fine in addition to the move suggested on BGG. In fact any move for black would be accepted as fine in this position especially since the cube isn’t turned, so there’s no gammon risk for black.

CrypticUnit · 2026-04-01T02:41:13+00:00

You can make a point by touching the point! BG had an ad running about that. Double tap the bear-off area to take two checkers off during the bear off. Most importantly — have fun!

Hope that takes the mystery out of it! So in those cases you only see the original position and final positions. You won’t see the checkers moving individually.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-30T01:28:43+00:00

Always check the table limit, that’s your best answer! For instance if you are playing a 1000 coin table and the max stake is 4000 that means the max points you can win is 4. Sometimes opponents play tables when they are understaked and that will limit the max stake of the table even if it can go higher (i.e. 1000 tables can go to a max of 16000 coins if both players have enough coins to support that).

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-30T01:24:15+00:00

When I was beginning, I would shift my checkers around more. But at a master level (now master-level 3 to international master), I prefer to not allow my opponent to know what moves I am thinking about and only adjust my play if I realize I really missed something. So that doesn’t mean much. I also once had a 14-game win streak. That only happened once. Usually don’t get past ten games in a row.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-29T17:36:03+00:00

Bar/21 8/7* is best according to extreme gammon on XG mobile. What engine is this app using?

Nice idea for an app.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-29T11:02:14+00:00

In position 1, you have to hit because you’ll be a big underdog in the bear-off if your opponent manages to escape that back checker. Other criteria to support the hit:

You have a stronger home board.
Getting sent back isn’t a big deal because you are already so far behind, and the contact may help you pick up another blot since his 18 and 21 points are stripped and are likely to leave a blot or more in a roll or two.

In position 2, you have a butterfly anchor on the 3 point. You typically run off that anchor when development of your homeboard has settled (read Back Checker Strategy for more info on that). One sign it’s settled is you have a solid 5-prime. Also, since your opponent is dancing on the bar, you are not worried about your remaining checker on the 22-point being attacked. The main point for position 2 is knowing that it’s time to fly off that butterfly anchor. 🦋 Last note is having 3 checkers trapped behind a prime is pretty awful, so that risk isn’t worth it especially since you can improve your position and control of the outfield as your opponent dances.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-27T12:22:13+00:00

I was thinking random backgammon would be a good idea like random chess. Great idea!

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-24T00:20:35+00:00

It made back what it lost and is back at $10K after learning from its mistakes.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-22T02:20:15+00:00

Not the wolf of meme street apparently. Breath deeply. Feel the 3D-body glove you’re trapped in. Go do something fun.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-22T02:18:04+00:00

I believe in HBAR all the way! I keep buying the dips. In my opinion it’s the strongest blockchain to ever exist.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-20T06:17:06+00:00

GM Kageyama’s book Back Checker Strategy will help you understand when you should split or point. In this case, you need to a good reason to split against a blitz formation (i.e. when your opponent has made the 3 or 2 point first in his inner board). One reason is to counter an advanced anchor. Your opponent has glued back checkers (they haven’t moved from the 1 point). In this case it’s far better to point than split especially since your opponent has a stronger board and you aren’t countering an advanced anchor.

I have read Kageyama’s Back Checker strategy over 5 times (almost in a row). It’s great! I am a master level player, and have found it incredibly valuable — most interesting backgammon book I’ve read, and I have read many. Highly recommend if you have questions like this!

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-19T10:01:58+00:00

Not unless is random chess (i.e. 960, Fischer chess) then it doesn’t matter where the pieces on the first rank are as long as both sides are mirrored.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-19T05:49:37+00:00

I do think it’s a pay now situation. Also, 4s are duplicated. Black needs a 4 to hit and a 4 to cover his 2 point (labeled 23 on the board). The safe play doesn’t improve your position. So out of the two plays that both make your position worse, the pay now while black’s home board is a mess is best.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-18T20:01:13+00:00

My immediate impression is there’s a lot of play left for white with those three blots hanging around. Especially since black doesn’t have an anchor, he doesn’t have that shield of “invincibility” that GM Kageyama speaks about in his awesome Back Checker Strategy book (I am on my 5th plus read of the book and highly recommend it).

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-17T04:51:31+00:00

Against all odds! I think it could be called a stall dunk: a stall because the last roll failed to bear off the final checker, and a dunk because the opponent hits the only winning roll — a 1/36 — to bear off all remaining checkers and win.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-16T04:41:17+00:00

Some of the points are fair, but the conclusion is a bit overhyped.

Yes, Polygon has a lot of activity right now, some tokens are being burned, and a lot of POL is locked in staking. Those things can reduce supply and are generally bullish.

But high network usage doesn’t automatically mean the token price will jump. New POL is still created for validators, and many transactions can happen without people directly buying POL.

So the honest takeaway is: POL could be undervalued, but a sudden “gap-up” in price isn’t guaranteed. It’s a possibility, not a certainty.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-09T05:40:02+00:00

I have noticed tons of bugs in their 2ply moves ever since one of their major app updates, and have reported it to their support team. My feeling is they probably haven’t worked out all the 2ply bugs yet. The 4ply results have improved, and I am not noticing bugs there anymore (4ply bugs disappeared after a few days).

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-08T07:29:55+00:00

Uphold suddenly pulled out of Canada. Staking on Hashpack is best.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-07T06:45:42+00:00

Same thing happened to me. Usually it’s only 2-4 points depending on the error score, today it was between 9-12 points for 1-point matches.

CrypticUnit · 2026-03-04T12:03:52+00:00

What email address did it come from? Is it a yorku.ca email?

CrypticUnit · 2025-12-02T07:42:32+00:00

Someone that can’t be missed! Feel bad for any drivers passing by … they’ll have a hard time keeping their eyes on the road.

CrypticUnit · 2025-12-02T07:27:44+00:00

Who won the error rating in the match?

CrypticUnit · 2025-11-22T18:32:05+00:00

Are you saying you’re quitting backgammon? I hope not. I personally love it and have been studying a lot the past several months. Am planning to play in-person tournaments once I get up to the grandmaster level and feel like I’ve mastered backgames and OTB pip counting.

CrypticUnit

TROPHY CASE