Information on gammontool.

[Bob Twete]

Has anyone out there had any experience with a Sun SparcStation II game
named gammontool? We have one installed here on our local system and
I find it to be a bit one sided. Has anyone else played it or know anything
about it?

Thanks in advance,
Bob Twete
------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Twete - Tektronix Inc.
Prism Engineering - P. O. Box 4600 MS 92-734
Logic Analyzer Division - Beaverton, OR 97076
twete@tweety@wrgate.WR.TEK.COM - 503-629-3147
------------------------------------------------------------

[Torsten B. Hagemann]

tw...@tweety.WR.TEK.COM (Bob Twete) writes:

>Has anyone out there had any experience with a Sun SparcStation II game
>named gammontool? We have one installed here on our local system and
>I find it to be a bit one sided. Has anyone else played it or know anything
>about it?

>Thanks in advance,
>Bob Twete

We have it, and I have played it quite a few times. It is pretty easy to beat
if you just pay a bit attention to what is going on. One of my friends claims
that it cheats, motivating this by that he is able to predict what is going to
happen next (I haven't seen it myself, but got it confirmed from other side
too), something like "Now it is going to double, and if I accept it will role a
double six ... ".

I miss it now I am running X-windows.

Torsten
--
An eye for an eye just increases the blindness in the world.
--
An eye for an eye just increases the blindness in the world.

[Dave Jones]

From article <72...@wrgate.WR.TEK.COM>, by tw...@tweety.WR.TEK.COM (Bob Twete):

>
>
>
> Has anyone out there had any experience with a Sun SparcStation II game
> named gammontool? We have one installed here on our local system and
> I find it to be a bit one sided. Has anyone else played it or know anything
> about it?

I waste some time with it occasionally. My current score against gammontool
is 2176 to 138. If you are well ahead in pip count, double, regardless of
how bad your game is. The program will drop. It is very easy to get
into a good backgame. The program will keep doubling to 64, which it
thinks is as high as you can go, then will almost force you to win.
The program will occasionally take when you have one of its checkers
primed-in and it has little or no chance of breaking the prime.

It seems to roll a disproportionately high number of doubles for both
sides, but maybe that's just my perception.

[Jim Hurley]

In <1991Sep24.1...@daimi.aau.dk> tor...@daimi.aau.dk
(Torsten B. Hagemann) writes:

[deleted some stuff about gammontool]

> One of my friends claims
>that it cheats, motivating this by that he is able to predict what is going to
>happen next (I haven't seen it myself, but got it confirmed from other side
>too), something like "Now it is going to double, and if I accept it will role a
>double six ... ".

I always felt it cheated, but I have access to the source code and
it has no bias to the side rolling. It calculates two random
numbers with no idea of the game position or side, and
then assigns the dice roll to the side. {The calls are to
the system function 'random()'}

I have another computer gammon game and the instructions state that many
people feel it cheats, but that it uses a very good randomizer, so
don't blame it!
--
Jim Hurley --> ji...@ultra.com ...!ames!ultra!jimh (408) 922-0100
Ultra Network Technologies / 101 Daggett Drive / San Jose CA 95134

[Frank Crary]

In article <1991Sep24....@ultra.com> ji...@ultra.com (Jim Hurley) writes:
>
>I always felt it cheated, but I have access to the source code and
>it has no bias to the side rolling. It calculates two random
>numbers with no idea of the game position or side, and
>then assigns the dice roll to the side. {The calls are to
>the system function 'random()'}
>

Is it possible that the 'random()' function is quite random, but that the
program cheats by re-rolling is (at some other point in the program) it
determins that the first roll was bad?

Frank Crary
UC Berkeley

[Charles Blair]

Perhaps program writers should allow users the option of inputting rolls.
If you find you do much better when you supply the rolls then ....

[Marc Sanfacon]

In article <72...@wrgate.WR.TEK.COM>, tw...@tweety.WR.TEK.COM (Bob Twete) writes:
|>
|>
|>
|> Has anyone out there had any experience with a Sun SparcStation II game
|> named gammontool? We have one installed here on our local system and
|> I find it to be a bit one sided. Has anyone else played it or know anything
|> about it?

I have played it quite a bit. At first I thought he rolled
an awful lot of lucky rolls but now I don't think he cheats
too bad. I have found that sound backgammon strategy is
no match for it's feeble attempts even with an occasional
cheat on the dice. If you are losing consistently I would
suggest brushing up on some strategy. ;-)

[Marc Sanfacon]

In article <1991Sep24.1...@daimi.aau.dk>, tor...@daimi.aau.dk (Torsten B. Hagemann) writes:
|>
|> I miss it now I am running X-windows.
|>
|> Torsten

You don't have to miss it!! I switched to X a few months
ago and found a copy of gammon for Openwindows. I run it
under motif and the graphics are actually better than the
Sunview version.

[Ray Ager]

In article <1991Sep25.0...@agate.berkeley.edu> fcr...@sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU (Frank Crary) writes:
> [stuff about cheating programs]
>
I know somebody who played a lot of PC backgammon and *swore* that the
machine was always cheating. I watched her play and many of her moves were
*dreadful* - no wonder the machine won!

With a little bit of guidance on moves it was pretty easy to beat the
machine.

Moral: make sure you know your skill level before you accuse the computer of
cheating!