ProGammon v2.1 This program plays a very strong game of backgammon. It was written using SAS/C version 6.58 and is designed to run on any Amiga with OS 2.04 or higher. It's NTSC but will use an AGA (640 x 480) Multiscan screen if available. THE BASICS: The game begins with the following board setup: ******************************************** Direction of * 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 * Movement: * v v v v v v v v v v v v * * X O O X * ---> * X O O X * * O O X * | * O X * | * O X * | * * V * 3 5 * * * | * X O * | * X O * | * X X O * V * O X X O * * O X X O * <--- * ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * * 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 * ******************************************** ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Your HOME area is positions 1 to 6. There are 24 positions on the board and each player begins with 15 stones. 'X' represents your stones and the 'O' represents the Amiga's stones. In the diagram above you have 2 stones on position 24, 3 stones on position 8 and 5 stones each on positions 6 and 13. The 3 and the 5 in the center of the board represent the dice. Each player takes turns rolling the dice and moving their stones an amount equal to whatever was rolled. The object of the game is to move your stones in a clockwise direction into your home area. When all 15 stones are home you can remove them from the board depending on what you roll. The first player who removes all of their stones from the board wins the game. The game starts with each player rolling one die to determine which player gets to go first. For example, if the Amiga rolled a 3 and you rolled a 5 then you would start by using this combination for your first move. Here is one possibility: ******************************************** * 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 * * v v v v v v v v v v v v * MOVE 1--> X X O O X * * O O X * Using the 3 * O O X * * O X * * O <---MOVE 2 * * * _ _ * Using the 5 * * * X O * * X X O * * X X O * * O X X O * * O X X O * * ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * * 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 * ******************************************** ^ With the 3 I moved one stone from position 24 to position 21. For the second move I moved a stone from position 13 to position 8. After the opening move each player alternates rolling the dice. Either player can move to any position as long as it is not blocked by 2 or more of the opposing players stones. In the above example I would not have been allowed to use the 5 to move a stone from position 24 to position 19 because the Amiga has position 19 blocked. It is possible to move to a position that has only 1 Amiga stone on it. When this happens, your stone will take possesion of that point and the Amiga stone will be knocked off onto the center bar. Any stone on the bar has to enter the board in the opposing players home area. You must get back on the board, on a point that is not blocked, before any further moves are allowed. If you cannot make a move just click once on the dice to give up your turn and resume play. When all of your stones are home, you can start removing them from the board. This is called bearing off. If, for example, you rolled a 6 and a 2, you could remove one stone from position 6 and another one from position 2. If you rolled a 6 but didn't have any stones on position 6 to remove then you are allowed to take one stone off the next highest position. It is also legal to move stones within your home area rather than bearing them off. It might be an advantage to do this if the Amiga still has some stones in your home area and is trying to knock you off onto the bar. The only other rule is that both players must use as much of what they rolled as possible. If you rolled a 5 and a 3 and it is possible to use both the 5 and the 3 then you must make both moves. If you can only use the 5 or the 3 but not both then you are required to use the higher amount(5). The Amiga plays by this rule but at the moment it does not strictly enforce this rule on you. GAME PLAY: To move a stone just click once on the stone and then once on the spot where you want it to go. If you did it right then the stone should move to the new location or else a message will appear to help you out. If you roll doubles ( i.e. two 3's ) then instead of getting two moves of 3 you get four moves of 3. Anytime during a move you can get an update to how many moves you have left by clicking anywhere outside the main board area. In the message area will be displayed the dice values that have not yet been used. You can also make multiple moves. If, for example, you roll a 3 and a 4 then you are allowed to make one move of 7 as long as both points between your present location and your destination are not blocked. If you are unable to make a move then just click once on the dice to continue with the game. If you select a stone by mistake then just click on that same stone to start your move over again. Once all your stones are in your home area, you can remove them from the board by double clicking on them. A gammon will be declared if one player is able to get all his stones off before the other player has removed one. This is equivalent to winning 2 games. A backgammon occurs when one player gammons the other player plus he traps at least one of the opposing players stones in his home area. This is worth 3 wins. MENUS: By selecting Colors from the main menu you will be able to adjust both the board colors as well as the speed of the game. If you select SAVE in the color adjustment window then your game preferences will be saved to a 26 byte file called gammon.prefs in the current directory. This program also keeps track of the AMIGA's winning percentage in this file so if you want this feature then remember to click on SAVE before the end of the first game. There is also a version in which all 15 stones start off on the center bar and you have to get all the stones back on the board before you can start to move them. Just select BAR in the menus and then select New Game to play this version. TOOL TYPES: MAINFONT=topaz FONTSIZE=11 These 2 tool types allow you to use any reasonably sized font for your menus, message display and window title in VGA mode. If the program is unable to find this font or if your size choice is too large then it will use topaz 8 as the default. REVERSE I prefer setting up the board so that you move your stones from the upper left part of the screen to the lower left in a clockwise direction. If you would prefer that the board was set up so that your stones move from the upper right part of the board to the lower right in a counter- clockwise direction then use this tool type. NTSC This tool will force the program to use a 640x200 NTSC screen. MAILWARE: You will be hard pressed to find a significantly better playing computer backgammon game on any platform at any price. If you appreciate this level of play and use this program often then I would appreciate hearing from you. Questions, comments and bug reports are most welcome. Long live the AMIGA! MAIL: Kevin Glynn #7, 4604 - 13th Street NE Calgary, AB, Canada T2E 6P1 e-mail: glynnk@cadvision.com