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BGonline.org Forums
Ping pong's double-point ball
Posted By: Tom Keith In Response To: Another match format that could be exciting (Phil Simborg)
Date: Friday, 26 July 2013, at 4:46 p.m.
The "World Championship of Ping-Pong," held earlier this year in England, tried a new rule -- the "double-point ball". It worked like this:
The server will have the opportunity to indicate to the umpire that they wish to use their "double-point ball" at the start of a point.On the televised table, the standard orange ball will be replaced with a white ball to indicate that the server has opted to use their "double-point ball".
If the server wins a point when using this ball, they will gain two points instead of one, and if they lose the point, the receiver will only win one point.
The "double-point ball" can only be used once by each player during a match, and cannot be used after each player has reached eight points.
Maybe a similar rule could be tried in backgammon:
Simple variation: At the start of a game, either player may use his (once-per-match) option to turn the doubling cube to 2 but still leave it centered. He has to use that option before his own score reaches 3-away or less.
More elaborate variation: Each player gets a marker that they can use once per match. At the start of a game they may place the marker on their own side of the table to indicate they are invoking a "double-point game". If that player goes on to win the game, he gets twice the normal value for his win; if he loses, he loses only the normal value. The doubling cube is still in play as usual. (This is closer to the ping pong rule because it gives an advantage to the invoker of the double-point game.)
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