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"Dead" cube illegal?

Posted By: Michael Petch
Date: Monday, 4 November 2013, at 10:08 p.m.

In Response To: "Dead" cube illegal? (Daniel Murphy)

What rule (We are talking the current USBG/ABT ones and not the Simborg/Horton/Bower ones) specifically says that a match can't end on a drop?

The completion rule for the ABT is:

"4.9 COMPLETION. Each game must be rolled to completion, unless ended by passing a double or redouble, or conceding a no-contact position as a single game, gammon or backgammon loss. Neither matches nor games may be canceled, replayed or settled. Players are responsible for playing to the posted match length. The first player to reach the posted match length is the winner."

Since GAMES are allowed to end on a drop, and the MATCH is also the end of a game. It is not specifically disallowed. The match isn't being cancelled, as the player dropping clearly made a blunder by giving up all is remaining equity but he didn't "cancel" the match and offer a resignation. He made a valid play given those rules, albeit a terrible choice.

I still state you can leave rule 4.9 rule alone, and disallow stupid cubes that can only make a situation difficult. If a player who is ON MOVE already has enough points to win the match at the current cube level, then the cube is considered dead. Yes, as a libertarian I am actually going against the grain here and advocating legislating away stupidity for the greater good of Backgammon with a slight rule change.

I want people to play live events, and the rules can be adjusted to help prevent the conflict.

I will stand my ground and say that I can see no reason to allow these cubes by someone who has enough to win. Why bother? What good does it do? The person on the receiving end of such cube in my opinion is potentially being forced into making a choice where he may have to way morals and sportmanship in his decision.

One thing I DO LIKE about the new rules is this. Although they don't legislate sportmanlike conduct, but they do go out of their way to encourage it:

Under "standards of ethical practice" there is this:

"4. The concepts of fair play and good sportsmanship shall take precedence, and players should not take advantage of their opponent due to a technicality or accidental occurrence. (e.g. there is an external disturbance and a player neglects to take his turn, hit his clock, or move a checker off the bar)."

Unfortunately, the word "should" still allows a player the choice. It doesn't say "must". One persons idea of ethics and sportsmanship may be quite different from someone else's.

----

Unfortunately the new rules basically allow all forms of these cubes by the person leading when they already have enough (with the exception of the Cradford rule). The only loophole that has been cleaned up is that it is explicit that one can't end a match on a drop.

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