| |
BGonline.org Forums
New Rule - Dice Flat on Checkers
Posted By: Albert Steg In Response To: New Rule - Dice Flat on Checkers (Dorn Bishop)
Date: Friday, 9 December 2016, at 4:48 a.m.
The high personal regard I hold for Dorn and the other members of the USBGF Board are among my strongest reasons for supporting, at least in theory, the idea of this particular rule change. And indeed, if I could wave a wand and make it so "flat on checkers" was the universally accepted operative rule, I would happily do so. I allow that disputes over what situations remain 'cocked' would be acceptably minimal.
. . . but the reality that seems to go unacknowledged is that the backgammon community extends far beyond the elite levels of tournament-level players who employ clocks and furrow their brows over this kind of issue. The proportion of players who travel to BG tournaments outside their immediate neighborhood is the veritable tip of the backgammon iceberg, yet changing this so-widely-accepted rule has implications for play far beyond the tournament sphere.
At NEBC here in the Boston area, we get between 20-30 players at our monthly tournaments. of these players, I can name only about 5 who have travelled even so far as Connecticut to play in an ABT-level tournament over the past 10 years.
Should we implement this new rule? We don't use clocks. We barely use precision dice. I haven't seen a baffle box at an NEBC event since the 90's. Do we gather our membership together this Saturday and announce a change in one of the most unambiguous, non-problematic rules in the modern backgammon tradition? Why? To what purpose?
Well, okay, so maybe we don't, but if we were to hold a Boston ABT event, then maybe we should, to accommodate the new national norm among the traveling BG set. So then we break it to our regular members "Hey, there's this thing we need to do differently, and will be doing it for just this special tournament. Let's try it out for our monthly tournaments and see if you like it." Some like it, some hate it. We get all the arguments we've been seeing on this forum and Facebook all over again.
From then on , people have to remember to specify which rule they're going by, not just in tournaments but in chouettes -- where chouettes on Albert's board use the 'flat dice' rule, while chouettes on Tony's board use the traditional rule. Every time someone shows up to join the game they have to ask what the rules are. And Stick's point about 'muscle memory' and the likelihood that people will, from force of habit -- or, unscrupulously, pretending to act out of force of habit -- lift dice they instinctively regarded as cocked is a very real consequence.
Of course, if everyone would just adopt the rule in unison, buckle down and do it, there wouldn't be a problem. As I say, if I could wave a wand and make it so, I would. But that's not the reality. So it just feels like an annoyance that benefits a very rarified portion of the much larger BG community, and for those who find it unappealing, too bad -- you hardly even use clocks, why should you matter?
I am not saying that is the conscious attitude of players on the tip of the iceberg -- but it is a genuine felt experience for those who have never felt a bit of a problem with the existing cocked-dice standard and who now feel imposed upon. It's infuriating to hear people say "If everyone only did it our way, you'd be happy." We were already happy to begin with.
I think it might have been a better idea to try to roll out this new standard gradually -- First in the high-stakes Masters events, then in Open Clock-required events with willing TD's. Let it 'catch on' and win adherents among the upper levels of the game, and when it becomes the popular style amongst "serious" players, those in successive tiers of play might well *want* to adopt the more sophisticated practice -- because it's what all the cool kids are doing.
I do appreciate that this rules innovation has been made in good faith ion the interest of improving the game, and appreciate the work of those who put themselves out there on record on behalf of us all, despite the blowback.
Albert
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.