(Crossposted at BGOnline and GammonU)
I've been tinkering with a new notation system. I've only shared it privately so far, but the feedback has been good, so I'm tossing it out there for public consideration. I'm still in "beta" stage, so comments and suggestions are welcome. This is a quick and dirty presentation. If there is enough interest, I'll put together something more formal later.
I call the system DASH, which stands for Destination-oriented Annotative ShortHand. My goal in creating DASH was to come up with a system that is both compact and precise, while being straight forward to use and easy to learn. I'm pretty happy with the result and, as I say, the feedback has been positive.
The underlying idea behind DASH is very simple. Each point of the board is represented by a single alphanumeric character. Points 1 through 9 are already single characters, of course, so they represent themselves. The remaining points are represented as follows:
10 = T -- as in Ten
11 = E -- as in Eleven
12 = D -- There are 12 items in a Dozen
13 = U --The number 13 is considered Unlucky. Also, the shape of the letter U suggests the "turn of the board" that takes place at the 13 or "midpoint"
14 = F -- as in Fourteen
15 = V -- The Roman numeral for 15 is XV. Dropping the X leaves us with V, which also appears in the number fiVe
16 = S -- as in Sixteen
17 = L -- The number 7 is considered Lucky. Also, L looks like an upside down 7
18 = A -- as in "A-teen"
19 = N -- as in Nineteen
20 = G -- The 20 point is the Golden point
21 = B -- "21" is another name for the card game Blackjack. It's also the legal age (in the U.S.) at which you can enter a Bar
22 = X -- In honor of backgammon giant Paul Magriel, who is widely known as X22. Also. . .
23 = Y -- . . . what better way to remember the last three points on the board than with the last three letters of the alphabet. . .
24 = Z -- . . . X, Y, and Z
A few minutes studying the above mnemonics should be sufficient to lock them into memory. (I showed the list to a friend who is not heavily into backgammon and she was able to recall all but one (which I've since changed at her suggestion) when I gave her a "pop quiz" three days later.)
Here's an XG board diagram with DASH symbols displayed above and below the points they represent:
| Z | Y | X | B | G | N | A | L | S | V | F | U | |||||
 is Player 2score: 0 pip: 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 15  | ||||||||||||||||
 | Money session Beaver | |||||||||||||||
 15 | pip: 0 score: 0  is Player 1 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | T | E | D | |||||
eXtreme Gammon Version: 1.13
In addition to the individual mneumonics listed above, a few macro-mnemonics emerge. Note that points 10 through 12 spell the name TED; points 16 through 20 spell the word SLANG; the 21 and 20 points combine to form BG, an abbreviation for our favorite game; and, as noted, points 22 through 24 form the familiar XYZ. Speaking of slang, the 14 and 13 points also combine to form FU, which is perhaps not the best selling point for DASH, but it certainly is recognizable and easy to remember. ;)
Once the DASH symbols are committed to memory, the actual notation is trivial. Each move is recorded as a "word." The first two characters of the word record the dice roll, while the remaining characters record the points to which the checkers were moved. As a matter of form, I prefer to see the high die listed first, followed by the low die, followed by the move corresponding to the high die, then the move corresponding to the low die, but this isn't absolutely necessary. Note that the starting points of the checkers is not recorded; the dice roll and destination points convey all the necessary information.
Here are some opening moves in traditional notation, followed by their DASH equivalents:
62: 24/18 13/11 = 62AE
32: 13/10 13/11 = 32TE
54: 13/8 24/20 = 548G
21: 13/11 24/23 = 21EY
That's really all you need to know to start DASHing, although a few shortcuts do suggest themselves.
First, just as with real words, it's sometimes convenient to use contractions when DASHing. For example, if both checkers are moved to the same point, there's no real need to list the point twice. Thus, while an opening 31 (31: 8/5 6/5) can be DASHed 3155, the simple 315 works just as well. Similarly, if an entire move is made with a single checker, it's often convenient to simply record the final destination point. Thus, 64: 24/18 18/14 can be DASHed 64AF, or simply shortened to 64F. Either form is acceptable, as long as the meaning remains clear. When in doubt, use the long form. DASH is concise by design, but clarity and simplicity always take precedence over brevity.
Contractions are particularly useful when dealing with doubles, because it's rarely necessary to record four individual moves. Most often, two or more checkers will be moved together to a single point. So we have 22: 13/11(2) 6/4(2), which can be DASHed simply as 22E4. Similarly, a move like 44: 24/16* 8/4(2) is easily understood when DASHed 44S4. (Note that hits aren't recorded in DASH because doing so would be redundant. If a checker lands on a point occupied by an opposing checker, it is clear that a hit has been made.)
Once in great a while you'll come across a play where recording doubles as described above is ambiguous. For example, let's say the play is 33: 24/21 13/10(3) but, because there are multiple checkers on each starting point, DASHing the play as 33BT may lead to confusion. The simple solution is to record all four parts of the move: 33BTTT. This rare 6-letter word is perfectly acceptable and very much in keeping with spirit of DASH, i.e. keeping things simple and clear. I have, however, adopted a simple convention, the underscore ("_"), to help maintain brevity without a loss of precision. This allows 33BTTT to be DASHed as 33BT, with the underscore adding "weight" to the 10pt, indicating that more checkers were involved in that leg of the move than the other. Similarly, a move like 44: 20/16 13/9 8/4(2) could be DASHed as 44S94, with the underscore indicating that more of the checkers were moved to the 4pt than 16 and 9 points.
As far as formatting goes, DASH is presented in two-word pairs, separated by commas. Each word-pair represents one move by the player and one move by the opponent. This makes it easy to read and keep track of who is on roll. To give and idea of what it looks like, here are a few sample games which I've borrow from recent nactation discussions on the BGOnline forums.
Game 1:
Traditional notation: 52: 13/8 13/11, 53: 8/3 6/3, 65: 24/13 55: 13/8(2) 6/1*(2), 66: 0, 54: 24/15, 42: Bar/21 13/11, 32: 24/21 15/13, 31: 8/5 6/5, 42: 8/6 8/4*, 53: Bar/20 8/5, 61: 13/6, 65: 20/14 13/8, 61: 13/7 8/7, 21: 6/4* 5/4, 66: 0
Nactation: 52D-53P-65R-55P-fan-54R-42P-32U-31P-42A-53F-61T-65B-61P-21P-fan
DASH: 528E 533, 65U 5581, 66 54V, 42BE 32BU, 315 4246, 53G5 616, 65F8 617, 214 66
Game 2:
Traditional notation: 51: 13/8 24/23, 21: 24/23 13/11, 62: 23/15, 32: 13/11 13/10*, 41: Bar/24 6/2*, 51: Bar/20 24/23*, 61: Bar/18, 21: 10/7*, 62: Bar/23 24/18*, 51: Bar/20 8/7*, 63: Bar/22 24/18*, 53: Bar/20 6/3*, 55: Bar/10 23/18, 65: 20/15*/9, 62:
Nactation: 51S-21S-62R-32D-41H-51H-61R-21L-62H-51H-63H-53E-55R-65R-62
DASH: 518Y 21EY, 62V 32TE, 41Z2 51GY, 61A 217, 62AY 51G7, 63A 53G3, 55TA, 65VT
Game 3:
Traditional notation: 51: 24/23 13/8, 54: 24/20 13/8, 61: 13/7 8/7, 33: 8/5(2) 6/3(2), 32: 24/21 23/21, 61: 20/14/13, 62: 13/7 8/6, 44 24/20/16 13/9(2), 33: 21/18(2) 8/5(2), 32: 16/13 6/4, 43: 7/3 6/3, 43: 13/9/6, 65: 13/7 13/8, 65: 13/8/2, 32: 6/4 5/2
Nactation: 51S-54S-61P-33A-32@-61R-62F-44B-33C-32E-43P-43O-65D-65o-21%-324
DASH: 518Y 548G, 617 3353, 32W 61U, 6276 44S9, 33A5 32U4, 433 436, 6578 652, 3242
As you can see, DASH isn't quite as compact as nactation; some moves require four characters instead of only three. However, if you set up a board and play through the games, I think you'll find that DASH is extremely easy to work with. DASH has the additional advantage of being easily translated to and from traditional notation, even without having to set up a board. DASH particularly shines at recording live matches, because it doesn't rely on assumptions or require on-the-fly judgments as to which moves are best or "obvious." Try your hand at transcribing some of the moves on the WSoB video using the various notation systems and I think you'll agree.
DASH is a very simple and straight forward system, by design, so it's not surprising that it came together very quickly. I assume I haven't thought of everything and that some "tweaking" will follow, so comments and suggestions are welcome.
(Apologies in advance for any typos, misspellings, or confusing statements. I'm laid up with a foot injurty and just generally cranky and out of sorts.)