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Hand-recording matches

Posted By: Matt Ryder
Date: Tuesday, 29 December 2009, at 10:22 a.m.

In Response To: Hand-recording matches (Stick)

2. The transcriber might be using the capacity to write notes as a mechanism to illegally assist his game, by, for example, keeping a running pip count tally.

It seems totally ridiculous to me we're even discussing this for a couple of reasons. First off, how hard would it be for the opponent to say "hey, Mr. TD, what's this?" Busted.

I beg to differ. The average backgammon player would probably look at your nactated match and just see a lot of meaningless gibberish. It would be easy as pie to write numbers down in a similarly unintelligible form with a simple transposition cypher. Is it likely that somebody would go to the trouble? No. But it is possible, and that's why the rule is there.

Anyway, there's no judging criteria against which you could be "busted", as you're already in direct contravention of the published rule anyway. If you're stepping over the line, who cares by how much?

It would be harder for someone to keep a running pip count on paper on a clock than to actually do it at the time of the position or keep a running count from the start of the game.

Assuming one were so inclined, wouldn't it be quite natural to write down the running count from the very first play, masked along with the record of the moves?

In fact, I implore any of my opponents who play me during a clocked match to feel free to keep a running pip count while they record the match. Good luck to you.

So you don't mind if an opponent figures out a pip count on paper in a tournament against you? Okay. Any other paper and pen calculations you'd allow him to record?

I'd love to see how an opponent sneaks figuring out match equities and decisions onto his paper.

He wouldn't have to sneak around as it appears you're ignoring clause 1.5 altogether, and that rule is the only reason he might have to hide his calculations.

I think we agree on one thing: that clause 1.5 as it's currently written is overly restrictive. As an influential figure in the backgammon world, you're probably in a great position to suggest a positive amendment to the official US Tournament Rules going forward. Surely that's more productive than taking the stance that the current rule should be ignored to a subjectively determined degree?

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