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Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?

Posted By: Frank Berger
Date: Monday, 9 May 2011, at 6:14 p.m.

In Response To: Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz? (leobueno)

I have also read good things about BGblitz, so where does it fit into the bot picture?

BGBlitz lacks currently some stuff the other bots have (match analysis is the most important, but I'm working on it, albeit slowly). I'm pretty confident that the next AI will pass at least one of the others bots in checker play and BGB has some things other bots lack (e.g. the integrated databases for matches and positions and these are in the free version).

Bgblitz is useful when you want a 2nd or 3rd opinion for some strange positions where you distrust your other bots. I haven't analyzed Michael Deprelis benchmark related to this point, but I'm sure you'll find some positions where BGBlitz get's it and the others not. BGBlitz is very easy to use and it's graphics are superb. Just for checking evaluations the player version for 23$ is sufficient. Given that all updates since 2002 has been free, I think this is pretty cheap.

What might be interesting for you is BGblitz2go. I'm pretty sure it is the best BG you can get for a mobile phone (as long it supports Java, so no Android, no iPhone, no WebOS ...). I once made a dozen games with 2-ply and let GnuBG analyze it and IIRC it's rating was around 1950. Not bad for a phone and the usability shines. We looked at what was good in other apps and I analyzed my collection of dedicated Backgammon computers from the eighties and we distilled the best ideas. I'm pretty sure many can't imagine that playing BG on a phone is fun, but I have users that had health problems due to excessive use and others that make the decision which phone to buy next dependent on the availability of BGBlitz2go, so it seems to be highly addictive. You often have a couple of minutes were a quick game fits into...

Messages In This Thread

• Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
  leobueno -- Sunday, 8 May 2011, at 1:47 p.m.
  • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
    Mr Majestyk -- Sunday, 8 May 2011, at 3:09 p.m.
    • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
      Timothy Chow -- Sunday, 8 May 2011, at 5:49 p.m.
      • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
        mamabear -- Sunday, 8 May 2011, at 6:59 p.m.
        • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
          Frank Berger -- Monday, 9 May 2011, at 6:17 p.m.
          • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
            Michael Petch -- Monday, 9 May 2011, at 7:37 p.m.
        • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
          Ian Shaw -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 4:53 p.m.
  • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
    Stein Kulseth -- Sunday, 8 May 2011, at 3:21 p.m.
  • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
    Frank Berger -- Monday, 9 May 2011, at 6:14 p.m.
    • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
      Mislav Radica -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 11:04 a.m.
      • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
        Frank Berger -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 3:56 p.m.
        • My opinion on the bots. Which is better? It depends.
          Michael Petch -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 5:44 p.m.
          • My opinion on the bots. Which is better? It depends.
            leobueno -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 7:17 p.m.
            • My opinion on the bots. Which is better? It depends.
              Michael Petch -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 7:44 p.m.
              • My opinion on the bots. Which is better? It depends.
                Philippe Michel -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 9:54 p.m.
                • My opinion on the bots. Which is better? It depends.
                  Michael Petch -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 10:18 p.m.
                • My opinion on the bots. Which is better? It depends.
                  Michael Petch -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 10:20 p.m.
                • My opinion on the bots. Which is better? It depends.
                  Ian Shaw -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 10:25 p.m.
          • Question on the .xg file format
            storm -- Wednesday, 11 May 2011, at 4:05 a.m.
            • Question on the .xg file format
              Michael Petch -- Wednesday, 11 May 2011, at 5:33 a.m.
              • Question on the .xg file format
                storm -- Wednesday, 11 May 2011, at 7:07 a.m.
              • Question on the .xg file format
                leobueno -- Wednesday, 11 May 2011, at 8:51 a.m.
    • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
      Turz -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 1:00 p.m.
    • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
      ryc -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 8:39 p.m.
      • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
        Frank Berger -- Tuesday, 10 May 2011, at 9:47 p.m.
      • Strength of Backgammon NJ
        NJ -- Friday, 3 June 2011, at 3:59 a.m.
  • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
    Henrik Bukkjaer -- Wednesday, 11 May 2011, at 12:23 p.m.
  • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
    Marty Storer -- Wednesday, 11 May 2011, at 7:56 p.m.
    • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
      Stick -- Wednesday, 11 May 2011, at 11:07 p.m.
      • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
        Marty Storer -- Friday, 13 May 2011, at 2:29 p.m.
        • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
          Phil Simborg -- Friday, 13 May 2011, at 4:05 p.m.
        • Should I switch from GNUbg to XG? What about BGblitz?
          Stick -- Friday, 13 May 2011, at 5:15 p.m.