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The book _Championship Backgammon_ by Barclay Cooke & Rene Orlean (1980)
provides a nicely documented exploration of the "duplicate bg" idea.
Cooke and his son Walter played against the British team of Joe Dwek and
Phillip Martyn (both authors of interesting books of their own).
B Cooke played Dwek, and W. Cooke played Martyn simultaneously, with
teammates playing opposite colors. An official roller of dice announced
each roll to both teams. Play proceeded until both games ended, and
points accrued to each side accordingly over the course of the contest.
(It was cube play, not tournament play). After 8 games the Americams were
up 23 to 7.
Reading the book, you see how quickly the "duplicate" games diverged,
making the whole exercise pretty futile. It's not hard to see why the
concept never cought on. After the first few rolls, the games really have
little basis for comparison.
Interesting book, though.
Albert
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