Computer Dice

Forum Archive : Computer Dice

 
Does GNU Backgammon cheat?

From:   Robert-Jan Veldhuizen
Address:   zorba@chello.nl
Date:   28 November 2002
Subject:   Re: gnubg's dice revisited
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   8e504b59.0211280942.77af47e6@posting.google.com

> I have been playing against gnubg for the past couple of weeks (maybe 50
> matches total).
>
> In the 70's I played bg in the clubs 4-6 hours a day almost every day.
> That's a lot of money games. Let's put it this way. If I found myself
> playing against a human that could roll perfectas as well as gnubg does,
> I would have gotten up and ran out of there a long time ago. I am talking
> about "doubles off the bar to bring in two men, cover a blot, and hit"
> type of doubles; easily get out of a 5-pt prime; starting the game where
> every roll makes a point (it never rolls a 5 unless it's a set of them);
> hardly ever dancing more than once; I can name a few more if needed.

It's common, especially if it's your first experience with a bg
program, to have the perception that it rolls lucky. What all the
causes are for this, I don't know exactly, but I guess it has
something to do with the fact that the bots play at a "world class"
level, so you might be playing a (much) stronger opponent than you've
ever played before. Also, the speed of play can make bad luck seem to
happen more often. Some players might also start to play worse
against a bot if they lose a lot of matches against them, because of
frustration.

It's certainly possible that GNUBG's dice would be "unfair", however
since all the source code is readily available to ANYONE, and you can
compile your own GNUBG from it if you wish, everyone's invited to
check the source code and see if the random dice generator is fair or
not. There haven't been any complaints so far.

Also, you can set GNUBG to manual dice, roll your own favorite dice
and enter the rolls in GNUBG.
_
/
_ orba
 
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Computer Dice

Dice on backgammon servers  (Hank Youngerman, July 2001) 
Does Agushak Backgammon cheat?  (Mr Nabutovsky, June 2000) 
Does BG by George cheat?  (George Sutty, Nov 1995) 
Does Backgammon NJ cheat?  (Greg+, June 2010) 
Does Cybergammon cheat?  (Goto Informatique, Aug 1996) 
Does David's Backgammon cheat?  (Joseph B. Calderone, June 1998) 
Does GNU Backgammon cheat?  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen, Nov 2002) 
Does Gammontool cheat?  (Jim Hurley, Sept 1991) 
Does Hyper-Gammon cheat?  (ZZyzx, June 1996) 
Does Jellyfish cheat?  (Fredrik Dahl, June 1997) 
Does MVP Backgammon cheat?  (Mark Betz, Oct 1996) 
Does MonteCarlo cheat?  (Matt Reklaitis, June 1998) 
Does Motif cheat?  (Rick Kiesau+, Mar 2004)  [Long message]
Does Motif cheat?  (Billie Patterson, Feb 2003) 
Does Motif cheat?  (Robert D. Johnson, Oct 1996) 
Does Snowie cheat?  (André Nicoulin, Sept 1998) 
Does TD-Gammon cheat?  (Gerry Tesauro, Feb 1997) 
Error rates with computer dice  (NoChinDeluxe+, Feb 2011) 
FIBS: Analysis of 10 million rolls  (Stephen Turner, Apr 1997)  [Recommended reading]
FIBS: Are the dice biased?  (Kit Woolsey, Oct 1996) 
FIBS: Entering from the bar  (Tom Keith+, Apr 1997) 
GamesGrid: Too many jokers?  (Gregg Cattanach, Sept 2001) 
GridGammon: Are the dice random?  (leobueno+, Sept 2011) 
Jellyfish: How to check the dice  (John Goodwin, May 1998)  [Recommended reading]
Jellyfish: Proof it doesn't cheat  (Gary Wong, July 1998) 
MSN Zone: Security flaw  (happyjuggler0, June 2004) 
Official complaint form  (Gary Wong, June 1998)  [Recommended reading]
Randomness testing  (Brett Meyer+, Dec 2010) 
Safe Harbor Games dice  (Michael Petch+, Aug 2011) 
Synopsis of "cheating" postings  (Ray Karmo, Feb 2002) 
Testing for bias  (Kit Woolsey, Jan 1995) 
The dice sure seem unfair!  (Michael Sullivan, Apr 2004) 
Too many repeated rolls?  (Stephen Turner, Mar 1994) 
Winning and losing streaks  (Daniel Murphy, Mar 1998) 

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