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ASCII text
— 4K bytes
— 1980-12-13
Gammon
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Version : 1.3 (Release Date : 10.04.93)
Author : Marc Fischlin
Steigerwaldweg 6
D-6450 Hanau 7 (from 01.07.93: D-63456 Hanau)
Germany
Software: C - Lattice SAS-C-Compiler V5.10
Hardware: Amiga 2000B/ 68000er/ Kickstart V2.04
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"Gammon" is copyright 1993 by Marc Fischlin. All rights
reserved. "Gammon" may be copied and spread, if the whole
directory is copied, the programs in this directory are not
manipulated and you do not gain any profit.
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Main menu:
Gammon is a computer version of the famous backgammon game,
that can substitute up to two human players. "Save settings"
writes your favourite settings concerning colors, computer
opponent, starting position etc. to the file "Gammon.INI",
which will be read next time you start the programm. There
are four new (improved ?!) computer opponents ("Random"
selects one of them at the beginning of a new game).
"Aggressive" plays a more risky game, while "Defensive"
tries to get all the stones home safely. "Blocking" tries to
build barriers and "Balanced" plays a mixture of the three
above.
After having started a game with "Start game", you can end
the game and return to the main menu or directly quit the
program. Use "Undo move" to reset the position until your
first move in that round.
Handling:
To move your characters simply press once on the source
position (the number lightens) and then on the destination.
The computer will then move your character (if possible).
You may move your character both dice (except for bearing
off) if at least on of the both positions between are
"clean", that means that you can for example move a 5-3-move
in one step. If there is a blot the computer will not take
that stone off the board!!!
Press again on the source to cancel your choice.
Double-click on the positions in your inner table to
move your character out. To move a character, that has been
kicked off by your opponent, back into the game press once
on the destination in your opponent's inner table. You pass
by clicking once on the dice. If you can move at least one
of your characters the computer will then tell you that move
he considers to be best (so it may help you in any
position).
Strategy of the computer:
The computer distinguishes between two possible situations:
(a) The characters of the players haven't yet been seperated
or (b) they have been seperated. The computer then tries to
move all its characters into its area and to take them off
as fast as possible. In case (a) there are several points to
consider: Don't place a single character, take off an
opponent's character, don't isolate your characters, build
barriers etc.
Programming the strategy of the computer:
The computer tries all possible moves and judges all the
positions. It e.g. distinguishes between a 3-5-move and a
5-3-move, because the positions after the moves may be
different (Think of a single opponent's character three
places away!). In case of doublets there is no exchange
between the values, nevertheless it may take some seconds as
the computer sometimes judges about 2000 positions. Some
examples: 2106 position for a pair of threes, 2021 for a
pair of twos, 1924 for a pair of ones, 1834 for a pair of
fives.
Laplace or not? :
You may sometimes complain about a certain combination of
dice appearing too often. Here are the results of a test
with 960 dice:
(a) For the values from one to six, there were the following
possibilities (according to Laplace it should always be
P(X)=.166=16,6%):
P(1)=.185, P(2)=.178, P(3)=.146,
P(4)=.152, P(5)=.143, P(6)=.196.
(b) For the sums (2,3,...,12) in comparison to the
statistic values:
P( 2)=.0354 to .0278, P( 3)=.0625 to .0555,
P( 4)=.0916 to .0833, P( 5)=.1042 to .1111,
P( 6)=.1396 to .1388, P( 7)=.1583 to .1666,
P( 8)=.1188 to .1388, P( 9)=.1104 to .1111,
P(10)=.0916 to .0833, P(11)=.0500 to .0555,
P(12)=.0375 to .0278.
Almost Laplace, isn't it?
PS: Thanks to Robert Hofmann for his great support.
+++++++++++++ Also available for PC-Windows +++++++++++++++