Introduction

GNU Backgammon works on

• MS Windows operating systems
• Linux
• FreeBSD
• Solaris
• MacOS 10

GNU Backgammon is available in different languages

• English
• German (nearly finished)
• Italian (3/4 finished)
• Japanese (2/3 finished)
• Danish (1/4 finished)
• Turkish (1/4 finished)
• Icelandic (1/4 finished)
• French (not ready yet)

GNU Backgammon comes with

• A Graphical User Interface (GUI) with 2D- or 3D-Animation
• Including a selection of board designs to choose from
• Powerful but simple tools to change or create your own design
• You can choose colours, lighting, textures and even the perspective of the 3D board
• A command line modus (CLI) with support of the script language python

With GNU Backgammon you may play

• backgammon, nackgammon or hypergammon
• games, matches or sessions (gnubg adjusts its play always to the match score)

Gnubgs analysing functions allow you to

• get hints during the game
• evaluate positions
• use a tutor during the game
• use a "temperature map" which gives a graphical simple overview of the possible results of the next dice roll
• analyse or rollout positions, games, matches or sessions (with probably the most extensive controls to set speed and accuracy of any backgammon software)

You can

• setup, edit and save positions, games, matches and sessions
• replay games, matches and sessions
• record annotations
• explore doubling windows, gammon prices and similar cube theory, valuable for money games and essential for match play
• store error rates for different players

GNU Backgammon imports matches and sessions from

• Fibs
• Gamesgrid
• TrueMoneygame
• Netgammon
• Snowie
• Jellyfish

GNU Backgammon exports positions, games, matches and sessions into

• *.pos
• *.mat
• plain text
• different html formats
• png
• LaTeX
• (Encapsulated) Postscript
• PDF

With GNU Backgammon you may choose between the following dice generators

• Manual dice settings
• from a file
• a dice generator created by the user
• Ansi
• Blum, Blum and Shub
• BSD
• ISAAC
• MD5
• Mersenne Twister
• www.random.org

GNU Backgammon comes with several databases for handling bearoffs and match equities, i.e.

• larger bearoff databases (to be generated)
• databases for 1/2/3-chequer hypergammon (to be generated)
• a selection of several Match Equity Tables (METs)
• an interface to Hugh Sconyers huge databases for races and bearoffs

But don't forget ... GNU Backgammon is work in progress. Don't blame us if

• a feature isn't implemented yet
• a feature doesn't work correctly
• gnubg crashes
• your system suffers after gnubg is installed

Don't forget also ...

• it's free software (free as in "free speech", not in "free beer")
• we are all volunteers
• we need feedback and bug reports
• we need your help