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Backgammon to the Future: The Tech of Backgammon
Although the game of Backgammon dates back to ancient times, it is far from antiquated. As modern technology continued to develop in leaps and bounds in the last several years, so too has the game evolved with it.
Backgammon has long been an object of research for computer scientists, who have since been developing software capable of going toe-to-toe with human opponents. One such program was BKG 9.8, developed in the late 1970's by Hans Berliner. Not an overnight success, the first BKG prototypes didn't fare too well, not even against poor players. Realizing the software tended to make crucial mistakes during the game's transitional periods, Berliner utilized the principle of "fuzzy logic" to enhance its gameplay. In July 1979, the newly-upgraded BKG 9.8 bested backgammon champion Luigi Villa, making history as the first computer software to beat a world champion in a board game.
Programmers in the late 1980's would develop backgammon programs based on artificial neural networks, the first of which was the TD-Gammon, developed by Gerald Tesauro for IBM. Temporal difference learning allowed the program to learn from data gathered through self-play, enabling it to play a level above the best expert backgammon players in the world.
The success of the neural network programs paved the way for the development of commercial backgammon software. Jellyfish, the first neural net backgammon program to be released commercially, comes in three versions: the regular Player version, which is downloadable for free; the Tutor, which gives a list of best backgammon positions and evaluates the player's own moves; and the Analyzer, which rolls out and simulates positions and gives more precise assessments of moves. Snowie Backgammon (the second neural net backgammon) gives gameplay suggestions and lets the player annotate matches, and its Professional version can import games played on the internet for analysis. GNU Backgammon (GNUBG) is considered the strongest backgammon program in the market, with better graphics and analysis capabilities.
With the dawn of the internet in the 1990's, backgammon players had found a new arena. Online backgammon started in 1992 with the aptly named "First Internet Backgammon Server," which went on to become the longest-running non-commercial backgammon server. Today, backgammon can be played on the net through online game rooms on sites such as Yahoo Games and MSN Games, and through online gambling providers.
Backgammon has been around for centuries, and it shall no doubt still be with us to the end of the millennium. The advancement of technology has likewise advanced the way the game is played, and the future can only bring new frontiers to conquer, new evolutions for the game, and new challenges to keep generations of backgammon players on their toes.