Change to thew arena format.

[Neep]

Since I'm not a guru and don't know how many games it takes to get there, I'm popping in to say I think the doubling cube, while fun, is making games too long. If you want a long game, there are places to do it, but arena just doesn't seem like the right one. Admittedly, I play almost exclusively turn-based, but that shouldn't be an excluding factor. I liked it the way it was before the cube, and hope it goes back there.

[Neep]

Bringing this back up to the top again. A turn-based game can take days to a week or more. Even if you're winning at a high rate (60%), you're still looking at quite a few games to clear even one rank, let alone work your way up to elite. (My average for the last 5 seasons is 41.8 games. I didn't check the individual win percentage, but overall I'm 57.4%). I'll be entering elite this week, which used to be where the fun started, but it was such a slog and so late in the season I'll probably stop playing. Also, given the slowness that the doubling cube creates in turn-based, I may just call it quits at 20 elite season and 4200 games.

[ashsdox]

Bringing this back up to the top again. A turn-based game can take days to a week or more. Even if you're winning at a high rate (60%), you're still looking at quite a few games to clear even one rank, let alone work your way up to elite. (My average for the last 5 seasons is 41.8 games. I didn't check the individual win percentage, but overall I'm 57.4%). I'll be entering elite this week, which used to be where the fun started, but it was such a slog and so late in the season I'll probably stop playing. Also, given the slowness that the doubling cube creates in turn-based, I may just call it quits at 20 elite season and 4200 games.

Started playing on bga around 2-3 dec. 3 simultaneous four-moves-a-day games first, now around 5 to speed it up. Currently one or two wins short of elite, so it can be done

3-point matches are very gammonish. That means 2-point wins and doubled cubes are very valuable.

So my advise is double, and take a lot! It's usually better, even with a small advantage. And go for blitzes and gammons, you want to win big games.

As a bonus your matches will go way faster too.

[Tuut Tuut tis Luut]

If you want a long game, there are places to do it, but arena just doesn't seem like the right one.

Besides backgammon I play spades, tichu and tock in Arena mode. All are 4 player team games that can take around 40 minutes on average. And all of which have an active arena player base.

Arena mode is not meant to be a fast and quick play mode, even though many players use it as such. It's intended to be a more serious competitive mode. Which for backgammon, needs multiple point matches to properly work.

If you want a short game, there's normal mode to do it, but arena isn't the right one.

[Neep]

Most responses seem to be from the point of view of real-time play. I don't use real-time play; I play turn-based. The extra time involved can be days and weeks (for a slow opponent). It just isn't practical. Single game matches were considered competitive for years, and they were serious matches.

I figure I'll leave backgammon on my favorite list for one more season before I drop it. It's not fun or worth the time in its current state.