Backgammon Online

26-Jan-2026
06:36 PDT

Friends,

BBL-34 is now OPEN!

As of today, 31 player signed up, so we will have 3 groups of 8 players and one with 7. At this time, I plan to keep the league open for returning players only and will consider newcomers only if they are highly recommended by the existing BBL players.

Based on the snapshot of participants’ ratings as of January 26, the four-group seeding is now set, and all games can begin! The top four players from each group will go to the 1/8 finals, with the playoff portion of the tournament being conducted on a best-of-three basis. All games must use the BG format only.

As always, I would like to reiterate that this is a BLITZ league. When you signed up, you agreed to play fast, abide by the rules and code of conduct, and report individual results on our BBL website promptly. We had a lot of back and forth on this. Please make sure you fulfil your part of the agreement.

IMPORTANT: Please update your challenge criteria to ensure you can be challenged by your group opponents or challenge them yourself first! Check your ignore lists, too.
Please avoid any delays as all your group games must start by February 1!

To see who your group opponents are, please go to the home page of the BBL website (https://tinyurl.com/ze-bbl - bookmark this page!), where you will find the link to the Results page. Everything is set up on that page, including a ZE challenge link for each group opponent, which is created for your convenience. Click that link for each group opponent, and your BBL challenge will automatically open on ZE.

On the home page of the BBL website, you will find the result submission form. The winner of each game should fill in this form within 24 hours of completion in the following format: Player A - Player B 1:0, Gammon (if applicable).

As usual, I intend to update the results multiple times a day as I get automated notifications on your result submissions. Please review the results page often, and if you are not seeing some of your results, please don’t hesitate to submit them even if you lost a game. Your assistance here is greatly appreciated.

Here are a few important suggestions to speed up the games:
a) Communicate with your opponents to see what time of the day is best for both of you to be online.
b) If you happen to be on the losing side and your game is out of reach, consider resigning and updating the website with the result yourself, as your opponent might not notice that the game was over.

As usual, feel free to connect with me directly if you have any issues, questions, or concerns

Best,
Leoton
https://tinyurl.com/ze-bbl

01-Feb-2026
10:21 PDT

I know this is a contentious subject... Sorry Leoton.

In the current BBL34, BossyKitten and I will likely end up with 4 games each and will be subject to tie breaker rules.

Although I beat her in our individual game, I think her 3 gammons should trump my win over her. This would put the tie breaker rules into purely statistical terms as long as possible. The individual wins shold not be considered until all other statistical means are exhausted, i.e. TB1 should be demoted 2 ranks in the rules.

OK, I've got my fire resistant suit on now, flame away.

BossyBear

01-Feb-2026
10:45 PDT

Hi BossyBear,

Sorry, I do believe our current rules favoring the face-to-face game between opponents with the same number of wins is the cleanest way to go as a main tie-breaker.

But I do appreciate your input here! Keep the feedback coming!

Thanks
Leoton

13-Feb-2026
11:03 PDT

It's been 18 days since the last tournament started, yet not all group stage games are finished.
I think it was proposed before, but maybe it's time to think about this again: if a player has 3 or more unfinished games after the 9th of the month such player gets a yellow card and automatically misses next tournament.
Thoughts?

13-Feb-2026
14:30 PDT

How does that work? One player might be slower than the other, but both get penalized? How does Leoton determine which is which?

13-Feb-2026
14:36 PDT

Makes sense to me. Remember, the proposal is to penalize only players with 3+ games that are not finished before the deadline. So, if one of the usual suspects drags their feet they will have many unfinished games, say 4, whereas their opponents will have one unfinished game each and won’t be penalized.

15-Feb-2026
16:24 PDT

any slow players playing me lately but a yellow card and penalties sounds good.

16-Feb-2026
15:15 PDT

So, it seems players are OK with this proposed change. Leoton, what's your opinion on this matter?

16-Feb-2026
15:38 PDT

I hate delays as anyone else but would like to hear from more players on this topic, including alternative options. Let me set up a dedicated page on our league’s website where we could discuss various proposals by voting. I also have a few new other ideas for the league and would love to hear players’ feedback on them too.

16-Feb-2026
18:31 PDT

I understand the angst, and yes, we want to play quickly.

But right now Leoton is setting it up for once a month. Often, there is a lull between tournies as we wait. Is it really that big a deal if the final is completed before just the next tourney starts? As far as I can tell, we're on pace for that now.