Backgammon Online

09-Sep-2014
08:27 PDT

ok thanks for clearing this up as I thought Suntzu were the same player and I had always good and nice games against him

09-Sep-2014
08:35 PDT

....fortunately, 99.99% of the players on ZE practice good sportsmanship without the drama. One thing I do appreciate about the ZE site is that it doesn't tolerate rude and childish behavior. I think that Suntsu = Athena = Darthvader = Sideshowbob2012 = Nemesis999 = poiuyt may have finally learned his lesson, at least I hope he has. Cheers!  

12-Sep-2014
21:14 PDT

Athena 15 days - 61 games
Darth Vader 86 games
Suntsu 57 days - 87 games (Slowest in terms of days)

All can be viewed at http://s1262.photobucket.com/user/athena55/library/?sort=3&page=1

and as uahskr so kindly pointed out, SideshowBob et al all did it in well under 100 games and well inside 1 month.

Happy to dig out those screen shots if you require them..

BTW - I see a number of the top players and previous number 1's have taken the challenge of the "Race to the Top"

Wallaby66
texknight
oldman69

Good luck to all of you.

There are also one or two others (who are fast running out of games)  

Will be interesting to see how everybody goes.  

13-Sep-2014
03:48 PDT

Thank you for continuing to behave yourself. Best of luck in breaking all of your ladder records. You should try one of the other CTs. All the best!  

13-Sep-2014
04:12 PDT

You forgot Stewie  

And yes - Stewie also got from bottom to top in well under a hundred games and in less than a month.

Let me know if you want the screen shots  

14-Sep-2014
13:09 PDT

if got screenshots of stewie please post them and I will add him to the ranking

14-Sep-2014
13:34 PDT

thoughts to the tactic to move fast and to move with the lowest amount of moves to the top.

first of all win all games, do not lose any. easier said than done.

when you want to be fast. play a lot of games with and look for players that do play quick, that should be the way to do it.

more interesting is the way to the top with as little games as possible. you should start with just 1 or maximum 2 games. no one will challenge you when you are at the last place of the ladder, so save some games for later.
choose players that are also on the move up, so they can move you up also. never play more than 5 games at the time, which would be a waste of games.
finish the games in the right order. lets say you are in the place 100 and you do play against the number 50 and the 1. Finish first the game against number 50 and than against number 1. that would take you to the place 38. If you would do it the other way around, you would end up in the place 49.
when you get close to the top of the ladder and there are no players to choose from, as they do play all there maximum amount of games, look for weak players, which you will beat easily and which do play quick. each one of them will move you one place closer to the top.

If you have others ideas please post them. I will start also in the next week and will see if this will work also in practice.

14-Sep-2014
14:20 PDT

....although I have always found the ladder to be quite boring, my kids do like to play there. I doubt they have thought about any of the tactics you mention. I'll be sure and share your ideas with them. Thanks for sharing and all the best,  

14-Sep-2014
15:20 PDT

playing the ladders is quiet boring as almost everyone does get to top when he does play many games at the same time and does win some of them. You not even have to win 30% of them and you still can make it to the top. That was one reason to start a race. Get there fast in time or with just a few games. getting there with as little games as possible sounds for me more interesting. It does need more skills and also a good tactic. the record is in the moment with around 60 games in Backgammon. I think anything between 40 and 50 would be outstanding. In Nackgammon maybe with 10 games less, as there are less players in the Nackgammon ladder.

14-Sep-2014
15:44 PDT

Yes David - I absolutely agree with you.

Almost anybody could eventually get to the top of the ladder if they play enough games.

However, The "Race to the Top" is all about tactics and strategy.

I have seen a few players attempt the "Race to the Top" with no clear plan or strategy - and each time their attempt at the record fails miserably.

Strange thing is that you would think these people would learn by their mistakes - but obviously not.

Only a fool doesn't learn from his mistakes....