BGBlitz was the king of backgammon games on the Mac, but sadly I no longer play it because I simply refuse to install Java.
I hope it gets rewritten but it's starting to look suspiciously like abandon-ware. A shame.
Poor interface/Menus. Not even minimal effort to adhere to Mac look and feel guidelines. Lazy.
Numerous short cuts don't work.
Poor dice randomization. Favors the computer player. Makes for frustrating play.
Wonder what else doesn't is broken.
Version 2.7.2 is online.
when TachiAI III was used, the level of play was always Expert, independent of the selected playing strength. What a pain for casual players this must have been. Sorry!
under heavy load the wrong dice could be displayed. Fortunately this was rare.
a memory leak was plugged
some erroneous Tutor hints were removed
a deadlock could happen pressing ^G if ^F was already pressed
and some small improvements
at the first roll, one dice is shown on the left and one on the right side of the board
BGBmips support for 3, 6 and 12 CPUs
improved visibility of numbers on white checkers
better detection of usable screen area on Linux
drag & drop support for position database files
It's nice to see an update and some new themes.
I've tried other backgammon games on the Mac and find BGBlitz to be both challenging and educational. I can't say the same thing about the other games, since I was constantly winning when I played those and did not learn a thing. BGBlitz offers some very good tips during play.
Although I use the free version, eventually I will purchase the Player or the Professional version.
Purchases include all minor updates and one major upgrade. This is a generous policy, unlike the 6 months I got when I purchased David's Backgammon. That was a big mistake.
Although I've never contacted the author, I've enjoyed reading his comments. Other backgammon developers are not as civil.
Highly recommended.
I love BG Blitz.
There is simply nothing near its level for Macs.
"Absolute Backgammon" is just for casual players.
THIS is for those who wish to IMPROVE their game, taking it to a new level.
I have played in tournaments across the USA between 1985 and 2006. I know of what i speak, and I have the trophies to prove it.
What a bunch of ungrateful dorks! This game rocks! What a concept...a Mac game, with no blood, and you actually have to think. Yea, it kicks my @ss if I play stupid. That's with it set to intermediate skill.
I thank those coders who work endless, thankless, payless hours, to create for Macs. In case you haven't noticed...elegant & innovative Mac software has steadily faded away over the years (think Adobe and StuffIt just recently). Blame King Jobs.
Many great wares started on Apple, now they don't remember us any more. Soon you'll have just Solitaire, Mines...
Thank you Frank, MacAddicts DO appreciate your efforts!
Have you used the BGBlitz_Tiger starter? Or the BGBLitz_Panther starter? The later is in fact unplayable slow, thanks to the new Java release in 10.4.
The BGBlitz_Tiger has no problems, at least till now it had worked for all people that tried it. If you have problems with BGBlitz_tiger please email me.
ciao
Frank
trying this out on 10.4.1, PB G4, 2gb RAM. The graphics are extremely, unplayably slow, on 'fast checker' when you click on a piece to move it. I tried to tweak the other settings (dynamic, etc) but it was all extremely sluggish. Anyone else have this problem?
AARGH!
Clicking the download link causes the file to download as code to the browser window. (in Camino, at least)
Fileserver filetype needs to be fixed!
Camino 8.1 never recovered, even after the file was finished.
-- Great game BTW ---
Developer
Author: Frank Berger
frank@bgblitz.com
Could you please send me the games log file (log.txt) or the game if you saved the game?
You're the first complaining this error. Did this happen more than once or is it even reproducable?
Please contact me so I can try to find out what was happening.
If this a frequent error BGBlitz wouldn't have achieved the title of a World Champion recently.... (2/13/2004, Version: 1.7.1)
Playing v.1.6 with three men left for black and two for white (ThaiAI), black rolls double 4's and removes all men, game continues and white (computer) rolls double 5's and wins games. Odd and unacceptable.
I love BGBlitz. I don't think it cheats. In fact, it's interesting. I REGULARLY feel like Jellyfish is cheating, and have literally hundreds of instances where I would "undo" a joker and have it reroll only to have it reroll a joker the next 10 to 12 times. For example, need a 2 to hit and come in against a 5 pt. board. JF has regularly rolled it 10 times in a row and up. I never get this with BGBlitz. JF absolutely slaughters me, which is interesting, because I seem to play roughly equal with Snowie and BGBlitz! So something "fishy" is going on.
I (as author) agree with the reviewer that the usability and Graphics can be improved (and this will be a central point in the next few month). I don't agree with the assumption that Bgblitz cheats. The Random number generator is deterministic. Just enter at "Game/seed" a value and the same sequence of dice will come ever and ever again, totally independent from the position on the board. You may contact me for a method to prove that. BGBlitz like the other 3 top backgammon programms (JF, Snowie, GNU) just plays far better than most humans. They simply don't need to cheat.
I hope I convinced you and you enjoy BGBlitz.
Funny game this... as long as you don't dare to double against the machine. From that point on "it" throws doubles like you have never seen it, and miraculously wins every game. Not urse if this is due to the fact I was just in trial mode, but it certainly doesn't make me feel like paying shareware fee. Too bad.
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