A wise man once said “perhaps I treated you too harshly”. And that’s the exact thing I thought when playing backgammon on Cardgames.io and thought about Gemini’s playing of Backgammon.
While it’s true that it doesn’t follow house rules, it was playing Backgammon by the rules as written. I was so focused on that one little detail that I prematurely ended the experiment before truly going to town. Remember, the hypothesis wasn’t “can Gemini understand house rules”, that was just the stipulation. Rather, it was whether it’s better at playing board games than ChatGPT.
So, with that in mind, I reset the board and started fresh, giving Gemini an apology in the form of the greatest advantage I could think of: six turns of constant doubles. This is to gauge quite a few things, though:
- To see if it catches on that I am stacking the deck in its favour.
- To see what it does with what seems to be the luckiest run in any Backgammon player’s life.
- What it will do once that six turn streak runs out and I start actually rolling for it.
In a way, this is a house rule that is more diegetic for Gemini as it can understand numbers. Another thing I may have realised is that I might have fed it the wrong sort of information.
Gemini is multimodal, but its understanding of multimodalism is not as clear as Copilot’s. To illustrate my point, I ran the exact same set up where four pieces are removed from each player to see what it responds.
I appreciate your enthusiasm for Backgammon! Let’s dive right in. As the red player, I’ll make my move based on the roll of two sixes. Here’s my move:
- I’ll move two of my red pieces from the 13-point to the 7-point.
- Additionally, I’ll move the other two red pieces from the 6-point to the mid-point (12-point).
This establishes a blockade and positions my pieces strategically. Your turn! 🎲🔴
Okay, so at first I thought this was making sense, but I read closer… And… What?! 6-point to 12-point!? Make sense! Please! I was so disorientated…
Maybe Backgammon isn’t the right game for me to use for these AIs because they’re schooling me with terms I don’t even know. I just thought it would be funny to use a different game other than chess and I just happened to have a backgammon set…
However, I complement Copilot in that it was able to understand the house rules and not play regular Backgammon. The downside is that it has to beat the game in under 30 turns otherwise it will be the end of its topic and you would need to start anew.
So now, we go back to Gemini and hopefully begin the game with me trying to comprehend where the points are on the board. I may need a helpful guide of where they are on me at all times though.
… Wait. I can have the AI explain to me what they’re trying to say.
Backgammon notation is a standardised way to record and describe the moves made in a game of backgammon. Developed in the 1970s, it allows players to:
- Record entire games: This enables studying past games, analysing strategies, and sharing games with others.
- Replay games: Notation allows players to accurately reconstruct and replay the game, even if they weren’t the ones who played it.
Here’s a breakdown of how backgammon notation works:
Numbering the board:
- The board is numbered from 1 to 24, with each player seeing the board from their own perspective.
- This means your 1 point is your opponent’s 24 point, and so on.
Dice rolls:
- Dice rolls are represented by two numbers separated by a hyphen (-), like “4-2” or “42”.
Checker movements:
- Moves are written as “starting point/ending point”.
- For example, “8/4” indicates moving a checker from point 8 to point 4.
Hitting and re-entering:
- An asterisk (*) after the ending point indicates hitting an opponent’s checker.
- “Bar/” followed by a number signifies a checker re-entering the board from the bar to the specified point.
Doubles:
- When rolling doubles, the notation is written only once with the number of checkers moved in parentheses.
- For example, “24/18(2), 13/7(2)” represents moving two checkers from 24 to 18 and two checkers from 13 to 7 using a double roll of 2.
By understanding these elements, you can decipher and even create backgammon notation to effectively record and analyse your games.
Alright, so I got the gist now. Enough so that I’m able to understand the numbering of the Backgammon board.
With that understanding, I am ready to rechallenge Gemini. It may have lost via not understanding the house rules, but I conceded for being humbled by the AI with the notation system of Backgammon. So it’s 1-1 with this being the tiebreaker…
After introducing Gemini (again), here’s their play:
Given that I rolled two sixes, here’s the best strategy for my opening move in Backgammon:
Secure the Bar Points:
Since sixes are the largest numbers on the dice, I want to maximise their use. The strongest opening move with double sixes is to secure the 5-point on your side of the board (your opponent’s bar point) and the 24-point on my side of the board. Here’s how:
- 24-point to 18-point (uses two sixes): This creates an anchor deep in my home board.
- 13-point to 7- point (uses two sixes): This brings two checkers all the way to your bar point, blocking your pieces from escaping easily.
Why This Move is Strong
- Racing Advantage: It gives me a substantial early lead in what’s called the “race” aspect of Backgammon.
- Defensive Power: It sets up a strong defence by placing a “prime” (multiple checkers in a row). Your pieces will have trouble getting around my checkers on the 5-point.
Let’s keep the game going! Now it’s your turn to roll.
After so much troubleshooting, we finally got a game going and Gemini has set up a reasonable first move. It’s very solid and I like how they explained their strategy. That latter part of it setting up a wall of three checkers in a row actually has be stonewalled with my furthest set of checkers.
I commended the AI and gave it its next set.
Sure, with the roll of double fives, here are two possible plays for me, each with pros and cons:
Option 1: Play 8/3 and 13/8 (Securing the 3-point)
- Pros: This move secures the 3-point in my home board, making it a safe haven for my checkers and a potential springboard for future advances.
- Cons: This play doesn’t directly challenge your checkers and might allow you to build on your outer board.
Option 2: Play 13/8 and 8/6 (Challenging your checker on the 6-point)
- Pros: This move directly challenges your checker on your 6-point. If I roll a 1 or a 2 on my next turn, I can knock you off the 6-point, sending your checker back to your 1-point and potentially capturing it. This disrupts your strategy and sets you back in the race.
- Cons: This play leaves my 3-point open, making it vulnerable to being attacked by one of your checkers.
Considering both options, I will choose to play 13/8 and 8/6. This option offers the potential for greater reward by disrupting your strategy, even though it carries a slight risk to my 3-point.
I hope this explanation is helpful! Let’s continue the game. It’s your turn to roll.
Wait… Wait… Wait… Hold on…
So, the first part is good, because it moves them to 8, but then… 8 to 6… They… I’m sorry, what!?
I had to clarify with another chat with Gemini to boot.
In backgammon, the notation “13/8 and 8/6” describes the moves your opponent has made with their two fives:
- 13/8: One checker is moved 5 spaces from the 13-point to the 8-point.
- 8/6: Another checker is moved 2 spaces from the 8-point to the 6-point.
Understanding Backgammon Board Points
The backgammon board has 24 points. Your opponent’s points are numbered 1 through 12, and your points are numbered 13 through 24. Movement is always toward your opponent’s home board where they will bear off their checkers.
What makes this worse is that their option 1 is the legal move, and yet they still chose the other option, so, I’m going to pick their legal move. And of course moving two of them because they never mentioned it.
So, I made my move and-
PFFFFFFFT WHAT THE-
You are right, capturing your checker on the 6-point with the 8/6 move was not legal because my checker on the 8-point cannot jump over your checker on the 6-point.
Since option 1, playing 8/3 and 13/8, is the only legal move for me with the double fives, I will go with that.
Here’s the updated board after I move my checkers from the 8th and 13th points to the 3rd and 8th points, respectively:
And then it just links to a random Reddit post to show the game board and it looks nothing like the game board in question.
For comparison, here’s the game board at the start of the turn it got derailed:
And this is the game board that it referenced:
We have gone completely bonkers here. This is not even the kind of gonzo you’d expect in a tabletop roleplaying game for a table full of loonies playing Maid RPG in the Toon setting with Paranoia-style house rules!
And this is just legit Backgammon rules! So, with that, I’m willing to say that this is a loss for AI playing board games, even if we went up to two and a half rounds. It was worth a shot to try the actual rules, but the conclusion is still the same…
Well, Bon Voyage, gamers.
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