u/Careful-Comedian9510

Hi,

Let me introduce you Minimalist Backgammon Trainer, it is a simulator powered by GNU Backgammon designed to isolate the essentials: the movement of your checkers and cube strategy. Its goal is to improve your ability to choose the perfect move or make the best decision in realistic game situations. No stakes, no stress, just you facing the best possible decision (more details in my previous posts on my profile).

At this point, you’re probably wondering what this post is doing in this subreddit.

I use a black-and-white Hibreak Pro every day, and generally, backgammon apps are unreadable on an e-ink screen. On top of that, there isn’t currently a real app out there for practicing backgammon.

So I developed MBT to work perfectly on an e-ink screen :)

I’m well aware that I’m in a niche within a niche, but I’m still asking for your support.

I'm a solo developer, and today I'm in the final stages before releasing the MBT Android app.

To do this, Google requires a 14-day closed beta test with testers.

To help me get through this final step, you can send me your email address via PM so I can add you to the tester panel (just to be clear, your address will only be used for this purpose!)

Thanks in advance for your support, and enjoy the game :)

Hello everyone,

I’ll spare you another introduction to MBT, you can find my previous posts on my profile :)

Today, I’m at the final stage before releasing the MBT Android app.

To do this, Google requires a 14-day closed beta test with testers.

To help me get through this final step, you can send me your email address via PM so I can add you to the tester panel (just to be clear, your address will only be used for this purpose!)

Thanks in advance for your support :)

Hello everyone,

New update for Minimalist Backgammon Trainer !!

When practicing checker play and you can’t find the best move—even with hints—it’s not always easy to figure out what kind of mistake you made. Furthermore, not all errors are necessarily serious; sometimes they don’t even have any impact on the game.

Therefore, when you submit a move while playing the checkers, if you don’t find the best move, MBT now tells you what type of error you made.

MBT distinguishes six main categories of errors, divided into several subcategories.

1. Minor optimization:

• Slight pip adjustment / Slight positional choice: Positional adjustment with no critical impact
• Equivalent move: Playing this move or the best one makes no meaningful difference

2. Safety error:

• Unnecessary blot: Creating a blot with no tactical justification
• Vulnerable to hit: Dangerous exposure of blots to an opponent's hit

3. Missed attacking opportunity:

• Passive in dynamic position: Overly cautious play when the position calls for aggression
• Missed obvious hit: Overlooking a direct hit that would have changed the dynamics

4. Structural miss:

• Missed point consolidation: Failure to close a strategic point or reinforce a stack
• Breaks prime: Dismantling a prime
• Loss of defensive point: Loss of an anchor or an important defensive point

5. Racing inefficiency:

• Non-optimal pip gain: The move does not efficiently maximize the racing advantage
• Significant pip loss: Significant loss of racing advantage
• Inefficient bearing off: Suboptimal bearing off

6. Passive error:

• Gives up initiative / Overly cautious: Overly passive play or giving up pressure on the opponent
• Major strategic error: Incorrect overall reading of the position

And in the Checker statistics, you'll find a breakdown of your mistakes.

This should help you better understand where you need to improve. At least, I hope so 😄

PS : version 1.7.7 at this point !

There was something missing from Minimalist Backgammon Trainer because practicing is one thing, but knowing whether that practice is paying off is another. Especially since I’m well aware that comparing MBT ERs to your actual skill level is tricky due to the very nature of MBT.

So I’ve just added the Evaluation feature!

Whenever you’re ready, run an evaluation based on 20 simulations (16 board moves and 4 cube decisions).

Get your average equity loss across these 20 simulations.

Track your actual progress using the trend graph and the history of your last 40 evaluations.

You can only run one evaluation per day. It can be daily, weekly, or irregular—in short, whenever you want, whenever you feel ready :)

Thanks again for your feedback

(Find previous posts Here and Here)

PS: MBT is now at version 1.7.3