lol i know this sounds crazy, but has anyone else noticed that their Gnu program seems to be way above expectation in your games?

I mean i simply can't imagine the designers programming this in but i am really beginning to wonder.

My sample size is about 300 games and it just seems that the program hits joker after joker, perfect roll after perfect roll, and i am getting the opposite.

I am not that familiar with the program ( i am using the free download) - is it possible that i have some weird configuration set that causes this?

I am an 1800 online player, have been playing for 30 years and yes, i understand that bg is a game of suckouts, etc. But i mean this program is running like 5 times above ex.

How have you determined that the program is running hot? Do you keep stats on things like the luck rating and such?

GNU is open source, and so if you are inclined you can actually read through the source code to see the dice algorithms.

Edit: This reminds me of a lot of online poker players who complain about the "frequency" of the bad beats. Basically, because you get so many more games in such a short period of time, your brain can be tricked into thinking it's happening "more often" (because it is in a temporal sense, but not relative to the number of trials).

Gnu will let you input hand-rolled dice if you want.

Humbling, isn't it?

If you have never played against Snowie, XG or GNUBG, getting your behind spanked by 2150 player will start you to scratching your head! I hope you have set GNUBG options to play World Class or Supremo. The default settings are similar to some of the GNUBG-based bots on FIBS, and (believe it or not) they are easier opponents than a 2-ply GNUBG.

The makers of the game say to look at the open source, and all, but I can't help but feel the thing cheats anyway.

How many times do you hit every open checker on the board within two or three moves?
How often does Gnu?

How often do you build a five or six prime within four or five moves?
How often does Gnu?

How often do you roll 66 when you've been hit and that point is blocked?
How often does Gnu?

How often do you double and immediately roll a 66 or some other perfect number?
How often does Gnu?

I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Those things do happen in play against a human, but it does not happen in the majority of games day after day after day....Unless you're playing against Gnu.

I'm not talking about gettin hit, etc. because Gnu has skillfully set up his checkers; I'm talking about rolls that defy the odds on a regular basis.

It's apparent cheating seems to come in spells...like it turns on or off it's "cheat mode" at will. When it's not cheating, I usually kick it's butt. When it is cheating, the game is so outrageousely unbalanced that it's not even worth playing.

I've said it once before: Don't try to convince me the SOB doesn't cheat.

If you're not willing to listen to anyone else's arguments, why should anyone listen to yours?

I wrote those examples hoping somebody (or a few) would say, "Yeah! I've noticed all that stuff (and more), myself!"

I guess I'm kinda looking for confirmation. My FEELING is that it cheats, and "Don't try to convince me..." is really just an emotional outburst....and a challenge I would welcome. Deep inside, I'd like to be proven wrong, but with all I've seen that thing do, I don't know what could convince me! (BTW: I also stated on this forum that I sometimes argue when I very well know I could be wrong, because it's an efficient way to learn.----Oh, hey: That's called "playing devil's advocate," ain't it!? )

My mind is in conflict with my feelings. How could the makers invite people to examine the open source code if it cheats? Why would it be programmed to cheat? (....Uhm....So the makers could brag about how "great" Gnu is?)

So, don't try to convince me the SOB doesn't cheat! I dare you!

Edit:
Oh, yeah....And don't ask me to read that open source code. I wouldn't know what I was looking at or even if I had it right side up or upside down!

I was mostly teasing. But to address your questions a little more seriously, why not try the following test:

In some spot where you feel that GNU hit some super joker against you or you roll an anti-joker, go back and roll it again. Roll the dice from that same position a couple hundred times and keep track of the distribution of rolls (exclude the first one so that the joker/anti-joker will not bias the sample by always seeding the first sample with a hit).

Repeat this in a few dozen other positions that you happen to bump into while playing GNU.

Report the findings.

It's most likely just psychology. You notice the suckouts much more than the times where it misses.

I cannot confirm your feelings. I've played about 600 games with GNUBG and had about average luck against it.

Note that you can look up "luck" ratings in GNU. It will tell you how many rolls it's getting that are very lucky, lucky, unlucky, and very unlucky, and same for you, along with a luck rating. Just check match or session statistics.

Fantastic post. Good luck.

Hi,

i am also an 1800 player. My experience is that with gnu both sides are equally lucky. I play and analyze a lot of games on the grandmaster level, and I ussually understand the reasons why i lost. Sometimes its because of luck, but most of the times it is because i played to risky or to safe.
I think the best advice is to analyse your games and look at the moves marked lucky and unlucky and see if they are rather equally spread between you and gnu.

greetings k.

Gnu is better than me too.

Have any of you in the "gnu cheats" crowd ever evaluated your error rate and luck rating?

Both are readily found under analyze in the menu bar.

Take your error rate and luck rating and keep a spreadsheet, keeping a average. I think if you take the time and effort to do this you will realize that it's not so much gnu cheating as it's taking advantage of your mistakes.

Aaron:
I don't know how to do that reroll thing. I'll look into it. I'll figger it out.

You other guys:
I'll look into that game analysis thing, too.

I'll try using the manual dice, too, also, as well. (Was that repeatedly redundant?)

But don't be lookin' for a report from me anytime soon. I'm in the middle of remodeling due to a damaging water leak.

It's not hard. Just click back to the previous roll and I think it's in one of the menus ("Play computer roll" or something like that). If you can't find that, just go back to your previous play by clicking it in the game history and make the same play again.