Help and Documentation for Pontes Backgammon

Help Contents


Introduction

Pontes Backgammon is an online and offline game created for blind computer users.
It is programmed by Emanuel Boboiu in BGT from Blastbay Studios.
Download Pontes Backgammon, version 1.6.1 (released on 6 January 2016 - 13,9 MB)
What's New in 1.6.1

Go to contents


Keys Reference

During the Game:


Keystrokes in the Chat Section:

Go to contents


About Sounds

There are many sounds in this game.
You can hear the moving through the points, the middle of the board, the edges of the board. These sounds are placed on the corresponding position, it would be better to use stereo headphones.
You can hear also specific sounds when a checker is taken in hand, when it's put down, when a checker is hit or removed. All these sounds can be disabled / enabled from the "Sounds Settings" in the Main Menu or pressing F11 during the game.

After rolling dice, when the "cursor" is on a playable checker, you will hear a sound. When the checker in hand can be put down, another sound will be heard.

There are many other sounds: setup the board, close the board, starting the music player, closing the music player, clock cuckoo etc.

In Main Menu or during a game pressing Control + F6 you can change current sound theme. It means the specific sounds for different actions are changed depending of the theme chosen. By default, starting with version 1.57, the theme is Pontes Backgammon Modern. Choosing Pontes Backgammon Classic the sounds will be like from version 1.0 to 1.55.

Go to contents


About Speech in Game

You can play Backgammon using a screen reader or a SApi 5 voice.
Switch between screen reader and SApi5 voice pressing Alt + Shift. The screen readers supported are: JAWS for Windows, NVDA, Window-Eyes and System Access.
You can change the SApi 5 voice pressing Control + Shift.
You can adjust the TTS voice rate pressing F7 (slower), F8 (faster).
When it's screen reader chosen, F7 and F8 increase or decrease the number of milliseconds between computer actions.

Go to contents


Online Game

If you play an on-line game, you can be the host or the client. If you are the host, you must have forwarded the 9995 UDP port. This port must be forwarded manually if you have a router. It's necessary also to allow Pontes Backgammon to pass the firewall.

In the on-line Menu choose "Host a New Game and wait for your partner". Waiting there, when another user chooses "Search for a Hosted Game" will find you.
As a client, you can wait for a hosted game. When a new host who is waiting is created, the TTS voice says: "1 partner" or "X partners", where X means the number of hosts available. Pressing Enter on a partner name, he or she will be ask if he or she wants to play with you.
Use Space on a partner's name in that list to hear it spelled.

About Abandon
After some moves, if one of the partners presses Escape or Alt + F4 to close the game, he or she will be asked if abandon is accepted. If the player asked presses Y for Yes, the game will be won by the other player.
If one of the players doesn't move for 3 minutes, it is considered an abandon and the game will be won by the partner. The time spent in Chat is not considered.

Go to contents


off-line Game

There are two ways to play off-line.

First option in the "off-line Menu" is "Play with a Partner in the Same Room". The board turns automatically for black color and white color. This way you can play Backgammon at home with your friends without buying a physical board which is more expensive than Pontes Backgammon.

The second option is "Play with Computer".
In the current version there are seven difficulty levels: "Easy", "Hard", "Difficult" and other five adventure levels like: "Computer has only doubles", "You have only doubles", "Computer has only 6 6", "You have only 6 6" and "You and computer have only doubles".

The off-line games can be saved pressing Control + S. Pressing Control + O, a list of saved games will appear. Each game has as a name the date, the hour, the minute and the second when it was saved. There is also an option to delete all saved games.
The saved games are not considered for statistics. For instance if you save a game before removing the last checker and after you try to open many times this game to make points in Score Board, it's not possible.

When playing offline, pressing key Q you can hear the names of the available partners waiting as host of an online game.
During an offline game, the available partners waiting for clients are announced automatically periodically if their list changes.
In Sound Settings You can enable or disable the automatic announcement of available partners.

Go to contents


The Chat Section and Google Translate

The Chat section is available just for on-line games. If one of the players presses F2, the chat will be activated. Pressing escape by one player, the chat will be deactivated.
When your partner is writing a message, a typing sound will be heard. When you partner presses the first letter in a new message, the voice announces: "Your partner is writing a message...".
Send a message pressing Enter Key.
Backspace delete the last character written.
Pressing Control + Backspace you can delete the message written since last Enter key was pressed.
Using Page-Up and Page-Down you can move through messages history. Home and End keys move the cursor to first or last message in the history.
If you want to copy all messages into clipboard, you can use Insert key. After copying, you can paste the discussion in your text editor to read it later.
The Delete key removes the message under the cursor from the history.
You can copy / paste a text in the chat section, use Control + C and Control + V.

Translation in chat
After writing a message, if Control + Enter is pressed, the written text will be translated and it will replace the written text, just press Enter to send it.
After choosing a message from the list, pressing Control + T that message is also translated.
F5 repeat the last translation made by Control + T.
You can choose your language pressing F3 or Shift + F3, and the partner's language pressing F4 or Shift + F4.
F2 says current languages set.

Go to contents


About the Music Player and Ambience

In the group Pontes backgammon there is an icon named "My Music Folder". This will open a folder where you can paste your favorite music. The music must be OGG format.
When playing, pressing X key, the music player will load all the tracks found in "My Music" Folder and will play them.
If you change the content of My Music Folder during a game, you must close the Music Player pressing V key and "reinsert the CD" pressing X key, this way the new tracks will be available.
V key will close the music player and the implicit background will play again.
B and Z keys go to next or previous track found in the play list. C pauses the current playing track.
F9 and F10 decreases and increases the background sound.

Be careful! You must convert your MP3s files in OGG or WAV format in order to be playable by this Music Player.

There is also an ambience background if music player is not loaded. You can choose from several ambiences like: park, forest, night, cafeteria or silence.
The ambience can be changed from Main Menu or during a game pressing Control + X.

Go to contents


My Games (History)

In the Pontes Backgammon group you will see an icon named My Games Folder. In this folder there are folders for all kind of games you played.
For instance in Online folder you can see in TXT format all the games played online. There is also a folder named Unfinished, there you can see all the games started, having at least 4 moves done. You can delete the folders at any time, when new games are played, they will continue to be saved there.
In these history game files appear also the statistics, like game duration, number of doubles, efficiency etc.

History during the game
Pressing L key will let you hear the last action. Pressing K will let you hear the first item in the list, the title.
The comma and period keys move the cursor up or down one by one item in the history list. Comma and Period keys shifted are also Less and Greater signs in an American layout.
Pressing Insert key will copy the current game history into the clipboard.

Go to contents


Game Pad and Joystick Support

You can use a game pad or a joystick to play Pontes Backgammon.
A game pad with arrows and 8 buttons is enough for this game. You can buy a simple game pad for only 5 Euros.

In Main Menu there is an option: Game pad or joystick Settings. Here you can choose your favorite game pad or joystick if there are more than one attached to your computer, you can read information about current game pad or joystick and you can also check the number of each buttons found on your game pad or joystick.
You can enable or disable the game pad or joystick pressing key J.
Pressing Control + J you can adjust the delay between actions when using the arrows or the stick found on your game pad or joystick. By default, the delay between actions is 200 milliseconds.

There are actions set for first 8 buttons found on your game pad or joystick:
Button 1, like the space bar, takes or puts down a checker. When you are in Sound Settings, button 1 enables or disables the chosen sound.
Button 2, like key Enter or key F5, rolls the dice or announces the dice not used in current turn. In the menus, button 2 chooses the selected item.
Button 3, like key Delete, bears a checker off.
Button 4, like key F4, announces current position. When in menus, button 4 has the functions of key Escape.
Button 5, like key U, announces the vulnerable checkers.
Button 6, like key H, announces the number of checkers currently in home boards.
Button 7, like key T, announces the time elapsed.
Button 8, like key F12, announces current time.

If you plug or unplug a game pad or joystick during a game, the changes are not available until a restart of Pontes Backgammon.
This game was tested with a Serioux and a Genius game pad.

Go to contents


Mouse Support

You can use the mouse in Pontes Backgammon.
In the menus the mouse moved up or down has the same action like up or down arrows. Left click is enter, right click is escape.
In sounds Settings left click saves the changes, right click enable or disable the chosen sound.
During the game you can move the mouse on the table and it seems like arrows are used.
Pressing key M you can enable or disable the mouse during the game. If you don't use the mouse, it is better to disable it. By default, the mouse is enabled.
Pressing Control + M you can adjust the mouse delay between actions when moving the mouse. By default the delay is 200 milliseconds.
Left click takes or put down a checker.
Right click removes a checker.
Middle button rolls the dice or repeat the dice not used.
The left click also rolls the dice if they are not thrown yet.
The mouse wheel moves the cursor in the game history. If the Wheel is moved down after 5 seconds since last time it was used, the last message in the history will be announced.

Go to contents


Pontes Backgammon in Other Languages

Currently Pontes Backgammon is available in Croatian, Danish, English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Romanian, Serbian and Turkish.

Pontes Backgammon is translatable in other languages.
In the installation folder there is a folder named "languages". Each language has a file "language_name.lng" where the text after equal sign on each line is the translated message.
For instance in the file "English.lng" there is the line:
announce_nickname=Your nickname in this game is %1.
In the file "Romanian.lng" that line is:
announce_nickname=Numele tau in acest joc este %1.
%1 is a placeholder for the nickname, when a line like this is translated, %1 can be placed in any part of the sentence, depending of the language topic.

If you want to translate the game into a new language, you can download the file Lang_template.lng, open it with a text editor and translate all the parts of the lines after equal signs.
After or before translation, rename the file in your language name and paste it into "language" folder found in Program Files, Pontes Games, Pontes Backgammon.

If you do a complete translation of a new language, please send the file to backgammon@pontes.ro and we will include it in next version of Pontes Backgammon, or we can compile it again to have the new language available.
The translator name will be mentioned in Credits section on the site and also in the message announced when changing the language during the game.

Go to contents


Game Rules

Backgammon playing pieces are known variously as checkers, draughts, stones, men, counters, pawns, or chips.
The objective is to remove (bear off) all of one's own checkers from the board before one's opponent can do the same. The checkers are scattered at first and may be blocked or hit by the opponent. As the playing time for each individual game is short, it is often played in matches, where victory is awarded to the first player to reach a certain number of points.

Setup
Each side of the board has a track of 12 long triangles, called points. The points are considered to be connected across one edge of the board, forming a continuous track in the shape of a horseshoe, and are numbered from 1 to 24. Players begin with two checkers on their 24-point, three checkers on their 8-point, and five checkers each on their 13-point and their 6-point. The two players move their checkers in opposing directions, from the 24-point towards the 1-point.
Points 1 through 6 are called the home board or inner board, and points 7 through 12 are called the outer board. The 7-point is referred to as the bar point, and the 13-point as the mid point.

Movement
The players alternate turns, rolling two dice at the beginning of each turn.
After rolling the dice players must, if possible, move their checkers according to the number of pips shown on each die. For example, if the player rolls a 6 and a 3 (notated as "6-3"), that player must move one checker six points forward, and another or the same checker three points forward. The same checker may be moved twice as long as the two moves are distinct: six and then three, or three and then six. If a player rolls two of the same number, called doubles, that player must play each die twice. For example, upon rolling a 5-5 that player may move up to four separate checkers forward five spaces each. For any roll, if a player can move both dice, that player is compelled to do so. If players cannot move either die in a roll, given the position of their checkers then that turn is over and the turn passes to the opponent.
In the course of a move, a checker may land on any point that is unoccupied or is occupied only by a player's own checkers. It may also land on a point occupied by exactly one opposing checker, or "blot". In this case, the blot has been hit, and is placed in the middle of the board on the bar that divides the two sides of the playing surface. A checker may never land on a point occupied by two or more opposing checkers; thus, no point is ever occupied by checkers from both players simultaneously.

Checkers placed on the bar re-enter the game through the opponent's home board. A roll of 2 allows the checker to enter on the 23-point, a roll of 3 on the 22-point, and so forth. A player may not move any other checkers until all checkers on the bar belonging to that player have re-entered the game.

When all of a player's checkers are in that player's home board, that player may start removing them; this is called bearing off. A roll of 1 may be used to bear off a checker from the 1-point, a 2 from the 2-point, and so on. A die may not be used to bear off checkers from a lower-numbered point unless there are no checkers on any higher points.[2][3] For example if a player rolls a 6 and a 5, but has no checkers on the 6-point, though 2 checkers remain on the 5-point, then the 6 and the 5 must be used to bear off the 2 checkers from the 5-point. When bearing off, a player may also move a lower die roll before the higher even if that means 'the full value of the higher die' is not fully utilized. For example, if a player has exactly 1 checker remaining on the 6-point, and rolls a 6 and a 1, the player may move the 6-point checker 1 place to the 5-point with the lower die roll of 1, and then bear that checker off the 5-point using the die roll of 6; this is sometimes useful tactically.

If one player has not borne off any checkers by the time that player's opponent has borne off all fifteen, then the player has lost a gammon, which counts for double a normal loss. If the losing player has not borne off any checkers and still has checkers on the bar or in the opponent's home board, then the player has lost a backgammon, which counts for triple a normal loss.

Go to contents


Registration Process and the Registration Manager

After you pay the game, 13 Euros, you must send an E-mail to emanuelboboiu (a round) gmail.com or to backgammon@pontes.ro. This mail must contain your full name and your nickname.
The chosen nickname will be your ID, it will appear also for your partners in online games.
After a short while, maximum 24 hours, you will receive an E-mail containing your unlock key.
Copy that unlock key and go in Start Menu, All Programs, Pontes Games, Pontes Backgammon, Pontes Backgammon Registration Manager.
In the first input box which appears, write your nickname.
In the second input box paste your unlock key.

You must save your nickname and your unlock key, it's available forever for registering the game.

If the game is registered and you want to unregister it, the Registration Manager will ask you if you want to unregister the game.

Go to contents


Demo Limitations

If you play in demo mode, the game will close when you bear the 4th checker off from the board. However, playing with computer in "Easy" level is available until finish without registering the game.
The nickname in demo mode is "DemoTester". When you play an on-line game in demo mode and your partner plays in full mode, he or she maybe will not accept to play, because he or she knows that a "DemoTester" will disconnect after the 4th checker was borne off.
The mouse, game pad or joystick can be used only for some moves in demo mode.
The translation in Chat is not allowed for DemoTesters.

View here how to get an unlock key.

Go to contents


Other Details

Be careful to have your speakers set correctly, you can make before playing a Speakers Test from the Main Menu.

When you win a game, the details are stored into a database. This is not available for an opened saved game. The database containing all the games details is created for the Score Board and other statistics. We don't show other details excepting your nickname.

Pontes Backgammon can be played using only the numeric keyboard.
- 5 announces current position, 0 takes and puts down a checker, comma removes a checker, 7 and 1 have the functions of home and end keys respectively, 2 4 6 8 have the functions of the arrows keys.

Go to contents


Credits

We wish to thank the following people for their respective contributions:

Go to contents


Download Pontes Backgammon, version 1.6.1 (released on 6 January 2016 - 13,9 MB)
What's New in 1.6.1


Go to Top