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Gaming today is a recognized element of our cultural scenery, even to people who are over thirty or who can barely recall the time before arcade games were invented. Gone are the days when you would play Pac-Man or the famous Mario Brothers game. Although they are still played and enjoyed today, they have been enhanced into dimensional games and versions. People will never forget the old games and that’s a good thing because there is a history here that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Gaming is not a recent breakthrough. Arcade games began many years ago. They weren’t as acceptable as they are now. Artifacts from Egypt and Sumeria have revealed that our ancestors enjoyed playing board games thousands of years ago.

The electronic games we have now required the creation of electronic computers. The early computers were slow and prone to failures. Early programmers felt obliged to waste their time by programming these computers to do things like tic-tac-toe. When World War II ended, electronic computers started becoming standard equipment in the more progressive laboratories. Soon afterwards, they were incorporated with large corporations, establishments and companies. It can be argued that university students were the first game programmers, exploring their fantasies and sci-fi visions into digital applications which we are still using. Their imaginations have turned gaming into a digital masterpiece.

The perception of establishing an electronic game system to the screen or the television was invented by Ralph Bauer during the early 1950’s. This made the first game possible. After that, he introduced and presented his ideas to Magnavox, a television company. The company liked his ideas and inventions so well that they have released a sophisticated version of Bauer’s “Brown Box” prototype, known as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. By today’s standards, the Odyssey was prehistoric, displaying only spots of light on the screen. It also required the use of translucent plastic overlays to replicate the appearance of the game.

The first truly popular console system was known as the Atari 2600. It was released in 1977. The Atari made use of plug-in cartridges in order to play a variety of games. The popularity of Space Invaders was a breakthrough and it became a best seller during that time. The computer games written for the TRS-80 and Apple II computers were attracting interest at this time.

There are several books and articles about the history of arcade games.

Simon Oliver has an interest in Arcade Games. To access more articles on Arcade Games or for additional information and resources visit this Arcade Games related website

Although, the Doubling Cube is unknown to most of the backgammon casual players, it is an essential tool in advanced backgammon strategies and in money matches and tournaments.

This cube is designated for raising the stakes of the match and its introduction to the backgammon world is one of the main reasons for the rise of popularity of backgammon.

The cube has 6 faces and the numbers written on it- 2, 4, 8,16,32,64.

At the beginning of the match, the doubling cube is placed beside the board or on the Bar between the players.

Any player, who feels at any stage of the match, that he is leading sufficiently in the match, before throwing his dice, may suggest to double the stakes by placing the doubling cube with the number 2 facing up.

For example player A decided to raise the stakes.

Player B, his opponent, the player the offer is given to, after reviewing his situation, has two options:

He may refuse the offer and thus lose the game and one unit.

He may agree to double the stakes, and in this case the match continues with higher stakes.

Player B, who agreed to the offer, is now the owner of the doubling cube, meaning only him (player B) has the option to double the stakes again at any stage of the game.

If player B decides to do so, he has to do it on his turn before throwing his dice.

Now he takes the dice and places it so that the number 4 is facing up.

Player A, has now the same two options, only this time if he declines the offer he will lose two units, and if he agrees the stakes will rise to 4 times the original and the doubling cube returns to his control.

The cube can pass from player to player, each time raising the stakes.

The Crawford rule-

If you are playing a game until N- points, and your opponent is leading and reaches N-1 points, meaning he is short one point from winning the game, you are not allowed to use the Doubling cube in the following game, however, you can use the dice in the following matches if the game continues.

The reason is the weaker player will always want to raise the stakes because he has nothing to lose anymore and we want keep the use of the dice in fairness of both sides.

The Jacoby rule-

This rule is used in money games and never in match games. It decides that a backgammon or gammon may not be scored as such only if the cube has been passed and accepted. The reason behind this rule is speeding up.

The Holland rule-

The Holland rule is used in match games and decides that in post-Crawford games, the trailer can only double after both sides have played two rolls. The rule makes the free drop more valuable to the leading player but generally just confuses the issue.

Unlike the Crawford rule, this rule isn’t popular, and is rarely used today.

The beavers, raccoons, otters and any other animals in the backgammon game-

These animals appear only, if wanted by both sides, in money games and never in match games.

If player A, doubles the stakes, and player B believes A is wrong and he (player B) has the advantage, B can double the stakes and keep the doubling cube on his side. For example, if A makes the initial double and puts the doubling cube on 2, B can say “Beaver”, turn the cube to 4 and keep the cube at his side. If A believes B is wrong he can say “Raccoon” and turn the cube to 8. All this time, B remains the owner of the doubling cube. If B wishes to raise the stakes once more, he only needs to say another silly name (the animal’s name is a controversy among players) and so on.

The Chouette-

Chouette is a version of backgammon for more than 2 players. One of the players is the “Box” and plays against the rest of the group on a single board.

Another player is the “Captain” of the group, who throws the dice and makes the moves for the group playing against the box.

If the Box wins, the Captain goes to the back of the line and the next player becomes the Captain of the team. If the Captain wins, he becomes the new Box, and the old Box goes to the end of the line.

The rules regarding the ability of the group to consult with the Captain changes from

version to version. In some versions of the Chouette the group can freely give advice to the Captain, and in other versions, consulting is strictly forbidden.

The compromised version is the most popular- consulting is legitimate only after the dice have been thrown.

Originally, Chouette was played with a single die .The only decisions that players other than the Captain were allowed to make on their own was concerning the takes: If the Box had doubled, each player on the team could take or drop independently. Today, a multiple-cube Chouette is more popular; each player on the team has his own cube, and all doubling, dropping, and taking decisions are made independently by all players.

For more backgammon related articles and daily backgammon news visit our site: Online Backgammon News.

Learn how to play better Backgammon For Money.

The game of chess has come a long way with computers and software programs getting an upper hand over amateur players and even experienced grandmasters. It was a dream of some chess enthusiasts to have a machine play this game which represented pure thinking in action. It seemed like only a human could play meaningful chess and win.

The advances in software and computer hardware have made chess playing machines commonplace, so much so that now one can play the game on small handheld devices as well.

Another aspect of chess playing software is the use of Internet for playing the game. The Internet has made the world a close-knit community, with real time chatting and emails widely used everyday by millions of people around the world.

It is now possible to play the game of chess sitting at home or your office with people located anywhere in the world with an internet connection. This is a marvelous thing that has happened to the game of chess, and gaming in general. For before the internet, one could hardly imagine anything like this happening in the future.

What is it like to play chess online? Simply find out the website that allows you to play the game, and register with a username. Download some files and log in. Locate a player and start the game. Invite the player with some introduction.

The game software allows choosing time and colors, and takes care of most of the rules of the game. You may offer draws or resign at any point. The way to move pieces may differ from site to site, but the usual way is to drag and drop the pieces, or simply click the piece and the desired location in sequence. The rest is taken care of by the software.

Some sites like the gaming zone at msn also conduct tournaments. They also have a rating system to rate your performance and awards points just like grandmasters have their ratings.

For more information on free web games visit - free web game

The author is a freelance writer and associated with www.freewebgame.info