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Last ZONE Game...   

The images below are an actual game played on the Zone by two players. You can follow the positions of each roll by viewing from left to right. White player is your view and will remain at bottom. Dice color will indicate who is on roll.

Any notations with the images can be read as, one dice number-other dice number (4-2) followed by the move of fist dice number, where stone started / moved to ( 8/4 ) followed by second dice number, where stone started / moved to ( 8/6 ) so a notation would look like this... 4-2 8/4, 8/6.

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Last ZONE Game

At bottom are complete stats for game
1 2 3
First roll, brown rolls two, white rolls four. White opens game. Brown on first roll or 1-1 takes the seven and four points. Brown takes the hit by white, its early and return is likely.
White moves to make the 4 point, standard opening roll for a 4-2. White should attempt to bring mid builders down or advance runners. White on 4-3 24/21/17 running back man out to make the hit.
4 5 6
Brown re-enter on the 2 die to his 23 pt. The 6 die puts second dilly builder in place. Brown has an advantage in priming with 3 consecutive points and the builders in place. Brown moves mid builder down on 4-1 roll to hit on the 8 pt sending white to the bar.
White hopes to duplicate roll to safety up the blot on his 17 point. White on roll; 5-5 13/8x2, 8/3x2 fails to safety the blot but adds one more point to his inner. White will try to return to brown's inner in an advanced position, the 4 or the 3 and try to cover quickly.
7 8 9
Brown has survived the 8 pt blot he lost last time there giving better position to build on to the prime. Brown on roll; 3-3 13/10/7, 7/4x2 has given him the 4 point and keeps two builders to bear on inner. Brown's 8 point blot is safe again but he is looking into a 5 point prime by white.
White on roll; 5-1 bar/24, 13/8 didn't get the advanced anchor he was looking for but all is safe and two builders in play for the prime in inner. White needs to consider advancing back men to interrupt browns priming. White has tough choice to make, maintain the deep anchor or advance to the 22 point on the 1-1 roll. White builds prime instead.
10 11 12
Brown on roll; 6-3 23/17, 8/5 gets the hit on white, advances runner on same roll. 8/5 removes the blot. Brown on roll; 3-2 6/3, 5/3 taking the 3 point for a 5 pt prime. This reduced white's entry to 2 points. Brown continuing to roll with white on the bar is good and bad. Brown can save numbers but needs to ...
White fans next roll and fails to re-enter board. Again he will look to come in advanced anchor position. White fans again and fails to re-enter on next roll. Still having a prime of his own, we have a "Battle of Primes". ...advance back men to 23 pt for chance to run.
13 14 15
White on roll; 4-1 bar/24, 13/8 forcing to leave blot on 13 but didn't want to break prime down. Brown on roll; 6-1 11/5, 13/12 for another hit but remains behind white's prime. Brown has the two outer men to use to save numbers while waiting for chance to run out.
Brown still looks to advance but has options with the midpoint and the man on 11 point. White is asking for a 2-1 roll here but would settle for double ones. White is quickly running out of room. White on roll; 5-2 bar/23, 9/4
If white can get a 1 next roll he can make a good set for a back game.
16 17 18
Brown on roll; 5-1 12/7, 24/23 making the spit on back men to run out and saving the 13 pt man for insurance. Brown takes a hit but maintains a 5 point prime holding white heavy on his guff. Browns on roll with 5-2 & gets the return shot and opts to slot on the two point in hopes of a full prime.
White has few numbers to his advantage now. If the 23 pt is not made he will hope to hit and cover on his inner, either play requires exact numbers. Whites on roll with 5-3 with limited
options, 7/2, 7/4 forces the loss of 7 point and exposes blot to a return shot. 		White is hoping to return on the 23 pt and hold 2 points in brown's inner board going into a back game. White fans the next roll and fails to re-enter.
19 20 21
Brown's 4-1 roll gives him the two point. With white 2 on the rail, brown is willing to trade 7 & 2 points. Brown has one builder to try to make the 7 point for the full prime again. Still needing to break out also. Brown is having very favorable rolls. The 5-1 13/8/7 gives back the 7 point and made the full prime.
At this point white will turn to a holding game and looks for brown to remain back behind the 4 point prime forcing an early break down. White enters with the 4-1 roll but remains one on the bar. White is content being railed as it prevents further break down on his inner. To white's advantage he fails to re-enter on the next roll. Looks for brown to break down full prime.
22 23 24
Brown on roll gets the favorable 6-6 and escapes his back men
Brown's focus is on making a clean entry into his home board.		 Brown on roll; 4-3 7/3, 7/4 moving the 7 pt in and saving the runner.
White has little hope at this point but to play the holding game hoping for a hit before complete break down of inner points he has now. White on roll; 4-1 bar/24, 6/2 with few options the break down of white's inner board begins. Brown has given white the chance to run with a 6 number and still keep heavy on the back for an eventual hit.
25 26 27
Brown's concern is not to keep white back but having the game in hand, focus i building clean inner. Brown on roll; 3-2 17/14, 4/2 adjusting the home board & keeping back man an indirect hit for white. White on roll; 5-3 6/1, 4/1 keeping the blot indirect and making one more point for his inner board block.
White on roll; 6-1 24/18, 4/3 with one runner free, white can try to maintain his inner for potential blocks. White's inner is not good at this point but he would make the hit on brown's blot if available. Brown would like 8+ numbers here to move in past white and begin to bear off stones.
28 29 30
Brown on roll; 6-1 14/8/7 for a hit on white. Not ideal but the 6 number forced the issue. Brown on roll; 4-2 6/2, 7/5 Brown is all home and following numbers will bear off stones. Brown's worse roll at this point would be a 6-5 leaving the six pt blot for white to hit.
White on the rail buys time and keeps his inner from breaking down. White fans next roll, gets time. White would like to see awkward rolls for brown that expose to a return shot. White on roll; bar/24, 4/2 re-enter causes white to move stone in inner but retains 4 points for now.
31 32 33
Brown on roll; 6-2 6/off, 6/4 brown keeps a clean home board with chance of getting off clean. Brown has no concern of white's escape knowing white is 91 pips from being able to bear one off. Brown on roll; 4-2 4/off, 2/off keeping an even number on the far men out will benefit brown.
White needs the 5 or 6 number to show up now to keep his inner in place. White on roll gets the 6-1 and moves 24/18/17 keeping home board in place. White in the holding game is looking for plays that stall progress. Race is no option now.
34 35 36
White continues to buy time by escaping back men Brown on roll; 4-1 5/4/off. The option would be to clear 4 point. White on roll; 4-2 11/7, 3/1 The benefit of the 3/1 play is to stall.
On 6-5 roll moves 17/11, 24/19 Clearing four point would have kept even number of stones on outside for brown but also create a gap. The third stone on 3 point is useless but keeps more numbers available for stalling back men.
37 38 39
Brown on roll; 5-1 5/off, 3/2 puts brown back to even stones. White on roll; 4-3 19/15, 7/4 give the fifth point in white's inner. Brown on roll; 6-4 5/off, 4/off leaving two blots for white to hit.
The possibility of brown leaving a blot is reduced with even stones. If brown suffers a hit next few rolls, chance of re-entry is 11 of 36. White has the opportunity he was waiting for with a good inner board.
40 41 42
White on roll; 6-6 24/18/12/6, 15/9 misses the hit & chooses not to run. Brown on roll; 5-1 5/off, 4/3 cleans up the blots but leaves odd stones. White on roll fails to make the 6th point on inner with the 6-4 numbers.
*See summary below for white's play on the 6-6 rather than save gammon. Odd stones on outer point leaves players vulnerable to awkward rolls in the bear off when opponent holds ace point. White's chance for a win with a hit are diminishing rapidly.
43 44 45
Brown on roll; 6-1 3/off, 3/2 leaving blot on 3 point. White on roll; 4-4 24/20/16/12/8 all with one with one back man Brown on roll; 5-4 3/off, 2/off and back to even stones.
White will need the hit now but regardless of numbers he will split back men White's continues to hold back as this is basically match game. If brown can avoid the 1 die he will have the game in two rolls.
46 47 48
White on roll; 6-3 8/2, 3/1 keeping one man on brown's guff. Brown on roll; 5-2 2/off x 2 and avoided the 1 die. White on roll; 3-2 4/1, 3/1 keeping four points and the guff.
White's remaining hope is for brown to roll 1 and use the return shot. White will look for small numbers to remain on the guff for final chance. If brown rolls any number other than 1 he wins match.
49 SUMMARY: The match was in SimmplyGammon tradition, one point game for match. The cube never entered play as it was a one point game / match. Had it been for 2 or more point match, each player had boards capable of offering a cube. Brown would have done well to never offer cube because he eventually took the match with a backgammon for three points. White would never had held back his back men so long as to be subject to a gammon or backgammon had it not been match point. The match was played on the zone, using zone dice. Below is a full notation of rolls and positions made be each player.
THE PLAYERS: This was the final game I (Plankton) played on the zone. My opponent was SG_Rules_Bot1, the only game he ever played on zone. I was the White Player and Botty was Brown... Yeah, who knew the bot could play backgammon. And here we thought he was only good for rules........ ;)
Brown on roll; 6-4 2/off x 2 and wins the match.
White suffers the "Backgammon" for a 3 point value on game.
Complete Game Notation...     
Roll
Made		 White Dice
Numbers		 White Play
Notation		 Roll
Made		 Brown Dice
Numbers		 Brown Play
Notation
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27		 4-2
3-4
5-5
5-1
1-1
fan
fan
4-1
5-2
5-3
fan
4-1
fan
4-1
6-1
5-3
fan
2-1
6-1
6-5
4-2
4-3
6-6
6-4
4-4
6-3
3-2		 8/4, 6/4
24/21/18
13/8/5 x 2
bar/24, 13/8
8/7 x2, 6/5 x 2
fail to re-enter
fail to re-enter
bar/24, 13/9
bar/23, 9/4
7/2, 7/4
fail to re-enter
bar/24
fail to re-enter
bar/24, 6/2
24/18, 4/3
6/1, 4/1
fail to re-enter
bar/24, 4/2
24/18/17
17/11, 24/19
11/7, 3/1
19/15, 7/4
24/18/12/6, 15/9
9/3, 6/2
24/20/16/12/8
8/2, 3/1
4/1, 3/1		 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27		 1-1
2-6
4-1
3-3
6-3
3-2
4-2
6-1
5-1
5-2
4-1
5-1
6-6
4-3
3-2
6-1
4-2
6-2
4-2
4-1
5-1
6-4
5-1
6-1
5-4
5-2
6-4		 8/7x2, 6/5 x 2
bar/23, 13/7
13/9/8
13/10/7, 7/4 x 2
23/17, 8/5
6/3, 5/3
17/13, 13/11
11/5, 13/12
12/7, 24/23
bar/23, 7/2
7/3/2
13/8/7
24/18/12/6, 23/17
7/3, 7/4
17/14, 4/2
14/8, 8/7
6/2, 7/5
6/off, 6/4
4/off, 2/off
5/4/off
5/off, 3/2
5/off, 4/off
5/off, 4/3
3/off, 3/2
3/off, 2/off
2/off x 2
2/off x 2
Summary Totals...     
  White (Plankton)   Brown (Rules_Bot)  
  Rolls____
Numbers____
Doubles____
To Rail____
Fans____		 ____27
____186
____4
____6
____5		   Rolls____
Numbers____
Doubles____
To Rail____
Fans____		 ____27
____203
____3
____2
____0		  
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