- cubes accepted stats was not being handled properly. Now is.
- added most of the Spanish for the new features in v5
- made some changes to the Italian and French
- in Get Info, the version was not being displayed correctly. Now is
- Happy New Year!

5.0 (12/24/06)

- implemented Match Play - can now play a Match against the computer opponent
- added a menu item for entering dice rolls manually
- added a menu item for changing the sound volume of the game
- added more information to the end-of-game dialog
- made some changes that should improve cube handling by the computer opponent and cube advice
- added Random to the Personalties. The personality is changed each play.
- added "Message Notification Sound" to Sound On options in Preferences.
- added "Time delay after dice roll" in Preferences.../Move tab
- expanded the size of tray when putting in pieces
- several other minor enhancements and changes
- Happy Holidays!

4.9.4 (12/12/06)

- fixed a problem, in demo mode only, where, at the start of about 25% of the games, after the 1st game, would not be able to move pieces.
- created this version with the previous version of the development software.

4.9.3 (12/8/06)

- With OS 9, would get a message about toolbox calls warning. Not now.
- the game did not always enforce the rule that a player must use as much of a dice roll as possible. Now does

4.9.2 (12/7/06)

- compiled with a new version of the development software
- several minor changes and interface enhancements

4.9.1 (11/12/06)

- fixed a startup dialog that didn't work correctly with OS 9

4.9 (10/31/06)

- if the Audio Out setting has been changed by another program, the game could freeze or the games sounds might not be heard. If it has been changed, the game, on startup, will give a message and turn off the sound to prevent possible game freezes.
- started a $5 Referral Program. You receive $5 for each order that is a result of your referral.
- several other minor changes/fixes

4.8.7 (10/13/06)

- can now input your own dice rolls. When it is your turn, press the Z key to toggle the option on and off. Press the buttons, that appear when you roll, to select the dice.
- several other minor enhancements/fixes

4.8.5 (8/17/06)

- With the Auto Double feature selected, the highest value - 6 - would not be restored when the game was quit and restrarted - now is.
- several other minor enhancements

4.8.3 (6/19/06)

- can now use the control key to stop the computer from moving when you are blocked on the bar by an innerboard prime
- several other minor interface enhancements and changes

4.8.1 (5/22/06)

- if M was pressed to make the best move and there was no move to make, the game would crash. Not now.
- several other minor changes and enhancements

4.8 (4/11/06)

- There is now a manual for Absolute Backgammon. Find it in the game folder in English Information.
- added abilty to drop a board or a folder containing a board onto the board to change board styles
- added abilty to double-click on a board file to use the new board style.
- added abilty to drop a saved game onto the board to restart the game.
- added abilty to double-click on a saved game to restart the game.
- can now download board styles in .zip format or .sit format
- using speech recognition, after the Continue Game command, the proper words were not recognized , now are.
- added "Take back turn" to speech recognition.

4.7.3 (3/21/06)

- made the game messages more explanatory when a move is not completed when player tries to pass play to the other player
- with a new intstallation, the 3 letter id was not being created. Now is.

Version 4.7.1 (3/14/06)

- before, each user, on the same computer, required an activation code. Not now if the Admin account is registered.
- if using OS 9, the Pip Count button was being displayed in the wrong place. Not now.
- an error could have occurred if Command-U was pressed, to take back a turn, while the computer was moving pieces. Not now.
- several other minor changes

4.7 (2/24/06)

- can now play the game using Spanish. The Help and other documents are not translated yet .
- the game still crashed sometimes when trying out different board styles. Should be better now.
- when playing against another person, the printed game details had the names incorrect, not now.
- several other minor enhancements

4.6 (1/19/06)

- improved the computer's cube handling
- improved concessions made by the computer opponent. It could offer to concede a double game when it shouldn't.
- the stats for games conceded and cubes declined were not being restored when the game was restarted. Now are.
- when playing with another person, and one of the players got put on the bar but couldn't get back on because of an innerboard prime, things didn't work correctly. Should now.
- in a continued game, the score of the continued game, displayed at the end of the game, could have been incorrect. Should be okay now.
- made several other minor enhancements.

4.5 (12/24/05)

- made many changes to improve the skill of the computer opponent in both moves and cube handling
- added the ability to change the sound (piece and dice) level in the game. Press the L key then enter 1 - 9 to change the sound level. 1 is the lowest, 9 the highest. Does not work in OS 9. Will add as a menu item later (need language translations).
- if you ordered within the last 9 months, email me for a new password (no charge). Please give me the id from the game.
- I introduced a new game a few days ago - Absolute Acey Deucey. The variation of backgammon played in the US Navy. You can check it out at: bestbackgammon.com/aceydeucey

4.3.4 (12/15/05)

- when using the game with OS 9 and sound on in the game, after awhile the game would crash due to a sound problem. Not now.

4.3.2 (12/06/05)

- fixed another problem introduced in v4.3. With Select Multiple Pieces selected. If you won the first roll then selected 2 pieces then put one down, the game would think you had used all of your move when you had not. Now fixed

4.3.1 (12/02/05)

- a bug was introduced in version 4.3 when the computer was bearing off. Now fixed.

4.3 (12.1.05)

- The link to the game website was not working. Does now.
- several other minor fixes and enhancements

4.2.9 (10.28.05)

- Continue Game did not always work correctly. Should now.
- several other minor fixes and enhancements

4.2.6 (9/23/05

- Load Saved Game On Startup did not work correctly if "Random Dice File" option was selected. Now does

4.2.5 (9/19/05

- Easy Moves Method - if clicked too fast to put 2 pieces on the same row, a beep was heard - not now.
- Several other minor enhancements

4.2.4 (8/25/05)

- increased piece speeds 2 - 9 -- the current version of Tiger made the speeds slower
- improved putting down pieces when Select Multiple is the piece movement method
- made changes that should help with taking back turns then replaying the turns.
- made several other minor enhancements
- Look in other boards for the new beautiful board design created and donated by Lily Meyhew.
- Coming soon - Spanish will be added to the languages that are supported

4.2.2 (8/23/05)

- the Continue option, added in 4.2, would not continue the game if the computer conceded. Will now.
- made several other changes that might help with occasional problems when taking back turns.

4.2 (8/15/05)

- New - added an option (Continue) at the end of a game to continue the game if it ended due to the game being conceded or a cube declined.
- several other minor changes
- Look in other boards for the new beautiful board design created and donated by Lily Meyhew.
- Coming soon - Spanish will be added to the languages that are supported

4.1.7 (8/5/05)

- made changes to the sounds routines. On some double processor G5s, would get sound errors.
- fixed any know problems

4.1.5 (6/23/05)

- took out a test message left in my mistake. Only appeared if "Offer Concessions" was selected

4.1.4 (6/16/05)

- added dialog to ask if connected to the internet for checking for new version
- made 2 menu changes for French
- updated the French Information
- made some changes to accommodate Tiger
- computer offering concession - will now check every turn until the first concession is offered, then it will only check each 3rd turn, as before

4.1.2 (4/19/05)

- brought Italian up-to-date to include the new features in version 4
- added a menu item to check to see if the game is the latest version of the game
- several other minor enhancements
- the original Antique board now has a larger size

4.1 (3/22/05)

- added "Loser Rolls First" to Preferences/Who Gets First Roll
- changed "Random" to "Higher Die Rolled" in Preferences/Who Gets First Roll
- added Make Best Move option - need to press the M key to use
- brought German up-to-date to include all new features
- added "Clear session statistics" after select to start a new session - english only
- made several other minor enhancements and fixed any known problems.
- be sure to check out the many interesting and diverse board styles/skins created by Joeri van der Mije for Absolute Backagmmon at: http://home.planet.nl/~brein/boards.html
- also check out the other board styles at: http://www.bestbackgammon.com/absolute/html/otherboards.htm
- or from the game's website at: bestbackgammon.com/absolute

4.0.3 (1/22/05)

- Added remaining French translations for version 4 enhancements
- Be sure to check out all of the board styles/skins -- 16 designed exclusively for Absolute Backgammon plus others
4.0.1 (12/23/04)

These 2 problems were introduced in version 4.0 - now fixed.
- with Learning Mode selected, there could be an error message when bearing off a piece, not now
- for previously registered users, the dialog that alerts about upgrading did not work properly. Now does.

4.0 (12/20/04)

- added the ability to play against another person on the same computer. It can be selected in the Game menu. Please read the document "Playing Against Another Person" in the game folder (English Information) for information.
- added a new feature called "Smart Placement". It is selected by default. It makes it easier to put down a piece by increasing the area for putting down a piece. It can be selected in Preferences.../Move tab
- added some additional messages for incorrect piece placement
- added an option to turn off the speaking of piece placement errors. Select it in Preferences.../Sound tab.
- added Games Conceded and Cubes Declined to session and running stats.
- added session scores to the Info drawer
- changed the dice area - is just a little larger than the area that the 4 dice use.
- if doubles were rolled, illegal moves could be made when bearing off pieces. Not now.
- Speech Recognition - took out the beep when a word is recognized. If speech was used and sound turned up enough, it was causing "two" to be heard, then it would beep again, hearing another 2.
- Foreign language changes for the above have not been made yet. They show in English until the translations are added. Hopefully in the next month.
- Check out the new and very interestiong board styles/skins created by Joeri van der Mije. http://bestbackgammon.com/absolute/html/otherboards.htm or select it in the Help menu in the game.
- made several other minor enhancements and fixed any known bugs.

3.2.8 (11/4/04)

- improved the animation of pieces and sound timing when pieces are put into the trays
- Space Bar was not acting as Done Button if needed to pass play to opponent. Now does.
- made changes to improve program stability when loading different boards.
- Winner Rolls First - was not able to start a new session if computer won the last game. Now can
- If dice totals file is corrupt, it would cause an error on startup -- not now

3.2.6 (10/25/04)

- In Classic and OS9/8, there was not enough memory set for the game to draw the board correctly and to show the piece movement. Now okay.

3.2.5 (10/23/04)

- When winner rolls first was selected, taking back a turn to the first roll did not work correctly - now does.
- Tray dice were not updated when taking back turns - are now.

3.2.4 (8/5/04)

- Fixed a bug that might have randomly caused a problem on startup of the game. I have not experienced such a problem but it was possible.

3.2.2 (7/22/04)

- made changes to some dialog boxes to improve appearance with other languages

3.2 (6/3/04)

- added option to ask to use computer's dice
- adding option for the computer to concede
- German was improved
- Dutch was added for game play but is not complete yet

3.1.2 (4/23/04)

- after the computer doubled and was accepted, messages were dimmed. not now.
- bug in the latest version of the development software caused the speech recognition not to work. Now works

3.1.1 (4/7/04)

- a test dialog accidently was left in version 3.1. Took it out.

3.1 (4/5/04)

- lowered the sound volume of piece and dice sounds
- several other minor changes

3.0.3 (1/24/04)

- Help tags, added in version 3.0, were taken out. Help tags code was causing incorrect screen coordinates on some of the game program startups. This resulted in everything looking okay but clicking the mouse gave no response. All okay now.

3.0.2 (1/22/04)

- Made a work-around for a problem with Panther (OS 10.3) that occurs occasionally on some machines that caused the board to not be visible
- Several other minor cosmetic enhancements

3.0.1 (12/25/03)

- Fixes a significant problem introduced into version 3.0
- If you have v3.0, please download this version to replace it.

3.0 (12/24/03)

- New - added an option to select the "personality" of the computer player: Normal, Conservative or Aggressive.
- Put several options in Preferences.../Misc tab:
.....Leaning Mode
.....Save Dice Rolls to a File
.... Fast Play
- Print Game Detail was added to the File menu
- Save Game Picture to a File was added to the File menu
- Undo Last Turn was added to the Actions menu
- Help tags were added to the main buttons
- Fixed several other minor problems

2.5 (11/24/03)

- Made several changes to accommodate Panther

2.4 (10/20/03)

- Added an option to save the dice rolls, to be used in the game, at the start of the game. Press the "x" key to activate. Press again to de-activate. A file named "Random Dice Rolls" will be saved in the game folder before each game starts. This feature was added for those that doubt that the dice rolls are random (favor the computer). Since the dice are chosen before the game starts, there is no way that the game could roll the dice to benefit the computer in a particular situation. This, along with the statistics that can be viewed using the Stats menu, should convince anyone that the dice rolls are random and do not favor either player.

The rolls are the same whether the option is selected or not. With the option selected, the game gets enough random numbers to play a game, then saves them to a file, so you can see them. When not selected, it gets them when needed for each roll.

- Computer cube doubling logic was improved
- Change to the Beaver option - must click either the Beaver button or on the cube. Before could click anywhere to beaver
- Fix - when picking up a piece and de-selecting repetitively very fast, could cause a lock-up(infinite loop)
- Fix - with Save Game on Exit and Load Saved Game On Startup both selected, would go in to a loop when dice were rolled when doubles was the last dice rolled before quitting the game.

2.2 (9/9/03)

- Added a feature to print the details of a game (Command-P)
- Fixed a problem with computer getting the same roll as you with Auto Moves and Auto Pass selected
- Several other minor enhancements and fixes.
- this version is a free upgrade for all previously registered users of Absolute Backgammon

2.1 (8/6/03)

- many changes to improve play using Speech Recognition
- possible moves are displayed in voice play when row is spoken
- improved the Speech Recognition instructions
- added Command-g to save a picture of the game to a file.
- dice rolls data was not being saved - now is.
- fixed a problem with Status giving incorrect answers with pieces on the bar
- several other minor enhancements and fixes.
- this version is a free upgrade for all previously registered users of Absolute Backgammon

2.0 (7/14/03)

- NEW!!! - you can now play games using just your voice. The game uses the speech recognition built into OS X. Since many Macs, including iMacs, have built-in microphones, they are ready to use this option. Please read the Voice Play Instructions included with the download
- NEW - the default board is much larger and a new design. The previous default board style is available on my other boards web page. If the new board is too large, you can download and use a smaller board style.
- NEW - additional board styles are available on my other boards site. Use the Registration menu, in the game, to get to it.
- NEW - the last turn, for both players, can be taken back by pressing the U key
- NEW - the option to Beaver can be selected in Preferences...
- NEW - a learning feature that lets you know when you have made a good or bad move. This feature is more for beginners. It will be improved in the future. You can toggle it on and off by pressing the L key.
- fixed all know bugs
- This version is a free upgrade for all previously registered users of Absolute Backgammon

1.4 (6/5/03)

- created a new larger board (Glass Board) and added the ability to use it. Check it out, I think you will like it.
- many minor enhancements to the user interface
- fixed all know bugs/problems

The new board can be downloaded using the following:
www.bestbackgammon.com/absolute
www.bestbackgammon.com/absolute/html/otherboards.htm
http://members.aol.com/javagammon/glassboard.sit
or you can use the Go To Other Boards Site menu item in the game


1.3 (5/24/03)

- made changes to Cube Advice and Status that gives much better results in some situations.
- made a few changes to Italian translations
- the computer's use of the doubling cube is greatly improved
- added the ability to Beaver - not an official feature yet. Can toggle on/off by using the B key.
- added ability to use Easy Moves method (with any move method selected) to bear-off pieces
- with Click After Your Move selected and the game is waiting for the click, can now click in the center of the bar to take back the last move
- several other minor enhancements to the user interface
- fixed any known bugs

1.2 (5/10/03)

- Italian language is now an option
- suggestions display has been greatly improved
- plus, can click on a suggested move to move it
- right mouse click (Ctrl-click) can now be used to take back the last move
- added a Fast Play feature. Press the F key to activate. All options that affect speed of play are set so that game play is the fastest. Piece Speed is set to 20, sound and speech are turned off, Auto Moves and Auto Pass are turned on, and any pauses put in the game for timing purposes are taken out. Press F again to put the timing pauses back in the game and to set the Piece Speed to 8. Other options are changed by going to Preferences... then changing them yourself.
- Piece speed 20 now survives a restart of the game
- if the Jacoby rule was selected, incorrect scores could be given - fixed.
- improved Easy Moves when moving from the bar with one piece on the bar.
- improved the results given with the Status button
- several other minor enhancements/fixes

1.0.5 (5/3/03)

- fixed several minor probelms and a problem that could cause problems during play

1.0.2 (4/26/03)

- made changes to accommodate additional boards.
- fixed a problem with font size in the drawer when boards are changed.

1.0 (4/24/03)

- this is the first version, no history to report yet