Play65
At Play65 you can play online backgammon for fun or for money. One of the reasons for the success of the game and how it is attracting more and more players to its site is the easy way that you can get started on the game online.
There is no doubting that backgammon has enjoyed a revival in recent years, from the parlour game of childhood to the new 21st century styled virtual boards of the world wide web: online backgammon is thriving.
Much of the success of the game has to be attributed to the design of the virtual board and the game itself. Making virtual dice behave in a pattern that is similar to the roll of a cup is no mean achievement.
Yes, it is wonderful what they can do with graphics these days, the cinema is evidence of the capabilities of CGI technology, but being able to transpose the sort of realism that you get in an off line game such as a simple board game, yet at the same time lose none of the playability of the game itself is a real piece of crafted design.
The people behind Play65 seemed to have achieved this with their easy and simple to understand download software.
The software is designed to work on Windows operating systems such as 200 or XP, it also requires certain other criteria which the newer PC's these days supply in abundance, so it is unlikely that you won't need to upgrade to be able to play if you have the latest version PC. The older models with Windows 95 or 98 don't work on Play65, neither do Mac or Linux systems, but the designers are addressing this in the near future.
The other requirements for the game are Pentium 133 MHZ, 32 MB of hard disk space, 64 MB of RAM, with either windows 2000 or XP operating systems. Highly recommended is to set your screen resolution to 800 X 600 with HIGH colour (16 bit) or more. Once this is all in place you're ready to begin.
Click onto Play65, the home page will give you an option of up to 17 different languages to choose from, select your language and begin download the software. You will see once the download starts that there are only six instructions, follow them and as the software downloads, tips and playing hints will appear on the screen telling you about the game. Depending on the speed of your PC and connection, broadband is recommended; dial up is very slow by comparison and will take time.
Whilst broadband will speed you through to the start of your registry page, here you can choose fun player or real money, a $2.00 bonus gets you started and is deposited into your account. Then it's up to you. The software is your tool to playing the game, the board is set out like a traditional backgammon board, the colours being akin to a polished or varnished wood design. For the beginner follow the onscreen instructions as you play the game, or visit the school of backgammon to really find out about the game.
The software of Play65 is flexible and can run in conjunction with other programs that are aimed to improve the player's games such as Jellyfish and Snowie. Although not integrated with Play65 software they can be run alongside the play of Play65 to analyse moves and to instruct players on their next move.
Time Controls:
To ensure play proceeds at a reasonable pace, every game is timed. You can play either at *Normal speed (45 sec/turn/) or *Fast speed (25 sec/turn).
*This is the amount of time you have available to roll the dice and move your checkers.
If you are unable to finish a game in the required time, a global timer with extra time on it begins to count down. If you are playing Normal speed the global timer starts each game at 150 seconds and if you are playing Fast speed it starts each game at 90 seconds.
In the event that you run out of time on your global timer, you lose the game.
This is always a good thing to do with software as it keeps the player involved with the download, all too often there is a download menu on the screen and an instruction to"please wait while the programme downloads", this can take several frustrating minutes and can lead to a very bored player turning off before the download completes, not so with Play65. One of the other aspects of the software and the game itself is in its security application, www.play655.com has designed a game that safeguards through encryption the player's personal details, without the possibility of an external hacking taking place. This is done by the functionality of the external server where the information is stored, rather than any game software, so that at no time is live data put onto the software, it is just carried through to the sever where it is stored in a secure virtual vault.
For the experienced player this can be a real asset when practicing their game or attempting something new. Moreover the ease of operation of Play65 is perhaps one the reasons why over a million registered players have taken up the challenge of online backgammon and are loving it.
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