A review of the "Bearoff 15x15" software, by Nack Ballard

Tired of wrong answers?

Bearoff 15x15, created by Hugh Sconyers, is the only program that offers exactly correct answers for every bearoff up to 15 checkers for both sides. Even the best competing software gives wrong-play answers, as well as countless cube answers that give up several percent in equity.

Bearoff 15x15 allows you to set up any legal position in the inner board of both sides, with either player on roll, and with any of the four cube situations (side on roll or off roll owning the cube, or cube centered, or no cube).

Bearoff 15x15 is easy to use, too, either for checking positions or creating new ones. By tweaking a pip here, a pip there, you can quickly learn the size of the effects that positional changes have on checker play and cube action. It is a tool that no proposition player should be without!

To store Hugh's entire database on your hard drive, you need 50 gig of space (which most new desktops and many new laptops have), but if your machine is poorly endowed you can still easily store all positions up to about 12 checkers on both sides, and insert an alternative disk when you have occasion to check a 13+ checker position.

As a bonus, this set of 12 disks, a bargain at $100, offers the safest plays against backgames (all positions out to the 8 point), hypergammon equities (the same data that MrHyperBot uses on Gamegrid), and a one-checker race database. It is also easy to use GNU BG interface to access the data.

Bearoff 15x15 has helped me greatly - I feel it is invaluable as a learning tool to play better in crucial over-the-board situations. I recommend this program to players of all levels, but particularly to those of intermediate strength and above.