October 2005

Introduction

Welcome to October! Everyone is settling into colder weather, which means more time for Goldtoken! We've had a lot of members affected by the recent hurricanes, we wish everyone well and a speedy return to normalcy, including a return to Goldtoken! In this month's news we some great tourney news for you, and a great newsletter hunt. Be sure to check out Badger's monthly message to get a great idea of all the fantastic features to come!


Kran


In this month's newsletter, we have:

• Site News
• Badger's Monthly Message
• Kran's Tournament News
• Games Corner
• Newsletter Picture Hunt
• Testamonial Of The Month

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Site News

September Birthdays!

-- Big Happy Birthday Wishes to Bruno on October 15th!!
-- Happy Birthday to BmwLady_430i on October 31st!!
-- Many happy returns to daniela belatedly celebrating her 14th on September 24th!!!
-- Birthday wishes to B*Elanna on October 28th, from your hubby Man of Steel!!
-- A Special shout-out to our boss hANDYman the Rebel from the Rebels on October 14!

Special Events!

Happy 5 year Goldtoken Anniversary to blondie!

Congratulations to Allison and DEG, who are getting married on October 14th!

Congratulations to BrnIdGirl, who recently got married, September 17th!

Happy Anniverary to Dbledee from your wife, Misfit Lenrad6672!

Congratulations to Oartkickel of the Wolf Pack for reaching 7000 Gold Tokens! Oartickel would also like to mention that he will be changing his profile picture every 3 or 4 days, posting pictures from his travels while younger, so be sure to check that out!


Any birthdays, anniversaries, etc. coming up for next month, feel free to send Kran a message and let her know so that we can give them a shout in next month's newsletter!

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Monthly Message from Badger

GoldToken's programmers will be making a huge lunge at site improvement to speed up your games and finish some long time projects in an attempt to finsh them before the new year. So keep your eyes open and you might win cool prizes....first player to send an invite to a games creator will get a special GoldToken gift. First player to notice an improvement and correctly guess its programmer will also win a cool Goldtoken item!!

Mark007 finished Halma this last month to much applause from everyone, even creating a 2 to 4 player variation much like chinese checkers. A special thanks to firefly for the awesome game graphics; we not only have a wonderful new game, but it is easy on the eyes too!! Her graphics really give an almost 3D effect!! Check it out if you haven't done so yet...you are in for a treat! Please, be sure to send both your appreciation for the many hours of their time they spent for your playing enjoyment!!

GoldToken is currently testing out special mini classes for players on . These might be temporary so be sure to take advantage of them while you can. 's Moderator Training has been highly successful and will soon be opened for all membership levels. Some of our own GoldToken members will be offering beginning to advanced wiki training and craft classes to mention a few. If you or your entire club is interested in teaching a four week mini course in exchange for membership or a gift of GoldTokens appreciation, please contact me for more information.

A huge congrats needs to be given to all our players who have participated in the Hurricane Victims Fund as we have collected over $1500.00 for this cause!!! If you are still wanting to be a part of this special fund drive, please take the time to become involved now by sending your donation to badger@goldtoken.com via https://www.paypal.com. No donation is too small...every dollar counts!! 100% of your donations goes to The Salvation Army Hurricane Fund, who is currently providing services to storm victims and first responders in the Gulf Coast states.

--Badger

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Tournament News by Kran

• See the tournament sign up page here: http://www.goldtoken.com/games/tournaments?toc=F

• For October and November, signups are open for all normal game types with the chance to win Goldtoken Padboards, Post-its, and Planners! For chess and checkers tournaments you can win a Goldtoken Baseball Cap!

• Be sure to check out our Hurricane Victim's Hypergammon tournament! For a one dollar donation, you too can benefit the people affected by the horrible tragedies of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Guests are more than welcome to join as well!

• Goldtoken would also like to take the time to send a big congratulations out to all September Tournament winners!!! If your name is on this list, send Badger your mailing address and a link to the tournament for your prize!

2nd Mid August Reversi (Round Robin Reversi) klaashaas
4iar Madness Double Trouble (Round Robin Double Trouble Four In a Row) keops
April Fast Nackgammon (Round Robin Nackgammon) Jaybar
April Large Go-Moku (Round Robin Large Go Moku) *PJ*
April Loop Trax (Round Robin Loop Trax) jaha
April Small Reversi (Round Robin Small Reversi) Smaughster
Blue Warrior Gammon For Gold-N (Round Robin Nackgammon) RabidWolff of the Wolf Pack
Club vs Club Giveaway Reversi (Round Robin Giveaway Reversi) Switzerland
December Backgammon (Round Robin Backgammon) mr jones
Ellieoops Guest Backgammon (Round Robin Backgammon) jklh
February Checkers (Round Robin Checkers) Birds of Prey
February Fast Back (Round Robin Backgammon) Buz
First Chess Tournament (Round Robin Chess) Doffen
Governators Large Go Moku (Round Robin Large Go Moku) Dragon101
January Backgammon (Round Robin Backgammon) Nicodemus
January Go-Moku (Round Robin Go Moku) ThunderChild
January Large Go-Moku (Round Robin Large Go Moku) dawn1968
July 8x8 Trax (Round Robin 8x8 Trax) B Line electric streetcar
July Los Alamos Chess (Round Robin Los Alamos Chess) Man of Steel
June Chessgi (Round Robin Chessgi) Rogue Trooper
June Giveaway Reversi (Round Robin Giveaway Reversi) Rand al*Thor and { Player: Ivelise1971 }
Koozie 4iar Match Set 1-A (Round Robin Zero G Four In a Row) Carter
Koozie Trax Match Set 1-A (Round Robin 8x8 Trax) csain1
Koozie Trax Match Set 1-B (Round Robin Loop Trax) dgb
March Fast Nack (Round Robin Nackgammon) Aphrodite
March Giveaway Chess (Round Robin Giveaway Chess) Luke
March Large Reversi (Round Robin Large Reversi) Smaughster
March Reversi (Round Robin Reversi) pioenroosje
March Small Outbreak (Round Robin Small Outbreak) Gnahaha
March Small Reversi (Round Robin Small Reversi) eli
March Thematic Chess (Round Robin Chess) Gordon
May Fast Backgammon (Round Robin Backgammon) Buffy the Backgammon Slayer
May Hotspot Four in a Row (Round Robin Hotspot Four In a Row) grade1teacher
November Checkers (Round Robin Checkers) dama1
October Nackgammom (Round Robin Nackgammon) China_Blue
porkpie1's Go(ldmember)Porku (Round Robin Go Moku) Luke
Septembers Outbreak Ataxx (Round Robin Outbreak Ataxx) Gnahaha
Septembers Salvo (Round Robin Salvo) Jaybar
Titanic DVD Salvo (Round Robin Salvo) postal-guy
Trivium's 'Moku Gold (Round Robin Go Moku) *PJ*

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Games Corner

Reversi by Smaughster

This is the third, and also last, article on reversi. The reason for this is that with these three articles, all main subjects for strategy have been touched. As stated before, mobility is relevant for the beginning and middle part of the game. For the end game, another concept appears, parity, which is what is discussed today. Parity is a very simple concept which is very relevant to the end game, but applying it consistently can be tricky. Anyway, the main thing about parity is: making the last move in the game usually is an advantage. Before we go into the reasons for this, let's have a look at an example first. Browse over to http://www.goldtoken.com/reversi/reversi.cgi?g=1957203&v=62. If were black's turn in this position, he would play g8 and the game ends 31-33. If however white had to play, it would be 36-28.

From this simple example, the reasons for wanting parity are clear. The person with parity (i.e. Making the last move) usually grabs most of a row/column and he usually also flips a few disks back that were turned in the move before that. Knowing this, each player wants to gain parity. In the beginning of a game, white will automatically have parity. After all, there is an even number of moves to be made (64) and black starts. So the main job for white is to keep parity and for black to gain it. A player can gain parity (or in other words: parity switches colour) if a pass occurs during the game. However, not every pass is equal. For example, if black passes once, both players still play 32 moves, only black suddenly has parity. If white passes, black makes 33 moves and white only 31, also with black ending with parity. You can imagine that creating a situation where white has to pass near the end will be quite beneficial to black. (we'll have a look at an example later on)

Until now we have talked about parity as making the last move overall. However, the advantage also extends if there are several small regions of empty squares at the end. For each of those regions, making the last move usually is beneficial. To see how this works in a real game, let's go back to the previous example, but a few moves earlir: (http://www.goldtoken.com/reversi/reversi.cgi?g=1957203&v=54). You have already seen that this game ended 31-33 for white and the main reason is because I (black) missed an essential move in this position. Have a look at the position and determine which move you would make as black, thinking of both overall parity and regional parity.

The move actually played was g1, so you may have guessed that this wasn't the answer. This is a correct assumption, because g1 is an important spot. White can not play at g1 now or later on, so if black doesn't play g1, there are only 9 remaining empty squares for both players to play in. Since black has to move now, black will also make move 9, white has to pass and black finishes with g1 as move 10. In short: g1 ensures a pass and therefore parity for black. So let's now look at the other options, looking for a way to create regional parity. A2 is an option, leading to a2,a4,b6,a8,b8,g8 etc. However, white gets the A column and the 8th row, which are quite a few disks. Maybe there is a better move for black. Where a2 was an option, a4 most certainly isn't. After a4,a8, black can not move to a2, so now both white and black have a hole where the opponent cannot play. This means that white will not have to pass, and black has lost parity. So which move will help us? B3 (of course, even though I missed it myself during the game ;-) divides all the empty squares in even pairs and white has to move. Since all the regions consist of an even number of empty squares, black will get the last move in each of the, with g1 as remaining bonus. In short, b3,a2,a4,b8,a8,g8,h8,pass,h7,g7,g1 leads to 46-18 for black. A result which differs quite from the end result where black moved to g1 early.

In these three articles, the two main concepts of reversi were explained (mobility and parity). However, if you are interested, there is much more to learn. Fortunately, there is a lot of free material available. The best starter is a book that only recently appeared. It has been written by Brian Rose, a former world champion in Othello and contains all information, from beginning concepts to some pretty complex stuff, with exercises to boot. I can sincerely recommend everyone who wants to improve their game to have a look at this book. You can download the book at http://othellogateway.strategicviewpoints.com/rose/book.pdf

Cheers and don't hesitate to send a message if you ever want to discuss moves or just want to play a game.

Smaughster

If you think you´ve got what it takes to impart some unknown game skills to other players out there, send your submissions for Games Corner to Kran

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Newsletter Picture Hunt

Hooray! to Septembers's Logo winners!! They are:

1) Cutie Patootie
2) Honeybear
3) Irishrose
4) { Player: loudmouth 2004 }
5) SarahMills
6) Nancy
7) Nan54
8) Nargada
9) yayamom
10) pepperbeach

This months treasure hunt is the Harvest Fest. Be among the first ten players to find all 12 GoldToken Logos, each featuring the Goldtoken Horse.

The first treasure hunt player to find all 12 wins a GoldToken Carabiner KeyChain Flashlight!! The next nine players to correctly find the 12 logos will win one of the new GoldToken Squiggly Pens!!

Everyone can play! Guests included! Once you have found all 12, message Badger and the first 10 correct will win a prize! Good luck!!

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Testamonial Of The Month

One day I saw a message that said, the first one who starts a Halma Club and gets 10 members, will receive a prize, along with the members. So I thought, that is great! I am going to try for it. I started the club named { Club }. I then invited everyone I was playing games with. Then I invited all the people on my chums list. I then had my ten in no time. We won the prize, yippee!!!

Then members invited their chums. We were growing in no time.
Then we made some games to get started. I had never done this before. It is a lot easier than I thought. There are complete directions on how to do this, on this site.

I wanted more members, I guess I was greedy. I wanted them all. I went to the who's here page. I then started inviting everyone. A lot of people declined. They are in enough clubs. Some even said, I don't play Halma. I then let them know, we play all types of games, not just Halma. So some of them reconsidered. Some didn't. But, we got more to join, than decline. We now have 142 members and counting!

I am so happy, I am bubbling over with joy. I let everyone know, if you want a game you don't see, let us know. We are open to any suggestions. We have a bowling alley for just general chat. You really need to check that out. We are having fun. We also have a horse race that will begin soon, thanks to Jane. We have trivia, thanks to { Player: Kristy Dawn }. We are also putting our heads together on some other things. We should have a NASCAR race soon, thanks to RockinRon.

I now work 2 full time jobs. One of them is working here for my club. I don't usually call it my club. It is our (the members) club.
Won't you come join us while the membership is still open. We welcome all.
If there is another club out there that would like to challenge us to some games, please message me and let me know and we will set it up.
Thanks to everyone who has joined. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Sondra



Would you like to make your affection for GoldToken known? Please send your testamonials (or any other material submissions) to Kran for possible inclusion in future editions -- thank you!

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Wanted

• If you would like to post special club news or announcements for your club, please send it in, in 100 words or less and spellchecked, to Kran and we will gladly add what we can, on a 1st come 1st serve basis.

• If you are a guest and would be interested in earning your membership on a monthly basis, helping out with Joggle Jungle or Game Crew might be your ticket to do so! You must have good language skills and spelling, the ability to have several windows open at once, and be a fast learner with a willingness to learn how to edit wikis. If this sounds like it's a tailor made opportunity for you, send your application to Kran for consideration!