XcitingGames constantly monitors backgammon games using Snowie. Snowie is a commercial backgammon program based on neural network technology by the company Snowie Group. Its playing level is so high that it wins consistently against the strongest human backgammon professionals.

Here at XcitingGames, we are proud to be able to use Snowie to protect our players. Every single backgammon game played at XcitingGames will be analyzed by Snowie. Therefore, any advantage a player will try to obtain by using Snowie or a similar program for playing decisions will be detected. Needless to say, appropriate measures will be taken in order to protect our players.

When playing backgammon for money on the Internet, unfinished games or matches might be an issue. This can happen for two reasons:

• One player loses his Internet connection.
• One player decides to quit the game on purpose.

On one hand, players who unintentionally lose their connection, have to be protected. Losing a game or a match because of a connection loss can be a very unsatisfying experience. On the other hand, players who quit on purpose because they have a losing position should not be rewarded for their behaviour.

The concept of save matches is one possible solution that has been used by some online backgammon sites. Whenever both opponents are back online they have the opportunity to continue their saved session. However, this solution generates many other problems. First of all, the whole amount of money that is in play has to be frozen for both players. This money is unavailable until the session is finished.

Additionally, the motivation to resume the game is not going to be very high for the player that is losing.

Instead of all this trouble, we put Snowie into play. If a game is interrupted for more than 5 minutes Snowie will evaluate the current position and settle the money accordingly.

Each player receives his fair share. By settling aborted games and matches with Snowie, we are able to ensure that no player will have any advantage in quitting the game on purpose or disadvantage in losing the internet connection by chance.

To support fairness between our players, to motivate them to finish their games and to protect them in case of a bad Internet connection, we introduced the concept of free disconnects. At XcitingGames, every player is granted two free disconnects. When you lose your connection and don't get back in time, you also lose one of your free disconnects. You can reset your number of free disconnects back to two exactly once every 24 hours. In case a player without remaining free disconnects loses his connection and doesn't get back in time, he will be penalized and the opponent will be given a 10% advantage.

Suppose you are a 70% - 30% favourite to winning a match. Your opponent leaves the table and doesn't have any free disconnects left. In that case the pot will be split 75% - 25%. The current number of free disconnects can be seen in the cashier lobby.