TricTrac
Android TV game by Rick Slinkman
TricTrac is the Dutch variation of the famous board game Backgammon. It is originally from France, where it was invented around the year 1500, although the Dutch TricTrac has slightly different rules.
The game is played with 15 stones per player, black and white. A roll of the dice decides how many steps to move across the board. With certain dice rolls, one gets bonus steps.
Playing TricTrac involves both luck and strategy, as you move your stones to the opponent's side of the board. There are many strategies that can be applied to beat your opponent!
TricTrac is seen as a simplified, more accessible version of Backgammon. The Dutch variation is about 50 years old and gained popularity in the 80s and 90s, mainly in the southern parts of The Netherlands.
Source: https://www.backgammon-spelregels.nl/trictrac/
Source: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon#Tric_Trac
Source: My friend Wouter
TricTrac is a game for Android TV, the system for smart TVs by Google. If your television supports Android TV, you are able to play!
You can download the app in the Play Store, where you can select your television when installing.
Once installed, you use the TV remote to navigate through the app. Use the UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT key to step through the menu and the game. While playing, use the OK button to confirm your move.
Within the game, you can find a tutorial that explains the base rules of the game. During a game of TricTrac, the game engine will assist you in every move, so do not worry about the difficulty! TricTrac is a fun game for two players that can be played by anyone, young or old.
Menu keys: UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, OK
Game keys: LEFT, RIGHT, OK, Back
The TricTrac app makes use of Google Analytics to analyse player behaviour in the game. Google gathers basic information about the device, operating system version and geographical position.
For more information on the Google policy, visit privacy page on the Google website.
A small part of the information is used by TricTrac to measure the following:
- How long does a player stay in the menu?
- How long does it take for a player to finish a game?
The app does not collect any additional data from the user. It does not know your TV or your account.
Your information is not used to play the game.
The names you provide for the players in the game is not stored anywhere.
When you close the game, the TricTrac app takes all the moved steps and uploads it to the cloud. Before doing so, it takes away the names of Player 1 and Player 2, so nobody knows by who the moves were played.
Once in the cloud, one is not able to determine anymore whether a move was played with a black stone or a white stone.
The roll of the dice is kept (again, without player name) to be able to replay the game.
In the future, we want to use this information to train an AI, who will at some point be your automated (and hopefully smart) opponent in the game!
TLDR; TricTrac does not need nor use any personal information about your or your device.
Do you have any idea on how to improve the game? Is TricTrac not supported in your language of choice and your want to provide translations?
I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions!
Please visit my personal website to find a way to contact me.