#The Tutor
The Tutor watches the move you are about to make and says something before you commit to it. Its three levels are set from the gear inside the analysis pane, the one the hedgehog button opens:
- Hands-off. The board stays silent. You can still tap the hedgehog to read any position.
- Hints. A warning colour and a whisper before you commit. It never stops you. This is the level a new browser starts on.
- Tutor. A blunder is held at the moment you commit, with the best play shown, and you decide whether to play yours anyway.
Under Tutor you also choose where the line sits, from errors (0.050 lost) or from blunders only (0.080), and whether the analysis pane stays open across decisions. That second option is deliberately not offered under Hints: a ranked move list that is always on screen answers the decision before you have made it, which is a different exercise from being warned about the play you were about to make.
#Hints
Press the Hint button, the lightbulb on the left toolbar, during your turn. The engine shows the best move and the alternatives with their equities. The hint clears when the position changes.
#Looking back at a move
Click any move in the move list, or press Left, to see the position that decision was made from. The board fades while it shows the past, the move played is drawn on it, and the analysis pane ranks every alternative with what the move cost, whichever side played it. Left and Right step through the moves, and Right past the last one, Live game or Escape brings you back. On a phone, tap the move count under the board.
On a checker move you can also move the checkers yourself, with the dice that were rolled, to try a different play: the alternative it matches lights up in the pane, and undo takes it back. None of this touches the game, which carries on underneath.
Why? under the analysis puts the decision into words. It needs an account, and on the free plan it spends one of the day's explanations, the same allowance the analysis page draws on.
The move list marks the mistakes it knows about: every move you have looked back at, and, while the Tutor is on, every move of a game once it has ended and been reviewed.
This is the way to be taught after the fact rather than before: set the Tutor to Hands-off, play your move, then press Left to read it.
The Follow button above the move list (beside the move count on a phone) does that for every move: the pane shows the analysis of the last move played, yours or your opponent's, while the board stays on the game. After each of your moves the opponent waits, with both clocks stopped, until you press Continue on the board or under the analysis, or Space. Pick a move from the pane to look back at that decision.
Every cube decision is followed as well. When you roll with the cube yours to turn, the pane shows the cube analysis of that roll while you play it, and the move you then make opens on the cube when that was where the mistake was. Your double stays in the pane after the opponent's take, and your take holds the opponent like a move does. A pass, yours or the opponent's of your double, waits the same way before the game's result is shown. A double waiting for your answer is not shown, since its analysis would answer the take for you.
#Auto-roll
With auto-roll on, the engine skips the doubling step on your turn and rolls straight away. It is there for fast play in a game you do not intend to double in.
#Auto-complete
The play button on the left toolbar lets the engine play both sides. You choose the speed, fast, normal or slow, and the scope, one game or the whole match. It is the quickest way to watch the engine play itself.
#Zen mode
Zen mode hides everything except the board. Toggle it with the eye icon on the left toolbar, and leave it with Escape.
#Saving a board image
The camera icon under the board exports the position as an image.
#Exporting the match
Export Match in the sidebar downloads the current or finished match as a
.mat file, which GNU Backgammon, eXtreme Gammon and most other backgammon
software read.