MacFIBS is a fun program; with a color Macintosh and an Internet connection, you can play backgammon with people from around the world (24 hours a day, if you wish!) 

To fulfill my legal quota of hi tech buzzwords, I like to describe MacFIBS as:

A Macintosh TCP/IP client for playing virtual backgammon on FIBS, a Unix–based game server on the Internet (the global information superhighway).

Whew, that’s out of the way.

So... what is FIBS?
MacFIBS was written specifically to work with FIBS, the First Internet Backgammon Server.

FIBS serves as a meeting place for backgammon players around the world, ranging from novice level to world class champions. There are several thousand players registered on the FIBS system.

When you log into FIBS there may be anywhere from a few dozen to over 100 people connected. You can play a match against another player, watch a match between two other players, or just hang out. Players and spectators can discuss the current match, general backgammon theory, or anything else of interest.

Created by Andreas Schneider, the FIBS server software resides on a Unix system.  Communication is across the global Internet usingtelnet,  a TCP/IP terminal protocol. (‘telnet’ is also the common name for terminal emulation programs that use the telnet protocol; the program NCSA Telnet  is popular on Macintoshes. Similar programs exist for DOS, Windows, Unix, and other popular computers.)

Do I need ‘NCSA Telnet’?
No. MacFIBS replaces the telnet program (like NCSA Telnet) and offers a nice multi–window interface specifically tailored to playing backgammon on FIBS.

Rather than viewing backgammon positions as a series of X’s and O’s in a crude character–based text window, MacFIBS offers a full color backgammon board. Instead of typing cryptic commands like ‘move 24 22 15 14’, you drag colored checkers around the board, exactly like playing a real game.

MacFIBS greatly enhances your virtual backgammon experience. It’s backgammon played “The Macintosh Way”.