Backgammon according to the normal movement rules. The first player to bear off all fifteen of his/her own checkers wins the game. If the opponent has not yet borne off any checkers when the game ends, the winner scores a "gammon", which counts for double stakes. If the opponent has not yet borne off any checkers and has some on the bar or in the winner's home board, the winner scores a "backgammon", which counts for triple stakes. To speed up match play and to provide an added dimension for strategy, a doubling cube is usually used. The doubling cube is
What Is This Thing Called Love? (short story) What Is This Thing Called Love? (short story) "What Is This Thing Called Love?" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story was requested by Cele Goldsmith Lalli, editor of "Amazing Stories", as a satire of an article in "Playboy" called "Girls of the Slime God" which had suggested that pulp science fiction stories were concerned with aliens and sex. The story appeared in the March 1961 issue of "Amazing" as "Playboy and the Slime God", but Asimov later retitled it "What Is This Thing Called Love?" According to Asimov, in "1938-39 ... for some half a