When is a game not just a game? When it's also a vehicle for sending secret messages, like these guys managed to do with Go:
The article talks about hiding messages in the moves of a game. Like so:
"Oh, ho! He's moving that piece, eh? Means he's about to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia."
Baseball is a more practical application, I think, where the secret communication contained within the game is actually part of the game, too. The whole pitcher-umpire-manager-kid-out-in-the-field-who-sees-angles thing.
"Did he just scratch his forehead? Or was he telling us to walk this next guy?"
If I had any idea how to play backgammon, I could probably insert some witty remark about people who play backgammon and how they could be telling each other to kick their opponents at strategic points during the game. That would certainly please Backgammon Masters, the company that is sponsoring this post. They run a site that hosts backgammon tournaments and allows players to chat with each other (and maybe cheat!). I don't actually know if you can cheat that way in backgammon.
In fact, I know nothing about backgammon other than that I used to actually think it was called that because it was always on the back of a checker board. (Seriously!)
Anyway, the whole topic just makes me remember that reporter who forged all those stories about eBay and steganography, back in the day. You must read the following:
Pure hype about Jack Kelley's stories
USA Today apologizing for the big faker
Great stuff.