Still in lockdown on holiday, so I thought I would create a version of backgammon that can be played with Visio for the web. This was inspired by my original Visio tutor, the late David Edson, who created a Visio backgammon document which included macros. Macros are not available in Visio for the web, so I have created one where the dice can be shaken, the doubling cube changed, and the pieces reset, using nothing but ShapeSheet formulas.
Checkout the previous two articles in this series Play Checkers with Visio in Teams and Play Chess with Visio in Teams for more information about how the resetting of positions works works. Backgammon requires a Doubling Cube and Dice shape, in addition to a different board to the previous two.

Each of the Die sub-shapes within the Dice shape, have a User.ShakeDiceTrigger formula:
=IF(ThePage!User.ShakeDice,
SETF(GetRef(Prop.Face),"=INDEX("&INT(RAND()*6)&",Prop.Face.Format)"),
0)
This sets a random number between 1 and 6 on the die face. It was not strictly necessary to have a Prop.Face Shape Data row of Fixed List type, but I was originally going to provide a list to choose from. If the Prop.Face Shape Data row was a number, then the formula could have been:
=IF(ThePage!User.ShakeDice,
SETF(GetRef(Prop.Face),"=INT(RAND()*6) + 1"),
0)
Download Online Backgammon.vsdx and add it to your SharePoint Online or Teams library.
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The third 26 of the Visio ShapeSheet functions that start with the letters G through to K are visually described in the Visio document below that is available for download. Please see the general introduction to this series at ShapeSheet Functions A-Z for more information. Each of the ShapeSheet functions that start with the letters…
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The second 32 of the Visio ShapeSheet functions that start with the letters D through to F are visually described in the Visio document below that is available for download. Please see the general introduction to this series at ShapeSheet Functions A-Z for more information. Each of the ShapeSheet functions that start with the letters…
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The first 36 of the Visio ShapeSheet functions that start with the letters A through to C are visually described in the Visio document below that is available for download. Please see the general introduction to this series at ShapeSheet Functions A-Z for more information. (more…)
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Following on from my last article about playing checkers with Visio in Teams, I decided that I should also revisit my earlier Visio chessboard to make it work in Visio online. I have implemented the ability to automatically reset the positions before a new game, and I have made a single chess piece shape that…
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We are all spending more time in Teams or SharePoint nowadays, but not everyone knows that Visio documents can now be shared and collaborated with, and even set as a Teams tab. I was trying to think of a suitable demonstration of the co-working and collaboration possibilities, and came up with a reworking of an…
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Update 1 : Microsoft read this post and immediately corrected the spelling so the following now works : https://adoption.microsoft.com/virtual-hub/search/?_sft_vh_product=microsoft-visio 🙂 Update 2 : Mr VisGuy! “spelt” is the same as “spelled” outside USA! Aarghh! What kind of message is sent out if a company does not know how to spell the name of their own…
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