THE BEST

My last review was August 22, 2021, I achieved LEVEL 100, playing against the computer. I play at the hard level, I love this Backgammon HD. I have time to only play against the computer. I have 4 thousand games. I play a few games in my breaks through each day. Before the latest upgrade in July 2021, I was maintaining a 5 to 1 lead in sets against the computer. I am now still having trouble getting back to that my margin. I am now at a 4.5 to 1 lead. Many glitches have be fixed, and I love the randomness of the dice generator, and the computer’s play is more challenging. The game rewards good play, for example in supporting you scoring Gammon’s or Backgammon’s. However, play poorly you get crushed at this hard level. Don’t play the game when you are tired. This game forced me back to studying the game more. This is it! An inexpensive gem for my iPhone and iPad backgammon play. You must try this game. I’ll check in again when I get back to a 5 to 1 lead in sets. I will check for any new glitches in the game play and report those. Play on!

Awesome.

Excellent, intuitive backgammon app with some interesting variations (Old English, Nackgammon, and Acey-Deucey). There are just a couple things I’ve noticed: you will never tie with the computer on the opening roll, indicating that the dice are not truly random, at least in that instance. True random rolls would have you occasionally tie and have to re-roll. Also, another time late in a game, I had a computer chip on the bar with my 1, 4, 5, and 6 points closed in my home board, with a blot on my 3 point. The computer had all the rest of his checkers stacked on his own 1 and 2 points. The computer then rolled 3-2, but instead of using the 3 to hit my blot, it re-entered on the 2-point, leaving my blot there untouched, and then wasting the 3 it rolled due to there being no more legal moves. I thought the rule was that you have to use the larger number if both dice can’t be used. Further, I was playing on Hard mode, so that would be a colossal mistake, even if the rules allowed it. Lastly, unfortunately I’ve had some difficulty playing multiplayer over Game Center, but I don’t think my issues are the app’s fault. Still, it would be nice to have a non-Game Center live multiplayer option. Still, it’s a good app, and well worth the price. Treat yourself to an ad-free experience, and learn Acey-Deucey like our Navy Sailors and Marines are known to play.

Cheats to Win

When playing the game at the Hard level, don’t expect to be pitted against an expert backgammon player. The difficulty of that level is strictly due to the game cheating on its throws of the dice. You will consistently be faced with an opponent that throws doubles on the first or second turn of a game, that consistently gets precisely the combination of dice needed to capture one of your tiles, then throws exactly what it needs to block more of its home spaces while your attempts to get your captured tile back in the game are futile. With rare exceptions, you are consistently denied any opportunity of capturing any if the computer opponent’s tiles. And, in the unlikely event that you start winning by any significant margin, expect to throw ace-deuce until the computer opponent catches up or surpasses you, at which point it will offer to double the stakes, then throw double-6s or capture another of your tiles. Or both. This kind of brute-force auto-leveling of what should be a completely randomized event thwarts any serious player from ever experiencing the genuinely competitive gameplay that a dice game should provide, and speaks to a cynical programming approach that elevates sloth to a sportsmanlike virtue. Also, the ads are truly awful. Do I look like someone who wants to play a slot game, or save a morbidly obese king or comically voluptuous girl from catastrophe? Please.

Great so far :)

I like that this app is straightforward, without lots of gimmicks or unnecessary and distracting graphics—and without constantly pushing engagement in social MEdia interaction—like many apps based on traditional board games (e.g., a popular one, of which I’m not a fan, loosely based on Scrabble). I don’t have to navigate a barrage of annoying prompts and invites to get to “play.” I can just enjoy a game relatively free of hype, playing against an AI opponent that doesn’t have (or need) a cartoon avatar with a clever name implying backstory and attitude. It effectively mimics a real game with real odds and isn’t trying to do more (OR assuming it must) to compete for attention, as if all users were kids with trouble focusing. I’m old school; I prefer real social interaction (like in person or via voice-only phone calls) to online vid-/app-based interaction. For so many of us, life and creative spirit aren’t meta. So it’s refreshing when an app doesn’t try too hard to impress—or isn’t relentlessly driven by an agenda to tether us to the meta-verse. Thanks!

Decent Game (Played at the Hardest setting)

Most backgammon games will make up for not having a strong engine by cheating with the dice randomizer. This game doesn’t seem to cheat much at all, even at the higher levels. It has decent play and good fundamentals, but makes occasional strange moves. For instance, if I’m bearing off and the computer has one or more men on my home squares, the engine favors getting his other men around the board to the his home squares over getting the back men out to prevent a backgammon. Another weakness is his bearing off play. If one man is outside the home squares and the dice throw will a allow that man to get home, it will move a piece in the home squares first thus preventing a man to bear off. On the flip side some of the end games are surprisingly well played by the computer. All and all, I would recommend this decent game for those wanting an enjoyable experience. A little fine tuning, would make this game much stronger as most of the basics are already there. If championship play that requires the memorization of positional odds is your forte, then you should pass on this one.

Not strategic

I have played for 30 years in clubs, online with Middle East players (games origin) and in tournaments. I have played every online app I can find and this is the best...but I have never lost a MATCH (10 to 15 games) while using the doubling cube to an online app. No app I have played can apply strategy in order to win a 10-15 game match. Worse than that, the app uses the doubling cube poorly. I am not sure a backgammon app designed around algorithms can ever match the human mind when variables like risk, timing and an opponents strategy are considered. I wish all the people complaining about the dice would take the time to learn the odds of rolling two dice (36 possible outcomes). Also, play a match, not a game and learn to use the doubling cube. It is said the dice are 75% of the game and the player is 25%. The player should learn the game well enough so their 25% is better than an apps or another player!

Computer Favored to Win EVERY TIME!!!

Ok, I admit this is my favorite version of Backgammon, most of the are horrid. However, be forewarned that the computer is heavy favorites to always win. Not to brag, but I beat most every human I play, and I love playing, not just to win, but it’s fun and simple, like me. 🙂‍↔️ But, to prove my point, I have been keeping count recently because a weird thing is happening, the computer has won the opening roll 47 consecutive times in a row. While you can undo the previous roll, it didn’t make a difference, the computer continued to win consecutive opening rolls. And what are the odds of that in a real game? Normally when this seems to start happening I undo the previous roll and it corrects itself for the remainder of the game. I can’t do that, and I paid for this game. I’ve signed out and back in. It continues to win. I’ve deleted the game and reinstalled it. It continues to win. I’ve quit for a few days, and no change. Now where is the fun in that? Consider buying a game from a different company. This one no longer cares about the customer. ☹️

Trustworthy Backgammon Game

This is a very trustworthy backgammon game. Ive been playing for a while and can say no funny business going on with fake dice or fake players. Some Improvements Needed but I would suggest you play this game instead of others as its fun and runs well most of the time. I want to give 4 stars but think the improvements should be made below first (ordered by priority) 1) This one is quite a bummer. There seems to be a bug in the game where when you double someone you automatically get doubled back and the other person gets the turn you were supposed to get. This causes issues when offering doubles and reduces your chance of winning. 2) If a player is about to gammon or backgammon the opposing player can quit the game and only lose a point. Players should receive a gammon when quitting during a match where all of their pieces aren't in the home board. Same for backgammons. 3) It takes too long before a player makes a move before an auto quit occurs. Ill sometimes be waiting minutes when an opponent gets angry and refuses to play 4) Better stats section. The wins and losses are recorded but how many points you get aren’t. It would also be nice to see what your rating is compared to your opponents 5) There seems to be a bug that happens every so often (1/20) where when you match somebody the game crashes 6) It doesn't seem like the chat button works. Not a huge issue

Play the #1 Backgammon on the App Store! Now with the best online Backgammon experience with background match-making and two ways to play online.

AppAdvice Sun Jan 29 2017

Play the App Store's top rated cribbage game! With fluid action, this game is intuitive and easy to play for both novice and experienced players.

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