Backgammon App Reviews

I have been playing backgammonn for over 40 years. So, I fancy myself pretty good. This game, however, is too easy if you put your ‘opponent’ on medium, you rarely lose and almost impossible to win on hard, you rarely win. I think my record on “hard” was the coputer rolling 7 doubles in a row. I am still looking for a “real’ game. I do like the layout and the way the moves light up. Makes the game go much faster.

I have played “live” backgammon for many years and have been involved in thousands of games. If I were playing someone who rolled exactly the dice count needed time after time, I would swear I was playing against loaded dice. In short, I don’t believe this game yelds as random an outcome as they lead you to believe. That being said, it has great graphics and is a pleasure to play as long as you are prepared to lose in absurd ways.

This game does have its issues. On the lower levels it is too easy even for the beginner. On the highest level it is a bit more challenging, but it is still weak in game play. I have been playing this game for a while and it does appear that what it lacks in skill is made-up for in luck. The AI opponent can get extremely lucky at times and it is impossible to beat it at that point. I can’t say it is cheating but it does get quite a few perfect throws and can blot several men with a single roll. It can also have a long string of doubles while the human player gets none. One thing that has to be considered is that Backgammon is a game of skill and luck, and at times luck can turn. In the long run I can beat the AI about 80% of the time and I am not all that strong of a player. I have played other programs and they are similar in skill level so this is a good game to pass the time and keep your brain working.

I’m just learning the game, and the app is helping.

I Love this game but due to one flaw I only think it is “Okay” because at the end point the “computer person” will get many doubles if you are playing hard, so the coputer has a advantage, but if you are playing easy or normal it has no flaws what so ever, but I would prefer a challenge yet i have to do normal.

As one of the other reviewers remarked the dice rolls are in no way fair. No trying to sound like a sore loser because as far as matchs go I still way ahead, but the computer sure does get alot of doubles compared to you the player. To may to go un-noticed. I play for real a lot and have never seen anyone ever get that many doubles in one game.

Amazing how the computer seems to always roll double 6 every time it’s in a pinch.

How do you create a backgammon game that doesn’t score the doubling cube correctly? 0 stars.

I love playing with this kind of games. Sign Linda Hull.

As others have noted, it has two annoying flaws. First, and critically, it incorrectly scores a rejection of the doubling cube. Instead of awarding the current stakes, it awards points based on the current board position. Second, the points are colored incorrectly. I am a casual amateur player, and I find the Easy and Normal levels trivially easy to defeat. The AI never varies its strategy. Not having played in a while, the Hard level was challenging at first, but is now no longer so; I defeat it virtually every time. As to the allegation that it cheats on the dice rolls, it does not appear to do so. I recorded each roll for the computer and me seperately through several matches. I found the frequency of doubles to be the expected 1 in 6 rolls and the distribution of other results, such as 6,5 and 5,6 to be what you would expect. Based on a sample universe of several hundred rolls, the rolls appear to be random and there appears to be no difference between the computer and the player. Since the app was free, I can’t complain too much, but I have found the freeware version of BGBlitz to be much more fun and challenging and will probably upgrade to the paid version of that program.

If you play the game stay away from this disaster. Good for children 4/7 years old. It was 99 cents but in all reality its not worth 2 cents. Stupid set up and fixed dice in favor of the house. ITS A LOSER.

This would be great for someone learning how to play this game. Since I already know this game, the hints I find annoying and can not turn this option off. Also you cant move a piece directly to where you want. For example, if you roll double sixes, you have to mave a piece 6 spaces, followed by another 6 space move, followed by another 6 space move, and yet the final 6 space. As opposed to moving one piece directly 12 spaces and a second piece directly 12 spaces. If you already know how to play this game, I could not recommend it.

Fun to play; however, the board seems to roll a disproprtional number of doubles. It would be great if the game tracked the number of doubles rolled by each player during a game. The interface is well designed, it is easy to move the peices and the game has nice options.

If you play on hard, the dice just roll bad rolls for the player and doubles for the computer. I swear I rolled 1,2 three times in a row and then 1,3, four times in a row. The computer got doubles 4 times during this. If this happened in one games, then fine, but THIS HAPPENS EVERY GAME!!!! You can never take chances with open spaces, because the computer will more than likely get the one roll that screws you. Its not true random as it claims to be. Try again, Byterun

Scorring seems incorrect No matter how much trouble White is in or if it is doubled, resigning results in a single point awarded to Black.

Read the other reviews. This game is fixed. I have tried different settings to change the dice rolls. I have been keeping track and the computer has rolled 3.5x more doubles than me. Dont waste the money.

Need to have the ability to pick Acey Ducey as the USN likes to play. In fact I learned Acey Ducey long before I ever found anyone to play Backgammon. I havent noticed any difficulties with the randomness of the dice or other problems listed. WHEN I SAID THIS I HADNT PLAYED HARD--COMPUTER ALWAYS THROWS DOUBLE SIX DURING PULL OFF!! I have this on my iPad and my MackBook Pro and it works very well on both. DOUBLE SIX ALWAYS SHOWS UP DURING PULL OFF FOR NON-HUMAN. COMPUTER ALMOST ALWAYS MANAGES THE ONE COMBINATION THAT WILL RESULT IN A KICK In fact, it was only after a couple of weeks with it on the iPad before I considered loading it on my Pro. I HAVENT LOST THIS MANY GAMES/MATCHES, EVER!! GOOD LUCK BEATING IT IN HARD AS I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE SIDE ROLL SO MANY DOUBLES EXACTLY WHEN NEEDED. AND IT SEEMS I CANNOT ROLL ANY DOUBLES ABOVE A DOUBLE 2 DURING PULL OFF. IT IS QUITE A WAYS FROM "RANDOM" IN MY BOOK.

I am an advanced user and always play this on the "Hard" setting. I love it. It plays just about the way I would find an average game with an above average user… I ALWAYS WIN THE MATCH!!!

I play on the "hard" level, and have to laugh at the inordinate amount of doubles my computer opponent rolls in the home stretch. Its a good time waster if you dont mind that youre playing Hal … and he likes to cheat!

Yes, the number of doubles is not balanced, nor is the number of times the computer gets the first move. But Ive tried several backgammon games on different computers, iPads and iPhones. And this is the fairest of the ones Ive tried. It was worth the money for me.