Backgammon App Reviews

Games are supposted to be fun! Not this clunker!! To many computer doubles and and just at the right time rolls. In my opinion this game is a waste of time and money.

There isnt a backgammon game out there that people wont complain of unfair computer dice rolls. If you think about it, why would a game designer design a game so the computer has an advantage? What would they get out of it? It just doesnt make sense. I have not experienced any of the claims of unfair or excess doubles by the computer player. It plays well , I wish the pieces moved faster but thats minor complaint

As someone else said the scoring is not right. No matter how high the doubling cube gets I can resign and only lose one point for the game. However, if I decline a double I lose 2 points. And the doubling cube only goes to 8. And the computer is just not that good at the game. I am no expert backgammon player but I play the "hard" setting and Ive played about 150 games and have an 84 percent winning ratio. As for those who question the fairness of the rolls: nonsense, its just probability and you only remember when the computer got a great roll and conveniently forget when you got those double 6s at the end to win. So, not a bad game but the computer is just not that good at playing and the scoring is wrong.

Finally getting to put to good use what my Dad had taught me :) Been quite a few years since Ive played…..Love it!!! Only 2 played, yet 2 games won!

I love the interface, although it can lag a little. As you progressively set the skill level higher, the machine will compensate by rolling far more doubles for itself and very low or poor rolls for the player. I suppose from a programming perspective, this is an easy way to make the game more challenging, but very unrealistic. I think some more time should be spent improving the artificial intelligence engine rather than resort to cheating. This would greatly enhance the user experience. Even with the shortcomings, it still can provide a lot of entertainment for just $1.99.

This game is way to easy to beat. You will not learn much from this game. Good for a beginner

Great game fun to use this app of an ancient game.

Very biased toward computer playing hard version. Unbelievale how many times it rolls doubles especially if computer is behind. Just not natural since it happens every time.

The die are clearly biased towards the computer. And it rolls out doubles whenever it needs!

If you are looking for a decent backgammon game, this one is far superior to the free backgammon games Ive tried (e.g., Backgammon Deluxe Free). So Id say its worth springing for the $1.99. Graphics are OK (not great and with one flaw noted below). It offers three strategy levels, but stronger players will find that, even at the hardest level, the computer doesnt put up much of a fight. Nevertheless, since it keeps track of statistics, I can keep things interesting by shooting for higher win percentages. For example, Ive yet to achieve my goal of beating it 90% of the matches. I havent observed the biased dice roll behavior that other reviewers have complained about. Id highly recommend this game to beginners except for three rather curious flaws: 1) Incorrect Scoring When Doubles Are Refused. The game developers have included doubling strategy (when to double, when to refuse a double) into their playing algorithms. But they have failed in the much simpler task of adhering to the basic scoring rules. Specifically, if I refuse I double, I should only lose the current stakes -- regardless of board position. Instead… the game penalizes the refusing player with 3 times the current stakes if they still have pieces in their opponents home board and 2 times the current stakes if they have yet to bear off a piece. This is flat out wrong. Since doubling strategy is a huge part of backgammon, this basic scoring problem warps the whole strategy in a way that will lead beginners to develop bad habits. 2) Incorrect "Points" coloring. A basic feature of backgammon boards is that the points should alternate colors. This is more than just cosmetic. For beginners trying to learn how to visualize moves quickly without having to individually "count" each point, the alternating colors provides a valuable visual clue. Strangely, in this game, points 12 and 13 are both the same color. 3) Incorrect Scoring on "Resign". If I resign, I should forfeit the current stakes. Instead, the game always just penalizes me 1 point, regardless of the current stakes. My simple work-around (to avoid skewing the match play statistics) is to simply never resign -- but this is an annoyance. For a development team that clearly invested time and effort into playing strategy, these flaws are curious because they are so basic. They should all be easily correctable and, hopefully, will be corrected in future versions.

The method of play and most of the graphics are pretty good. Some of the text, for example on the stats page, is messed up. The level of play is ok, only on the hard level, but way to easy on the two lower levels. It would be nice to be able to move two pieces at a time more easily.

lPretty lame format and game--- not recomended by me!

What irritates me about this game is that the programmed dice roles are so in favor of the computerized opponent. Although I have won and beaten the computer numerous times, I can predict many times, the dice role for the computer player. Also, when the computer is extremly behind, it amazingly gives the computer player several sets of doubles in a row to catch up meanwhile the human player is getting ones and twos.. I really dont know that it represents a fair version of backgammon.

Fun game, but anytime the compuater ("AI" in this games lexicon) doubles (via the doubling cube) the human player and the human accepts - the computer then proceeds to roll dobules every single time. This doesnt seem to happen when the human doubles vis the doubling cube…kind of defeats the purpose of accepting the doubling…clearly you are behind and now you are much further behind

you need to improve the level of difficulty. Hard is not a good enough player. I win 10 out of ten times and it makes really stupid moves

I am just a beginner learning the game. I really enjoy this level. Looking forward to moving up to the next level.

I know just about all the strategies in this game. Pay attention - computer cheats or simply the person who created the game did not know the game as well as I do. So, please correct the one huge mistake.

One of the worst I’ve played. The computer does not know how to score using the doubling cube, i. e. if you resign it applies a gammon or backgammon depending on your position, so you have to play all doubles. As others have noted the roll of the dice is not random, e.g., the computer rolled four double sixes in a row. Anyone know what the odds are of this happening? Not worth $1.99.

While the game is not particularly hard to beat in the Hard mode, there are times when the AI’s luck is well lets just say exquisitely lucky. There are several scenarios that occur during gameplay when it’s more predictable than the weather.

I am used to playing Motif Backgammon. I can go as fast as I can, move by tapping, can undo if needed. However, that runs on Java. But my Mac doesnt lke Java, even with the updates. I was desperate to find another backgammon game and tried this one. Slow as molasses! And when I double, the computer doesnt "fight" whereas on Motif Backgammon, the computer can accept, and even doubles. This game is so poorly designed compared to that one.