True Backgammon

The YEARS of reviews claiming ideal rolls for the computer are because the dice roll lists are a long game con… It’s true you can write down the list first then it will play out as predicted (which is why the developer repeatedly copies/pastes this excuse into their response)… What you’re not told is the lists are AI-generated, crafted to interlace rolls that often enough railroad the human player to engage in AI-predicted mediocre responses, while the computer often enough gets advantageous rolls. How often these computer-advantaged rolls are interlaced into the dice rolls list depends on the human-selected skill level… Think about it… If the dice are truly random, how else can the developer offer any variance in the computer’s skill level at all? The developer insists the dice roll lists are not AI-generated, but this is simply not to be believed.

I love this game but I can’t help but feel it is somehow rigged. The computer seems to throw exactly it needs to go out or to land on me. It’s uncanny how often, the computer rolls doubles exactly when needed or the exact count each time in order to land on me. Happens way too often! UPDATE: I appreciate the response; in reality, I realize it’s not rigged…just very frustrating. Thanks. 2nd Update: I have probably played dozens of games with this app and maybe “rigged” is not the correct word but I fund it uncanny that the computer can roll exactly the right number it needs to put checkers in home, the exact number always needed to land on my checker and the uncanny number of doubles the computer rolls, especially when the opponent is in their home court…definitely giving the opponent the advantage. It happens way too often. I am going to find another game to play with the computer and see if I get the same results. Thanks.

The game has a nice simple look and plays smoothly. I know that the developers can prove it doesn’t cheat, but it feels like it’s pretty lucky at hitting the numbers it’s needs when it matters most, which happens IRL too. 🙂

If you are playing against the computer you don’t stand a chance if it decides to win. If you should have a single checker magically the computers dice will throw just the right numbers to land on it. It never fails. You could even begin to imagine you’re clairvoyant as you can guess the numbers needed to land on that single checker and it will happen. And don’t take any note of the rubbish that is sprouted as to the non-rigging of the device.If it’s been set up to win so don’t take it personally. And don’t think there was something wrong with your choice of moves. He’s programmed it to take you out

Playing with online opponents isn’t ready yet for use, in my opinion. I tried to use this feature several times and waited several minutes each time, but no online opponents were available. If the app currently has low amount of users, there should be a clearer way to show how many people are currently online and actually waiting to play an online game. Otherwise there is no feedback about when we can expect to find a match.

The play and graphics are fast and smooth. The levels of play from beginner to pro are all challenging. And the support from the developer is amazing! If you’re looking for a backgammon game, this is The One!

Game play is generally fine. However, the AI opponent always seems to get the perfect roll when it counts as well as very frequently rolling multiple doubles in the end game, while I get none. Tired of playing it and always having this happen.

After seriously considering the developer’s response to my initial review, and after playing another 100 games or so, I am happy to admit that what I perceived as unfair rolls was very likely due to my biases as a human being. Research in psychology (I’m a college professor, I read this stuff) indicates that we humans interpret good luck and bad luck differently. In the case of this game: When we get a lucky string of rolls that gives us an advantage in the game, we tend to see that as good luck rather than evidence that the rolls are rigged in our favor. But when we get an unlucky series of rolls, we are inclined to interpret that as evidence the dice are rigged against us. Moreover, the unlucky rolls stand out in our memory more than the lucky rolls, so our memory accumulates “evidence” of the dice being rigged against us, but we are less likely to remember all the times luck was in our favor. So we are likely to believe the dice are rigged against us. As the developer says, they have no incentive to rig the game against us. Think about it. Why would they want to upset players by rigging the dice against them, and thus get bad reviews which discourage others from trying the game? I cannot tell you with certainty that the dice aren’t rigged against the human player. What I can tell you is that there are plenty of reasons to doubt the notion that the dice are rigged, and plenty of reasons to believe that humans are inclined to perceive random events as, on balance, unfair. Last but not least, I apologize to the developer for my initial negative review. I will be more thoughtful in the future when writing reviews of apps. —— Original review: Except for the nonrandom rolls, this app has everything you want in a backgammon app. But after playing about 100 games, it’s clear that the app gives itself extraordinarily lucky roles to get out of tight spots and put your chips on the bar. The frequency of the lucky rolls it gets and the unlucky rolls the human player gets is not plausibly consistent with a hypothesis of random rolls. This is true of every backgammon app I’ve tried. What makes for a challenging computer opponent is NOT that it’s a very good player, but that the dice become increasingly biased against the human player. Maybe artificial intelligence will allow programmers to create a good backgammon app with a computer opponent whose wins derive from actual skill and not biased dice. But for now, the dice are stacked again

With recent update, I rarely win. When getting bumped I can sit on bar for up to ten moves before getting back on board but the computer is rarely there for more than 2 moves. and interestingly, the last three games has won with doubles and I got none. Weird and not much fun to play when it feels stacked against you and not so random roll of dice

Have loved your version of this for years but I don’t understand a new app option. Why is the computer opponent now allowed to block resignation requests? Having to play through a game that is clearly a loss or sacrifice more than just one point is a waste of time and not fair? Thanks