- AI strengh: probably beginner<\/li>
- multiplayer: yes, didn\u2019t try<\/li>
- tutor \/ analysis: no<\/li>
- price: free, shows ads<\/li>
- download in the app store<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Summary: fun money games against an intermediate AI on four levels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was looking forward to playing \u201cThe Backgammon\u201d. After all, it\u2019s by UNBALANCE, the company that created \u201cCrazy Stone Go\u201d, which was the best Go-playing app for Android\/iOS before the AlphaGo clones came. I\u2019m still playing most of my Go games with UNBALANCE\u2019s nice app, and so I expected a lot from a backgammon of these developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To some extent I was not disappointed. \u201cThe Backgammon\u201d is a solid implementation of Backgammon; unlike many of its competitors it features money games and matches up to 15 points, correctly implements everything including the Crawford rule, allows to try out different moves before committing to one etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like \u201cThe Backgammon\u201d\u2019s presentation. Two different nice boards wait for you, nicely rendered on phone and tablet. The menu system is easy to understand and has a clean, professional look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F60CCCB1-6084-472E-80E9-85BD7E987243-1024x659.jpeg\")
Playing The Backgammon – wood board, iPad Pro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The app offers both online playing (which I haven\u2019t tried – there\u2019s backgammon galaxy<\/a> and backgammon heroes<\/a> with strong analysis features) and playing against an AI. This AI offers five difficulty levels from \u201cgruesome gruesome beginner\u201d to \u201cbeginner\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I must confess I\u2019m disappointed by UNBALANCE\u2019s effort to build a Backgammon AI. Other than their Go this is no master. Even on its hardest level 5 it makes obvious beginner mistakes, like doubling with a checker behind a 6-prime, just because it\u2019s 10 pips ahead in the race. Also its checker play is doubtful at times. I haven\u2019t fed a match into XG, but I am very convinced it plays not better than a PR of 20 or so. Here\u2019s a few examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F25CB7C6-1A78-485D-B6A9-56B700761D1A-1024x768.jpeg\")
Beginner cube handling at work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n In the example above, black has a checker on the bar, behind a 5 prime, and has nothing. But because I\u2019m only 9 pips ahead in the race, it accepts my double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/C9E2C745-5621-4FEE-A7AB-F8084CC600BC-1024x473.jpeg\")
A horrible cube blunder (iPhone)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n In this situation, the AI has one checker trapped behind a six prime. It\u2019s ahead in the race, but in the next moves, its home board will crash, I will move forward my prime. I guess black has less than 10% winning chance. But it\u2019s ahead and doubles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To increase longevity and give you a challenge, \u201cThe Backgammon\u201d includes a nice \u201cchallenge mode\u201d, in which you have to beat every level at 5 different match lengths to earn medals. Unfortunately, though, Level 1 is so incredibly weak that I can\u2019t get myself to try out what happens if I win all medals (it leaves direct shots without any reason).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/BAC98ED5-DDCB-4712-B6F3-C5F250E888D4-1024x768.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSo, if you\u2019re an intermediate player or better, you probably won\u2019t find an opponent that can offer you exciting matches here. But for beginners, this is an acceptable Backgammon that you can have a great time with, for free. \u201cThe Backgammon\u201d is purely ad-financed. It shows you ads on the top of the screen, and will show you an ad movie after each match. There\u2019s no in-app purchase to get rid of the ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/7CA246BE-286B-4CC5-B625-ED18D50FF472-1024x473.jpeg\")
The alternative board, also nicely rendered (iPhone)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Please note, though, that an app playing on this level cannot teach you to become a better player. Not because there is no tutor mode, and also not because it just doesn\u2019t play well enough to be a good teacher. For this you need e.g. XG mobile<\/a>, True Backgammon<\/a>, Backgammon NJ<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Review Quick facts AI strengh: probably beginner multiplayer: yes, didn\u2019t try tutor \/ analysis: no price: free, shows ads download in the app store Summary: fun money games against an intermediate AI on four levels I was looking forward to playing \u201cThe Backgammon\u201d. After all, it\u2019s by UNBALANCE, the company that created \u201cCrazy Stone Go\u201d, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-482","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":492,"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/482\/revisions\/492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}