{"id":783,"date":"2026-05-23T06:08:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T06:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/?page_id=783"},"modified":"2026-05-24T07:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:55:12","slug":"backgammon-online-offline-much-light-a-bit-of-shadow","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gammonrants.org\/index.php\/backgammon-online-offline-much-light-a-bit-of-shadow\/","title":{"rendered":"Backgammon – Online & Offline, much light, a bit of shadow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
That new app that an AI wrote for me to search the app store for new Backgammon apps is paying off. I would never have found “Backgammon – Online & Offline” by Hayder Kharrufa, an app with no rating in the app store, probably #325261 in the endlessly scrolling list of apps you get for a search term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which would have been sad, because this app offers the best engine you can get for a free backgammon app, even including a useful analysis screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Childhood diseases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Before starting, let’s get one thing out of the way: the app is very young, about a month old, and it has a few childhood diseases to be fixed. The most glaring one is that if you play against the computer, you will be able to double after<\/strong> you have rolled which is against the backgammon rules. Interestingly enough, the computer doubles correctly, before rolling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another small issue is that the analysis screen always shows the points from P1’s perspective, so P2 moves are weirdly logged as something like “1\/2 12\/17” instead of “24\/23 13\/8”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The UI of this app (shall we abbreviate it as BOO? Maybe rather BO&O) is good-looking if a bit bland. The layout looks great on my iPhone and my iPad, moving is intuitive, only the doubling cube on the right side is a bit strange, sitting always at the same place, showing a number which is not entirely clear. Other than most backgammons, BO&O doesn’t offer any kind of UI customization or themes. Brown it is, bear off to the right it is. Live with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One more gripe: Like too many apps, this game immediately moves your move once you have selected the second checker. This doesn’t allow you to try out different moves until committing to one, like normal in backgammon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The engine<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When playing my first matches against BO&O, I asked myself whether now I’ve really come across the first cheating backgammon app. Because it continued to beat the hell out of me, and you don’t expect this from an app with 0 ratings that doesn’t implement the cube correctly. But it did. I lost money game after money game (the app sadly doesn’t support matches).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a the fifth loss, I fired up BGBlitz, and started to painstakingly reproduce the matches on BGBlitz while I played BO&O. Surprisingly, BGBlitz showed me that BO&O plays an almost perfect checker play and a strong cube play. The worst checker error it made in the roughly 100 moves I checked was losing 0.03 points of equity. Most games BGBlitz analysed were PR 0. Error-free. Perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBGBlitz showing a position – blue to play 44. What would you play? Please note: THIS IS A BGBLITZ screenshot, not BO&O<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Even in very difficult situations, BO&O finds the right, strong move. In the position above I would have played 13\/5(2) which is safe and brings me forward. The best move is 13\/5, 8\/4(2), making a strong four point board at the expense of leaving behind a blot on the 8 point which is not a big deal given my one point board. BO&O found it. Incidentally, I hit the blot in my next move, BO&O hit back, I danced, it doubled, end of game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to the doubling cube, the app also impressed me with aggressive, good doubles. Only once it failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAgain a BGBlitz screen. Blue to move. What is the correct cube action?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
This position (which is the one immediately after its strong 44), shown in BGBlitz again, is a clear double (and a take, says BGBlitz) that BO&O missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s hard to get a solid assessment of an app that doesn’t export matches for analysis, but after about 5 money games that I analysed, I guess it plays on a strong expert level, almost perfect checker play, and solid cube handling. Maybe something like PR 2 or 3. Which is the strongest engine I’v ever come across in a completely free backgammon app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Analysis!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The feature that you always<\/strong> have to pay for, ever since neural-net based backgammons arrived on planet Earth, is the analysis. Decades ago I paid $100 for Jellyfish tutor, because the app destroyed me over and over (back then I was a clueless beginner), but to find out why it does you have to invest some serious cash. And it’s been the same ever since. There is not a single app on the App Store that gives you a reasonable analysis feature for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except for BO&O.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBO&O’s nice analysis feature<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
After you’ve finished a game, you can click on the little “Analyze” link which will take you to the screen above. There you can scroll through the move list, and click on the ones that have an orange or red dot, marking them as mistakes. Then you’ll see red arrows for your move, and blue arrows for the correct move, along with a basic rating “error \/ blunder” of your move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s not perfect – I would have wanted to see an equity loss, but to understand what the best move would have been in the situation that you blundered in it is good. And keep in mind: the AI that is telling you where you failed is playing on the level of top humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately the analysis doesn’t include cube errors, which, at least for me, make 80% of the really bad blunders, so there is room for improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Multiplayer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The app also supports friendly matches in a multiplayer mode with ratings and everything, but I haven’t tested it – there is Dailygammon, Backgammon Studio heroes, maybe Galaxy for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I swear! I have seen very unobtrusive ads in the bottom line of the screen. Maybe they vanished since I registered? I don’t know. There might be some ads, but they are not an issue. No “watch this video for 30 seconds before continuing”, no “this ad’s colours scream at you so bad that you can barely concentrate”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It’s hard to recommend this app. It’s even harder not to recommend this app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It plays wonderful, extremely strong money games. It is a bit bare bones on the customization side. And it doesn’t do doubling correctly. And it has an analysis. So let’s forget about the issues; I hope the author will fix them soon, and let’s enjoy the strongest free, analysable money games you get in the App Store. Kudos to Hayder!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Download link<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In times of SEO, it’s hard to even find unknown apps on the store if you search for them. The exact name in the search box will take you there, or use this link:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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