Review

Quick facts

• AI strengh: superhuman (PR 0.5)
• multiplayer: no
• tutor / analysis: yes, outstanding
• price: $10
• App store link

Summary: The strongest backgammon AI in the App store. UI and usability is good, but not on par with the best. Still highly recommended for the price of admission.

Well, “to rule them all” only applies to the AI. The thing is, Extreme Gammon Mobile (XG Mobile) doesn‘t feature any multiplayer mode. It‘s you against the strongest mobile Backgammon on this planet, an engine of superhuman strength, even stronger than Backgammon NG and True Backgammon HD, although you probably won‘t notice the strength difference – they all destroy us mere mortals.  

As there are only so few, let‘s start with XG Mobile‘s weaknesses: it has no multiplayer, the board doesn’t look as crisp as in some competing products and has some rendering glitches, and it features what can only be called ”the infuriating toolbar“, a toolbar that is both very ugly to look at and infuriatingly hard to open if you choose the auto-hide option. 

Here it is (took me something like 20 attempts to get it to show up on my iPad Pro)

Unfortunately this is the toolbar you have to open to get access to XG Mobile‘s options. It‘s distractingly colourful, features stupid social networks buttons (including G+ which is out of business for years). It‘s ugly to look at, and the place where I have the best chances to get it to open is right next to the doubling cube. I‘ve ended up with some really stupid involuntary doubles.

So much for the complaining. On the positive side, you get a world champion backgammon teacher.

Recently I’ve spent much of my computer’s time analyzing matches of XG mobile. After 6 matches to overall 46 points I’m confident it’s PR is around 0.5. This means that even the best human player on this planet (Mochy with a PR of 2.5) will make about five times the mistakes of XG Mobile does! Truly amazing playing strength.

Apart from the best engine that‘s out there, XG Mobile also has the most helpful and sophisticated tutor and analysis features to be found on a mobile device.

In tutor mode, you get immediate, wonderful feedback after a move or cube decision.

Note that it even shows you all relevant probabilities – how does every move change my chances to win, to win with a gammon, a backgammon, and same for my opponent. Excellent. Of course it’s just a tutor, not a teacher. If you’re confused by all its figures, check out my tutortorial to understand how to work with tutors.

After each game you get the (often disastrous) summary of your and its own performance. 

XG Mobile offers to export matches, e.g. for analysis on the PC, the full backgammon rule and feature set (matches to any length or money games, Jacoby rule, adjustable playing strength, game modes from tutor etc).

When it comes to options, XG mobile is well-equipped: full control over all kinds of aspects of the game and backgammon rules are there. And a couple of different designs offer a nice board for every taste – five different board styles combined with 9 different checkers offer plenty of variation.

The premium version offers stronger tutors, different board designs and a few other cool features at $10. Considering that there was a time, not long ago, when such a full-featured backgammon would cost you $100-$300 this is a bargain :-). Supposedly the premium version includes multiplayer. No clue where this is supposed to be.

All in all: if you want to improve your backgammon, XG Mobile is one of the best backgammon you can get.