So I’ve reached a level where playing against my friends ends up with whoever gets the better dice.
Where can I learn how to actually play better than the average player?

I made a cut-down version of gnubg for the ZX Spectrum, available to play now. It's written jointly with AI: I know some people are against use the use of AI; I totally get that, and think that's a reasonable position. You're invited to ignore the game and the site.

It's available on zxgammon.pages.dev, which includes all the source code, and a playable emulation. The site provides helpful scaffolding -- some pretend "loading" as if from tape, match export after your game/match is over, context-dependent keys to click on -- but there's no cheating here, you can download the .sna or .tap and run it on any ZX Spectrum emulator or even on genuine hardware. The emulator plays at the speed it would on the original hardware, but there's an option to run it at 4x speed if you don't like to wait so long for it to think.

The entire site and source code of the game is released under the GPG.

The app works pretty much like gnubg: the same input features and a neural net (smaller than gnubg's). It does something like filtered 1-ply (what xg would call 2-ply) both for moves and cube decisions. It has only 1 output (equity) unlike gnubg which outputs win/win gammon/win backgammon/lose gammon/lose backgammon.

To keep it playable, I tried to limit thinking time to around 10 seconds, and mostly it's faster than that, and just occasionally a few seconds longer.

The app plays pretty well, around on 3-4 PR for money and 1-pt matches, going to around 4-5 PR for match play. So better than most humans, but some distance from top players. It has more of a personality than most backgammon programs I think.

So I’ve recently started playing Backgammon with the goal of getting good, I’ve played a decent amount of chess and was semipro at poker, I also have a masters degree in statistics so I understand probabilities.
It absolutely amazed me that as soon as I start making Backgammon communities 50% of all the contents of posts is people accusing websites of Dice cheating, why is this?
On the App Store, the reviews for like every app are just saying there’s loads of dice cheating, this isn’t a problem in poker, at least nowhere near as much, do people really just not understand randomness? I’m obviously not an amazing back. Plan, but in my head, what people think of as the Dice being rigged is actually just their opponent (especially AI playing very well so that many of the dice rules would be beneficial.
Why don’t people just do statistical analysis on the Dice roles, you could so easily prove that the dash roles are genuine, it just baffles me how much content and time seems to be wasted on people complaining a lot dice.

I recently switch over to Android and wasn't able to find a backgammon app I liked. So I built an app that had the features I was looking for. Thought others may be interested - not looking to monetize, but I am curious if there are features people would like to see.

No ads, offline against computer only (multiple difficulty levels), and tracks stats at different levels. It also shows mistakes/moves that cost you and what the better move would have been after a game.

Looking for good Ai-opponent & no ads. I don't mind paying for it. I wonder why they don't have Xg-backgammon.

Thanks in advance,

Rob

Quick fact-check on Galaxy coin games.

Are Jacoby rules active for 1v1 coin games? And are beavers allowed or disabled?

Just want a definitive answer on how the platform handles these two cube rules. Thanks!

A further question has arisen which I think is important. Free members have their Error Rate calculated using Galaxy’s 2-ply analysis, while paying members can access 4-ply analysis — so far, so good. However, can you confirm whether, when a paying member plays a free member, the Error Rate battle used to determine the GR result is calculated for both players using the same analysis depth, or whether each player is assessed using their subscription-level analysis?

Given that winning the Error Rate battle can double the GR movement, I think it is important that both players are assessed on exactly the same basis — or, at the very least, that there is transparency on this point.

Then it procedeed to create a dice generator based on the app's published dice-generator method where player 2 always rolls a double

Try it here:

https://randomdicer.github.io/Dice/

The code it created:

https://github.com/RandomDicer/Dice

I know they are bakelite. Did a positive simichrome test. They are great to have around but I can't find an image anywhere to compare that is similar enough. Thank you for your time.

I am a Day 1 Backgammon player. Well, not quite...I used to play on Atari 2600 (Circa 1980). Can't recall playing on a real board. I just received my first board in the mail. Any suggestions on books or resources I should check out?

I've been a software developer for 30 years, and I got back into backgammon about a year ago. I joined a weekly chouette, and like most tables, we kept score on paper - box, captain, everyone's cubes, then trying to figure out who owes who at the end of the night. Mistakes happened, arguments happened, and settling up always took longer than it should.

So I built an app for it (and for 1v1 matches too): Chouetty, on iPhone and Android. Here's what it does, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things:

Scoring rounds

• Pick the box and captain each round. It suggests the next ones based on who won, and supports a shared box
• Set the real rotation order after rolling dice at the start, with Box / Captain / Next badges so everyone knows who's up
• Track each player's cube separately: value, who owns it, or centered
• One-tap automatic double for the opening roll, and one-tap "box doubles" or "team doubles" for the whole line
• Tag gammons and backgammons, with color-coded results so big swings stand out
• House rules: gammons only count if the cube was turned, or turn off gammon tracking entirely
• "Box wins / loses" shortcut when the whole line has the same result
• Fills in the last player's result automatically so every round balances
• Bank row for the odd point when a shared box can't split evenly
• Round notes, and insert a missed round or settlement anywhere in the history
• See the totals as of any past round, handy for reconciling with a paper sheet
• Joined a game already in progress? Set the starting round number so yours match the table's

Players at the table

• Add or remove players mid-game
• Pause someone who's sitting out a few hands. They're skipped in new rounds and the rotation, but keep their balance
• Drag players into your actual seating order
• Import players from your contacts (with photos), and save groups like "Tuesday regulars"
• Merge duplicate players if someone got added twice

Money

• Set a value per point in any currency
• Individual stakes: players can play at different rates, capped at the box's rate for each game
• Mid-game settlements when someone leaves early
• End-of-night settlement that tells you exactly who pays whom, with fewest payments
• Save venue presets (stakes and house rules) so setup is one tap

Big Screen mode

• A round-by-round grid in landscape you can prop up so the whole table sees the scores, including who's in the box and who's rotating out

1v1 matches

• Race to X with Crawford handled automatically, or unlimited money games
• Match stakes, swap sides, and a big-screen scoreboard

Stats

• Per-chouette and lifetime stats for every player: win %, box / captain / line win %, gammon and backgammon win/loss %, money won or lost
• A lifetime leaderboard across everyone you've played with

Sharing & sync

• Share results as a PDF or email at the end of the night
• Two people keeping score? Send rounds between phones, or share a short match code to hand off the current score
• Export/import individual games, or back up everything to move to a new phone

Everything else

• Works offline, no account needed
• 12 languages, dark mode, tablet support
• Option to keep the screen awake during play
• Quick swipe actions to email results, mark a game complete, or rename it
• Built-in guide to chouette rules and how to use the app

I've been working on Chouetty for about six months, using it almost every day across several weekly groups, at stakes from $1 a point up to $20 a point, including some well-known players and clubs. Every group was skeptical at first. Now nobody wants to go back to paper.

It's been through more than 400 revisions based on what came up at real tables. Once you're used to the shortcuts, a round takes seconds to score, and you never have to stop and check whether the line balances. The app does that for you. I usually score on a tablet, and if the battery dies mid-game, I just enter a short code on my phone and pick up exactly where we left off. There's a lot more in the App Guide inside the app than I could fit here.

I'd really appreciate feedback from other chouette players, especially on house rules I haven't covered yet. Every table seems to play a little differently. And if you have any questions about how something works, just ask. I'm happy to explain.

If you run a chouette and want to try it with your group, send me a DM and I'll set you up with a trial.

Website: Chouetty.com

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chouette-backgammon-scorer/id6793170246

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chouetty.app

I’m blind, I really enjoy playing physical backgammon, it’s actually surprisingly accessible, especially when compared to games like chess in my opinion.
However, there does not seem to be any high-level accessible Backgammon apps/sites, particularly ones that can be accessed on an iPhone with Apple VoiceOver.
Sadly, all of the apps are inaccessible to blind users and of the few that are designed with accessibility in mind, they don’t really have the depth that I would be looking for, particularly, none of them implement the doubling cube and there’s no way of getting any analysis.

I’ve tried Backgammon Galaxy, X gammon, Backgammon NJ, but sadly none of them did I manage to complete a game in.

Any ideas? I want to try and get really good at this game, but looking like there’s some pretty significant barriers in the way..

It wouldn’t be that difficult for a developer to implement accessibility in many cases, would love your input.
If any Backgammon developers would like advice, I’d love to help with this, I’m actually on the Paralympic Judo team and have a degree in maths and statistics, so I have a weird cross-sectional knowledge of probability based games and accessibility LOL

Hey, folks, we’re going to do another meet up for Saturday October 3. We’re going to get there about when it opens at 10 am. We’ll probably stay for a few hours. I’d be up to staying to like 2ish probably (obviously you can come later but people might not be there.) Meeting In literature on the second floor.

Time: October, 3 ~ 10 AM - 2ish

Place: Main Cleveland Public Library
325 E Superior Ave
Literature Department Second floor of the old building.

If you have a board, it would be good to bring it.

Please note: there’s no food allowed in that department and drinks should be sealable.

I'm a relatively new player and I'm having some trouble understanding the calculations here. I would think I would lose equity by offering a double given the amount of gammons in the position. I don't understand how the expected value of the game is 0.973. I showed an expression representing my understanding of how the value would be calculated (I ignored the 0.1% backgammon chance). What am I missing here?

I'm developing a Tavli app based around the three traditional Greek games: Portes, Plakoto and Fevga.

Rather than just copying existing apps, I'd really like to hear from people who actually play regularly. What makes a backgammon/Tavli app feel good to you, and what do existing apps get wrong?

A few things I'm particularly interested in:

How important is fast, natural checker movement?

Dragging vs tap-to-move, or both?

Would you use shortcuts for doubles, such as selecting/moving multiple checkers together?

What makes an online opponent feel good to play against?

What makes a bot enjoyable rather than annoying?

How important is local two-player play on one device?

Do you prefer a realistic board or a very clean/minimal UI?

What annoys you about dice animations, sounds, prompts, menus, etc.?

What features do you wish existing backgammon apps had?

What would make you immediately uninstall one?

The plan is eventually to support Portes + Plakoto + Fevga as a proper Tavli match, as well as individual games, bots, online matchmaking and local play.

I'm deliberately asking this before the app is finished because there's still plenty of opportunity to change how it works.

I'd particularly love to hear from anyone who plays Greek Tavli rather than only standard backgammon.

Any help is appreciated, down to the smallest details. Thanks!

I've released an opening book that holds the first three moves of backgammon. It's a database of 4.2 million positions all analysed at GNUBG 3-ply (which every other app calls 4-ply). For every position, the database returns the top 8 moves and their match equity and win/gammon/bg probabilities.

All the code and data is released free and open source. Sharing here in case of interest.

The db holds the opening rolls for every score to 25-away, every response roll to 15-away, and third rolls for scores to 9-away (with some pruning). Yes, that's all incredibly repetitive. Whole book took something like 2 to 3-weeks of computer time on one 16-core CPU.

On the linked page there's an Explorer so you can play out the first 3 rolls and get an instant response from the database. There's also a bit more info on what's in the book and how it was generated. It's already plugged into BackgammonDB's position analyser.