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Backgammon is a board game that is perfectly suited to iOS devices. The shape of the board fits the iPhone and iPad, and the gameplay—rolling dice and moving pieces—is greatly simplified when you tap to perform these tasks. Over the past few months, I’ve tried out a number of backgammon apps, and two stand out: Backgammon NJ (available for the iPad in a separate version called Backgammon NJ HD), and FaceMe Backgammon. There are three things I looked for in a backgammon app, starting with an attractive interface. This isn’t as common as you might think, as some backgammon offerings in the App Store have garish colors or horrid cartoonish boards and pieces.
If you’re better than a casual player, you’ll want an app with strong artificial intelligence: If you can beat the app all the time, it’s not much fun. And, if you like to play different people, you’ll want multi-player options, preferably using. FaceMe Backgammon is a $4 universal app that runs on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad). Developed by, the game features an attractive interface, with a selection of a half-dozen different boards. Its AI is decent, and is strong enough for most backgammon players. FaceMe Backgammon allows you to play against the app, with “Pass the device” mode (in which two human players can play each other), and online with Game Center.
Backgammon NJ from comes in a $5 iPhone version or a $7 iPad offering. Its interface offers fewer choices—only three boards—but I find it a bit more attractive, and its animations are smoother. It offers Game Center play and Two Player mode as well. But the real advantage to this app is the quality of its AI. While I’m not a great backgammon player, I’ve been playing for a while. When I play FaceMe Backgammon, at the strongest level (“Expert”), I can generally win in a multi-point match. In addition, FaceMe Backgammon is very poor at using the doubling cube.
It rarely offers to double, and almost always accepts when I double. With Backgammon NJ, however, at the “Medium” skill level (the second of four levels), I win many matches, but not all. If I go to Hard, however, I don’t stand a chance. One weakness with this app is that there is a difference of 300 —from 1500 to 1800—between these two levels. More levels with smaller differences would make it better for those stuck in between two levels.
Backgammon NJ also offers a number of features to help you improve your game. You can ask for hints, and use a doubling tutor that will highlight the doubling cube when it recommends that you double, and recommend whether you should accept or decline when the app doubles. Diligent use of these features can greatly improve your game. As for online play, both apps use Game Center. With two different versions, Backgammon NJ suffers because if you have the iPhone version, you can’t play owners of the iPad app; each one is considered to be a different game. So if you have two iOS devices, you may want to buy both versions, depending on when and where you play. The iPhone version currently lists 5,700 players in Game Center, and the HD version 4,900.
FaceMe Backgammon lists a little more than 6,000 players. At times, I find it easier to get a game with one app or the other, and sometimes there are no players available for either. Unfortunately, neither of these offer they type of interface you get on backgammon servers, where you can invite someone to a match after seeing their level and experience. With Game Center, all this is automatic. (As an aside, it’s a shame that Game Center doesn’t allow all users apps for games like backgammon, chess, go, and others to play each other.) All in all, Backgammon NJ—whether in iPad or iPhone form—is by far the better player, but it is more expensive.
If you’re just a casual player, especially if you have two iOS devices, FaceMe Backgammon is a better choice, given the price. But if you’re a serious backgammon player, Backgammon NJ is the way to go. Senior contributor writes about more than just Macs on his blog. Kirk is the author of. This story, 'Backgammon NJ and FaceMe Backgammon for iPhone and iPad' was originally published.
Play the classic game of Backgammon on your iPhone or iPod Touch for free! Backgammon Free is the best free Backgammon app available for iOS. Backgammon Free supports both 1 player and 2 player gameplay, so you can play against friends or test your skills against a challenging computer opponent. Backgammon Free includes a host of exciting features, including:. Outstanding AI with three difficulty levels. Highlighting of possible moves.
One touch or double touch move entry. Match play to a configurable number of points. Undo function.
Configurable player names and score tracking. Automatic save when you exit or suspend the app. Great graphics and awesome sound effects If you've been looking for a great Backgammon app for your iPhone or iPod Touch, look no further. Download Backgammon Free today! Where to begin?
The iPad’s rolls almost never force it to leave a single pip on a point, while the player's rolls almost always do. When the player takes one of the iPad’s pips the iPad almost always rolls the exact number(s) necessary to re-enter the game, even if the player’s home row is heavily occupied by 2 or more pips per point. The player will roll, and roll, and roll while trying to re-enter the game, almost always rolling the exact number(s) necessary to land on the iPad’s points that are occupied by 2 or more pips, even when the iPad’s home row is sparsely occupied. The iPad tends to roll many more doubles than the player and its rolls, both doubles and non-doubles, tend to be more useful (example: high numbers that get its pips to the home row more quickly.) Player rolls they tend to be less useful numbers that force him to move pips 1, 2, or 3 points at a time. Once the iPad plays the doubling cube this becomes more pronounced.
Long story short, the dice are not random. I’d say the iPad wins 5 or 6 out of 10 games but 8 or 9 out of 10 match-winning games. The sad part is this is the most fair backgammon game I’ve downloaded so far. Statistics show me through study of 20 consecutive games that the game consistently rolls doubles for itself at least 3:1 on average against opponent in final 20 rolls although double rate for overall game is statistically relatively even. Also average dice roll total in final 20 rolls is at least 20% higher on average for the game than opponent. Clearly the game needs to Cheat because no AI is going to perform that well compared to a skilled player so they have to tip the odds. Lucky rolls are part of the game after all and they admit that they increase double rolls once clearing off starts to 'increase excitement' so consider this a way to pass the time not a way to improve your game.
Interesting note the new version actually seems to make more mistakes than the old version leaving up to 4 uncovered men on a regular basis when Better options are available which in itself is frustrating but as I said it's just a game and it's free. Nice interface. But at the top level Ai's cheating, as others have noted, is blatant, relentless, and infuriating. The worst I've seen. For a while, I kept giving it a chance, but eventually abandoned it.
A great backgammon would do away with the bogus 'levels' configuration, which of course necessitates dice-roll manipulation and/or AI making deliberate mistakes. One 'level' only, with Ai playing the game as best it can, and random number generation at all times, would be a great electronic iteration of this ancient game. I suspect it would be a popular download.
Beginners would learn faster, and experienced players be more engaged, playing against a tough - but honest - opponent. Of course this assumes developer actually knows the game. I don't understand why developers are ignoring the number one complaint of backgammon users in nearly every version of this game available. Herd mentality it seems, developers all pursuing a 'me too' feature that obviously ends up alienating users. Can we at least have one version of backgammon, for the rest of us, that keeps it real?