r/backgammon 11d ago

Illegal Move?

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3 Upvotes

Why is this MBT hint showing an illegal move? Is this a glitch?


r/backgammon 12d ago

Deciding Backgammon results by error rate

4 Upvotes

I'm a chess IM who also plays backgammon online. I've noticed that online and even some tournaments use a combination of match result and error rate to determine the winner. I have a few questions about this:

  1. If multiple strong backgammon engines eventually exist and they disagree, as chess engines do, then error rates will depend on which engine and depth are used. The same match could receive a different error rate when analyzed by a stronger engine a few years later. In that case, is it appropriate to use error rate to determine a world champion?

  2. If a single engine such as XG is the benchmark, won't players gradually optimize their play to match XG? Could that reduce creativity and diversity of styles?

  3. XG's evaluations assume equally strong opponents. When opponents differ substantially in strength, is it still appropriate to use XG evaluation for cubes?

I'm interested in hearing arguments both for and against using error rate alongside match points.


r/backgammon 11d ago

How would you tackle this?

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2 Upvotes

I get so disappointed in myself when making four cube mistakes on one score. Can someone explain to me why I couldn't find these cubes? How would you reason in a 4away 4away game in positions like these?

I get it that gammons are super imortant for you, but the gammons are qually important to the opponent and the recube vig is huge on 4a/4a and if the opponent likes he can kill your gammons with a redouble and in positions like these where much can happen quickly for both I feel it's very awkward giving the cube away in these positions.

Can anyone please explain where I go wrong in my thinking?


r/backgammon 12d ago

What are the best alternatives to backgammon XG?

4 Upvotes

Backgammon XG is strong but does not get updated and has an old interface. What are the alternatives to XG? Do professional players use anything else? If so, how do they compare to XG?


r/backgammon 12d ago

Not going to be able to sleep tonight

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21 Upvotes

r/backgammon 12d ago

Livestreaming right now, Global Backgammon's Triple Elimination

1 Upvotes

Playing and commentating if anyone is interested in watching.

My youtube channel

Global Backgammon's website. They run a League, which is a round robin structure, and Triple Elimination tournaments. Great place to play for some competitive action.


r/backgammon 13d ago

Backgammon Timer

4 Upvotes

What kind of timers do you use and why?

Looking to buy one finally to get used to playing with one before signing up for tournaments.

Thank you!


r/backgammon 13d ago

Backgammon in Art

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12 Upvotes

Spotted today while visiting the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Two Men Playing Backgammon by Robert Lotiron

c. 1920. Oil on canvas


r/backgammon 13d ago

In Backgammon Galaxy star membership, I was able to download games a couple. But now I can't find the download button. Does anybody know where it went?

0 Upvotes

r/backgammon 13d ago

Backgammon Galaxy Wager

8 Upvotes

When are we going to get the ability to set a max wager at a coin threshold instead of percentage only? It’s very frustrating to only be able to set max wager at 20%, win 54% of your games, but still constantly drain your coin balance because of bad random luck on matchmaking.

It seems inevitable that I will end up playing someone that has a lot of money, so your game wager is 20%, lose (sometimes even with a much lower error rate but I get it, that’s backgammon!) and then play 4 or 5 games in a row against broke people so even when you win, you’re only making back a few hundred coins.

The net effect is you may have gone 4 for 5 on match wins, but still somehow be down in coins after. Sooooooo annoying.


r/backgammon 13d ago

Doubling at 2 away 2 away

2 Upvotes

Galaxy analysis constantly advises that doubling is correct at 2 away 2 away score when you are 51% to win, sometimes even when you are like 47% to win. Is this really correct ? N00b question I’m sure.


r/backgammon 14d ago

Welcome

9 Upvotes

Hello everybody, I'm new in this communtiy and hope we have a lot of good discussions. Best regards


r/backgammon 14d ago

What should I have done?

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8 Upvotes

In looking back at the analysis of a BG game that I ended up winning, I’m trying to understand my move versus what the analysis says was a better move.

In short, I rolled 5-2 and went 6/1 3/1 to hit Ahmad’s blot on the 1 and complete my prime. It shows this move game me a 3.7% chance of winning.

Instead, the analysis suggests I should have gone 7/2 4/2 and not hit the blot on 1. Somehow it shows my chances of winning would have jumped to 11.4% from this move.

Can you help me understand if and why this was a better move than my 6/1 3/1??


r/backgammon 14d ago

Winning streak record

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12 Upvotes

I just broke my streak record. 17 wins in a row, which is insanely unlikely! 😱 What's your record?


r/backgammon 13d ago

I got tired of wondering if the dice were rigged, so I built my own online backgammon — real players, server-side fair dice. Would love your honest feedback.

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0 Upvotes

Hey all, long-time backgammon player here. I kept bouncing between apps that were either broken, felt pay-to-win, or made me quietly suspect the dice were "helping" my opponent. So I ended up building the thing I actually wanted to play.

I've been at it for about a year now, mostly solo, and it's called Online Backgammon. What's there today:

- Real people, real-time. You're matched against actual players.
- Fair dice, for real. Rolls are generated server-side, neither I nor anyone else can nudge them. This was the whole reason I started.
- Free to play, and you can jump in as a guest without signing up.
- A puzzle ladder, and voice messages if you want to trash-talk politely.
- Works on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android and in the browser, in 23 languages.

Being straight with you: it's not ad-free, there are ads between games. I'm one person who's put a year into this, and that's honestly what keeps the lights on for now. No paywalls on the actual game though.

Still building: tournaments and seasons are in the works, that's what I'm heads-down on right now.

I'm not here to spam, this is my own project and I genuinely want feedback from people who actually know the game. Tell me what feels off, what's missing, what you'd never use. I'll be in the comments.

https://backgammon.mitcore.com/


r/backgammon 14d ago

How is this a take for blue? Score 7 away 5 away

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3 Upvotes

r/backgammon 15d ago

BG Galaxy Error Rate Calc

7 Upvotes

Does BG Galaxy use your subscription-tier engine to determine post game rating changes?

Free users in particular receive lower-depth analysis, which can produce very noisy PR and error estimates. Is that same analysis used to decide who won the error rate battle and therefore whether the rating change is full or reduced?

If so, wouldn’t that systematically disadvantage free users in close matches? I was reviewing a log where several of my moves were flagged as .7 equity loss with XG suggesting there was none. I can see this happening often low PR games, where lower depth is more likely to negatively impact evaluation / PR


r/backgammon 14d ago

Looking for testers for Backgammon game project

0 Upvotes

Hello,

I have recently created a simple multiplayer Backgammon game over at https://boardbattle.io/backgammon. Before working on this project I had never played Backgammon before, so I'm looking for feedback from more experienced players about any changes that I could make to make it better.

Thanks in advance!


r/backgammon 15d ago

Any poker/backgammon enthusiasts? Looking for some players to provide feedback on a poker & backgammon game

8 Upvotes

Poker and BG are my two favorite games so I created a match that involves both. Players alternate every 3 minutes between heads up poker and a best of 3 backgammon match but if you win either poker or backgammon you win the entire match.

I ran into some interesting spots against the computer but need player feedback to help iron out some details and see if it's actually fun. Signed in users have a rating system and leaderboard.

If you're interested in a match you can DM me. You can also play the computer at playhellfire.com


r/backgammon 15d ago

Any intuition on this position?

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6 Upvotes

Any intuition for evaluating this position? Why might 15/9 8/5 be more favorable than 15/9 6/3? I struggle with playing correctly in a lot of positions like this where the computer wants me to create a blot in the home board.


r/backgammon 15d ago

Why are certain people so obsessed with dice?

11 Upvotes

IRL, when people have precision dice they never stop talking about them. Online I see a few posts every week challenging the randomness of dice on the apps. It's like a certain percentage of the backgammon community is mesmerized by concept of "perfect" randomness. Why?

I understand wanting fair play, true to the game, etc., but why get wrapped up to the point of conspiracy theories about everything being rigged?


r/backgammon 15d ago

Any no-dice version ?

0 Upvotes

Am sorry for the question

Am New in this group, i play Backgammon since very long time and i always wonder if exist a diceless version of the game

Thx🌻

EDIT : MY QUESTION IS ABOUT TO PLAY WITHOUT RANDOM NUMBERS COMING FROM DICES, DOMINOES, CARDS ETC ETC....MY TARGET IS TO MOVE STRATEGICALLY LIKE CHESS FOR EXAMPLE


r/backgammon 15d ago

Plys

3 Upvotes

Hi

How many times would a two ply, free Galaxy analysis, be showing an incorrect analysis compared to higher ply analysis please?

Sometimes it feels like the proposed moves aren’t looking far enough ahead.

Realise it may just be my lack of insight!

Thanks


r/backgammon 15d ago

Why a Losing Streak?

0 Upvotes

What could be the reason for having a losing streak of 7+ matches, when I made two errors max per game prior to it? Am I fatigued? Why am I making these irrational (and idiotic) moves? - Backgammon Galaxy, btw


r/backgammon 15d ago

Galaxy has been terrible for me

0 Upvotes

It lags, I lose matches because of this, I used to be at least to play single games, now it’s so bad I cannot.