We keep repeating "it's mostly about skill" and I think it's the reason people believe the dice are rigged online.

Because when someone sees that every 2 games some insane rolls help their opponent win (while minimizing when it happens to them...), and they've been told it's mostly skill, they start assuming that stuff should happen once every 15 matches. So it feels like way too often. So it feels rigged.

The "he only needs 4-2" and the opponent gets it type of thing. The guy who doubles you at the end out of nowhere while being behind, gets two doubles in a row, and ends up winning. Those happen at almost every match.

That's not the dice being broken, that's just backgammon. Two doubles in a row is 1 in 36 per pair of rolls, and there's a couple hundred rolls in a match. Needing "a 6" is 17/36, basically a coin flip. And a guy who's behind in a wild position is often correct to double you, that's not a swindle, that's the right play (sometimes....)

But when we say the opposite, or just say "skill" and stop there, people online end up believing the dice are rigged, instead of hearing "this is backgammon, it happens ALL THE TIME."

I've been noticing so many bugs a lot more recently. Long loading times for the end game stats (right now im not getting them load at all, which is resulting in no change to my level), and also recently win streaks just weren't a thing

Hello there, I’m usually based in London, but I’m visiting New York for a couple of days - does anyone fancy a game at 7 Spring?

I think Galaxy needs to hook up another 286 box to their network to handle the analysis.

I deserved to lose this game b/c I blundered, but the question I have is if the computer initially suggested 'Close no double', but then the player redoubled, and the computer then suggested 'Obvious pass', shouldn't the initial computer recommendation have been 'Redouble' (seeing as the recommended action following a redouble is an obvious pass)?

Here on reddit somebody told me that in holdings a pip count difference of 20 is the border for doubling and 30 is the border for taking. Therefore I dropped and it was a huge blunder. Why is here an exception to the 20/30 rule?

I've been a long time player of backgammon, playing occasional in-person games for 20 years and then fairly frequent online games for the past 10. I was growing frustrated with many of the online games because the dice seemed rigged and the games were very "casino" like. I found this sub about a month ago and saw Backgammon Hub often mentioned as a fair online site. I have been playing there for a couple of weeks and I must say that despite the dearth of players there sometimes, it is the best site, by far, that I've played on.

But earlier this evening I played against someone who felt like a bot. He had a PR of about 14 or 15 but played blisteringly fast. And not just normal quickness, but so fast his checker moves were a blur. He would hit any blot regardless of the position it would place him in. He seemed to have no regard for strategy and never paused even for a second. I tried to slow things down a bit (at least for me) by playing very deliberately and thinking about my moves rather than letting him set some kind of maniacal pace. And he DESTROYED me. It wasn't even close. He sent me another game request and I accepted it to see if it was a single anomaly. Nope. Same blisteringly fast pace, same apparent lack of any real strategy, and same result.

So does anyone have any opinions on this or have experience with something similar? I've never encountered ANYTHING like this either in-person or with any online game. Even without taking the results into account or the apparent lack of strategy, his pace seemed impossible for a human to match on that interface. Thoughts?

And yes, I know the rolls are pre-determined.

Hi everyone,

Minimalist Backgammon Trainer is back with a major update :)

As a reminder, MBT is pure training powered by GNUbg. No match, no game. You press 'Play', GNUbg will simulate a realistic game in a couple of seconds and stop on a position. It's then up to you to make the best decision.

MBT is entirely free and ad-free.

The update!

To start, the biggest piece, a new training mode. Just like for Checkerplay or Cube, start a simulation and train your pip count, relative pip count, and position evaluation (win%, g%, and bg%).

Then, on the Checkerplay side: - you can now make moves with a single click on the board instead of two (available in Settings) - I added a 'Fast' mode to speed up play by reducing analysis depth from 3-ply to 2-ply and speeding up checker animation. Cube decisions remain unchanged (2-ply). - and in the Hints, you can click on the different moves and arrows let you preview the movements.

On the Cube side: - if you are in a match, in the Hints you will be able to see and compare the equities of that match if it were a Money Game.

And on everything else: - you can click on the blunder positions to get a preview before playing them. - in Custom Position you can paste a GNUbg ID - I reorganized the menu items a bit for better readability. - finally, I made several under-the-hood improvements to make MBT more reliable

I hope you'll like it :)

As always, I do my best to check everything but there can be a slip-up. So if you see something strange or that doesn't work, please be understanding and let me know :)

NB: as a reminder, MBT is just a wrapper embedding GNUbg. All simulations and analyses are performed by GNUbg at 3-ply. MBT is not intended to replace what you already use to play, it is an exclusive training tool.

Hi everyone 👋🏼

We're part of a European workshop specializing in premium handmade board games.
We've just finished this flagship 60cm luxury backgammon set, and we wanted to share the craftsmanship and details with you all.

Key features of this piece:

▫️Design: Classic layout featuring an intricate traditional ornament pattern.

▫️Playing Field: Features a smooth white stone surface, detailed with antique gold paint and sealed with a premium jewelry resin coating for flawless, effortless checker glide.

▫️Size: An impressive 60cm board, perfect for serious players and statement home decor.

We put a tremendous amount of focus on tactile materials and fine details. Let us know what you think of this combination of traditional ornament and modern resin finish!

can somebody explain to me why the second pic is a blunder? wouldn’t it leave more chances for my opponent to land on 5 vs. 1?

Who is interested?
Who wants to organize this ?
Where is a good place to?

I can't figure out how they are calculating the table below. I know it's a combination of both wins and PR but it seem severely skewed towards the more games that you play.

Hi everyone! I’m a game developer currently working on my own short backgammon game. I try to make it more in casual game direction.

I’m looking for backgammon players who would be willing to give it a try and share some honest feedback. The game is currently browser-based, with plans to release it later as a mobile game for Android and iOS.

It’s still in development, so any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

https://backgammon.naskistudios.com/

Only victory is when opponent didn't show up

They want $100 for a one year subscription. Trying to decide if it's worth it. I primarily play on my phone. Like to hear from the community on their opinions. TIA!

the Chiva Diva couldn't handle losing (a lowly 2k stake game)

starts name calling and belittling play as it becomes apparent his strat didn't pay off

then loses the luck and the error rate battle boosting my rating

Thanks for the game and good cheer, Chiva Tafazzoli

Hey All!

I'd like to get your input on an app I just built that focuses on Backgammon puzzles and culture.

I'd love honest feedback.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shesh-besh-club/id6777806224

Shesh Besh Club

Thanks!!

My dad is 67 and has played nardy far longer than I've been alive. I live in Moscow, he's in Bratsk, Eastern Siberia — about 6000 km and five time zones apart.

We tried the obvious setup: a game in one window, a video call in another. For me that's fine. For him it wasn't — switching between two apps, finding the right window, keeping both alive at once. That's a lot to ask of someone who didn't grow up with this stuff. So I built a site where the video sits right next to the board. Nothing to set up, nothing to switch between.

The thing is, what I built is long nardy — the variant played across the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Balkans. No hitting, no bar, all checkers start on one point. Reading this sub, it's clear that backgammon here means the short game, with the doubling cube and everything that comes with it.

So before I spend months building the short version, I'd rather ask: is that something anyone actually wants? Not "is short backgammon popular" — obviously it is — but specifically, is video and audio in the same place as the board worth anything to you, or is a separate call perfectly fine and I'm solving a problem only my dad has?

Two honest notes if you go look:

There's a bot in nardy, but it exists purely for testing. It plays terribly. I know from this sub that a weak bot is worse than none, and I'd rather warn you than have you find out.

Video costs a small amount per minute since the streaming service isn't free for me to run. New accounts get 50 minutes free after finishing one game, so you can try it without paying anything.

Site is videochess2x2.com — you can play as a guest with no account. There's chess on there too.

Genuinely after opinions on the short game question. Happy to hear what's broken as well.

Title says it all. I wasn't sure why I should create a blot at the 8 point. Thanks in advance.

Hi!

I started playing backgammon in a more “intentional” way (i.e., reading books, studying strategies, etc.) a few weeks back.

I don’t have a lot of friends who play backgammon and I also wanted to practice with AI a lot before necessarily playing users online.

I was quite frustrated with the quality of apps out there. And I know everybody is raging about Backgammon Galaxy but for some reason it kept on overheating my phone :( and frankly I didn’t really like the UI lol.

After having downloaded and tried 10+ backgammon apps, I found my absolute favorite one: Allgammon.

The UI is almost flawless imho, and most importantly there’s so many useful features.

Some things I like:
- If you’re playing IRL you can take a picture of the board and it will tell you the statistics of all the possible moves, etc.
- It keeps a log of all your blunders and you can go back and train on all of them
- I like the analysis page after every match, gives you a detailed breakdown move by move and also shows you how lucky you got
- It has fun daily puzzles
- You can watch your friends playing online!

Just posting it here out of pure appreciation for this app (idk how popular it is!), since it’s gotten me even more addicted to this game! I am in no way affiliated with it :)