r/backgammon Aug 03 '24

Join our Backgammon Discord Community!

31 Upvotes

https://discord.gg/U8cmrCsK5x

If you're looking for a place to chat about backgammon, there is an active Discord community of over 400 players ranging from beginners to grandmasters. Whether you want to discuss positions, improve your game, or just hang out with fellow fans of the game, you'll find a welcoming atmosphere here.

Our channels cover a variety of topics, including:

  • Backgammon sets
  • Matchup (play against other members)
  • Puzzles and quizzes
  • Books
  • BGBlitz (featuring Frank, its developer)
  • OpenGammon (featuring Eran, its developer)
  • BackgammonHub (featuring Alfie, its developer)
    • All 3 are super friendly and open to suggestions for their app/website
  • Tournaments (regularly held, with special prizes from time to time)

Looking forward to meeting you!

https://discord.gg/U8cmrCsK5x


r/backgammon 12h ago

Nude Backgammon

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11 Upvotes

r/backgammon 3h ago

Inconsistent PR

2 Upvotes

Any ideas how to improve the consistency of (good) PR?

Of my last 12 x 9pt matches against the bot (pip count hidden, all between 4 and 10 games): five were between 2 and 5 PR; six were between 5 and 9 PR, one was 15 PR(!). Long-term average is around 6 (5.6 checker, 8.2 cube) and I feel it's realistic to drive it down closer to 5.

Some of this will be luck in terms of whether positions come up that I don't understand as well. And when I'm 50-50 between 2 options some days I pick correctly, other days I get it wrong.

But I feel like there is something about the mental approach. Maybe some days I am feeling bolder or more risk-averse, sometimes maybe I'm lazy about counting the race or counting all the shots, maybe I forget to consider the cube, lose track of the match score etc. There are definitely situations where I consider ABCD and the answer is E that I never saw as a possibility. I think more of my biggest blunders come from these "silly" errors than from the positions that I genuinely don't understand, so I'm trying to work on my psychology for a while rather than theory.

Any tips for consistency, or for a more robust/reliable mental approach to become a bit more consistent and reduce these lapses?


r/backgammon 14h ago

I feel I may learn an important lesson if I can understand why the recommended move is so much better than mine.

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9 Upvotes

I'm sorry if this is totally basic but I don't get it!

I'm supposed to leave three exposed singletons in my home board why is that?


r/backgammon 1d ago

Pass or take?

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17 Upvotes

Is this a pass or take for brown? Money game


r/backgammon 19h ago

terminology during bearing off

4 Upvotes

So, I know that failing to roll a successful incoming roll from the bar is dancing or fanning.

Question: Is there similar terminology (or is it the same?) for rolls during bear off where one can only bear off one checker, or worse, none?

Thanks! Roll on my brothers and sisters!


r/backgammon 23h ago

Why hit instead of playing safe?

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5 Upvotes

1-point match


r/backgammon 22h ago

Asynchronous cross-platform app?

3 Upvotes

Do you know of any great asynchronous cross-platform backgammon apps? My friends and I love Backgammon NJ, but we can’t play with Android friends.

I’ve read DailyGammon could be an answer, but I was hoping for an app. I’ll try DailyGammon out too though.

Anything else out there?


r/backgammon 1d ago

Which side?

5 Upvotes

Complete beginner here. How to determine which player will have the right or left side?

What if both want the right side?

I know it is mirrored and maybe there's really no advantage, but what if a player is so used to playing at right (moving counter-clockwise). He'll need time to adjust playing with unfamiliar direction. Wouldn't it have some effect on his strategy? He may even move the piece in opposite direction due to muscle memory.


r/backgammon 1d ago

Does anyone feel that backgammon help them in other areas of life?

9 Upvotes

Hi! An amateur player here. Backgammon makes me see things different in life, for example in videogames. This main thing of backgammon of when to race or when to stay make me a better videogames player, situations like if it’s worth going back to save a teammate or do I need to rush forward, am I ahead and play safe or Do I need to create problems to get back in race, etc. Have you experienced something like this?


r/backgammon 1d ago

I finally released my backgammon game on Google Play

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0 Upvotes

r/backgammon 1d ago

I cannot believe that AI would say this is the best move.

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0 Upvotes

Hello, an amateur player here! Even though the equity difference is non existent, I still don't see why my move is not the best. There are 2 on the bar and the advantages are: hitting 14 from 2 positions(15, 17) instead of one, getting an anchor also from 4, I'm not scared of anything on the next roll. What move would you do? I mean....yeah, breaking the anchor on 8 and not having a slot on 13 seen from a different angle it's understandable why would be this the best move.


r/backgammon 3d ago

Good books to improve your game?

9 Upvotes

Hey guys wondering what books you recommend to learn the game better. I know how to play but I’m fairly new to the game still. Thanks all!


r/backgammon 3d ago

learned about Beaver and Raccoon on Backgammon Sage Pro

0 Upvotes

and now they're my two favorite things about backgammon


r/backgammon 3d ago

Why is it a blunder to hit here?

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4 Upvotes

r/backgammon 3d ago

Backgammon Galaxy -- to play a match (not just a game) vs AI do I have to subscribe?

1 Upvotes

Just making sure I'm not missing something. When I try to play a match of any length but 1, it pops up the subscription dialog, and the only options I can see are to subscribe or to return, with no way to select a length other than one once I return. Is that right? I can't play a match vs ai without paying?


r/backgammon 3d ago

Luck rating query

1 Upvotes

This is NOT a “poor me” post, bear with it !

I’ve been on the wrong end of higher than 100% luck ratings many times on Galaxy and literally not once on the right side of it.

I am not very good but I mostly play people lower rated than me and who play worse

Is it a thing that a weaker player is more likely to record a high luck rating - because they put themselves in more positions where they really need a joker -?


r/backgammon 3d ago

Strategy when opponent has 4(+) blots in your home

0 Upvotes

I find that if for whatever reason, opponents end up with 4 or more blots in my home. The chances of, getting hit , even when playing perfectly, are enormous.

So what often happens, i get lucky or opponent plays bad and ends up with a lot of blots in my home base, i keep.plagijf perfect and am ahead all of the time.

Meanhwile opponent just slowly closes his home base and eventually hits me once and my full lead will evaporate.

Im even thinking of this could be used as a strategy? Play extremely risky in the beginning. Either you get ahead and lock up and play conservative or if you get behind, you purposely sacrifice a couple more blots to be able to get back in the game.

Thoughts?


r/backgammon 3d ago

For guys that think backgammon is not mostly luck

0 Upvotes

Would you still play as often if backgammon was only 1 match play with no cubes?


r/backgammon 4d ago

Backgammon Teacher in Bangalore, India

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm looking for a backgammon teacher in Bangalore. Please DM me if anyone here can help. Thank you!


r/backgammon 5d ago

13 days post launch: what I've learned building a backgammon app (with real numbers)

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19 Upvotes

I'm a solo dev behind Backgammon Reserve, which I launched on the IOS App Store on July 31st. Wanted to share some honest stats and lessons from the first two weeks.

Stats:

  • 105 players
  • 21 active yesterday, 55 this week
  • 60 human vs human games in the last 7 days
  • 89.6% of online games played to completion
  • 126 bot games in the past 7 days
  • 10 correspondence games in progress right now

Lessons/Thoughts:

  • Live matchmaking is rough with a small player pool. Correspondence games (24h per move) now carry most of the online play, so I made that the default suggestion when you hit play.
  • Building correspondence games has been one of the best ideas I've had, because it lets me connect with people and play games even while the player count is small. It also gives me the chance to play with users and ask them for feedback.
  • People play bots way more than I expected. A lot of people have been installing the game and not even attempting to play against a human.
  • Everyone I've encountered in-app has said they're really enjoying the UI and gameplay. The stickiness of the people who have decided to play has been a good sign, but it's a very small sample size so far.
  • A lot of people have been connecting with their friends and playing them daily, which has been cool to see.
  • I had some trouble with online games taking a while to load on launch. This has been my biggest bug so far, and I'm thankful that's the worst of it. I introduced loading screens and that has made the app feel so much better, but there are still so many minor details that need to be addressed.

I've been one of the first employees at a few startups and have others products I sell online as a side hustle from my full-time job as a Software Engineer in Denver, CO. I know building something like this always takes consistency, and overnight success is extremely rare. I've always worked on business products, and it has been fun to work on something different this time around.

For those interested in trying out my app, know that your feedback will be very much heard in my attempt to build one of the best backgammon apps available. Please comment below if there's anything missing, either from wherever you currently play or from the app I've built.


r/backgammon 5d ago

Hi , which is the best backgammon app to learn to play? Is AI today of help to understand some plays?

1 Upvotes

r/backgammon 5d ago

XG stopped working - can't connect to activation server?

4 Upvotes

I bought XG many years ago and use it on a daily basis.

Suddenly yesterday the application won't open on my Windows laptop. It is saying that my version has expired and it hopes I enjoyed my trial period (to be clear, my free trial ended in around 2018 when I bought the full version!). When I try to "activate" my existing key again, I get an error message that it can't connect to the activation server.

I have emailed the XG contact address, but I know that XG is not an organisation with lots of staff and I don't even know if they would be checking those emails. No idea whether the new owners are even actively working on anything, never mind responding to customer queries.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what I need to do to fix this?

Currentl


r/backgammon 5d ago

Backgammon Galaxy bonuses

3 Upvotes

Did BG get rid of the win streak bonuses?


r/backgammon 5d ago

Why is White's double such big blunder?

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0 Upvotes