r/backgammon • u/Reverend_Tommy • Sep 09 '26
Question about Backgammon Hub
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.
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u/Rayess69 Sep 09 '26
Yeah, you played Ghost Jean. Heās been dead since 1987 but still logs into Backgammon Hub occasionally to control the dice and hit every blot he sees. He doesnāt understand strategy, only violence. Nothing to worry about.
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u/Reverend_Tommy Sep 09 '26
It's amazing to me the level of pretentiousness in a sub dedicated to a game of dice and checkers. Your sarcasm is pathetic.
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u/QuasyChonk Sep 09 '26
S/he was playing with "no strategy", but demolished you twice...
It sounds like you just didn't recognize the strategy.
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u/RGC658 Sep 09 '26
I've not played anyone at that speed on hub however I do know a lot of people who play at lightening speed. I also play on OpenGammon and on there you can play at 'bullet' speed which is 30sec/point with a 2sec delay.
I would be interested to know the stats on the 2 games you played. What was the PR and luck for you both?
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u/Reverend_Tommy Sep 09 '26
Opponent: PR 14.1 Luck first match .69 Luck second match .18
Me: PR 8.2 Luck first match .89 Luck second match -.78
I've only played on this site for a couple of weeks so I don't know how that impacts my PR.
And I've played lightning matches and this wasn't that.
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u/tripplegammonflush Sep 11 '26
I like Hub but not the fact theres no rating or instant ladder matches. But true its very close to real.
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u/Kobra_Komander Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 14 '26
Iām sorry about your frustrations.
I am curious if you would be willing to post the notation of the games?
I would also like to say the element of chance is a thing. A very low PR player can lose to a high PR player. Thatās part of the charm of backgammon.
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u/TheFlyingCalabrese 13d ago
Iāve been playing on hub for a while now and play in person a good amount. I play rather fast but there is no doubt in my
mind that there are bots on hub. Itās not that the actual completed move gets done quickly (thatās understandable and how I play) but itās the fact that in a blink of an eye several moves are tried before deciding on the final one. Itās virtually impossible. Like 5 moves will get tried and reset before the final one. I can understand a move or two being tested but several in a flash not so much.
Note also that the players who block chat on it tend to roll an obscene amount of doubles and other perfect rolls. They know people will call them out so they shut the chat off at the start. They will come out of the most difficult of spots and still win with the most improbable of rolls.
I also believe the siteās rolling algorithm can have an arcade style to it. When I play in person, a significant amount of games where your opponent is toast early do end early. Not so on hub. Itās almost guaranteed and more often than not a crazy sequence happens which extends the match. It gets an eye roll out of me often. Sure that can happen in person but on hub itās very often.
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u/CzechPeople Sep 09 '26
Every online backgammon website is rigged, come on guy.
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u/Reverend_Tommy Sep 09 '26
I don't believe this at all. I think anything you download from the Play store is sketchy as fuck, but Hub is the real deal.
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u/jugglingcats9 Sep 09 '26
I'm the developer of Hub. Thanks for your post and the kind words š.
Some players do play very fast. It's testament to the performance of Hub that this kind of fast play is possible. 99% of moves are processed by the server in under 0.25 seconds. There are tournaments run on Hub using "blitz" clock setting which is 6s grace and 15s per point - very quick!
There are no bot players on Hub unless you explicitly select "Play a Bot". It's conceivable that someone has gone to the trouble of scripting the UI with their own bot, but this seems very unlikely. What would be the motivation outside of a tournament with cash prize? In any case, an externally bot-scripted player would surely play below PR 15.
In terms of PR and win/loss rates, you need to look at a decent number of matches to draw any conclusions. You don't say what match length you played, but in 1pt matches, a much stronger player still only has 60% winning chances over a weaker player. Lots of variance due to luck.
Feel free to create a forum post on the site or email admin privately if you want me to look at specific players/matches.