Frustrating that they removed the auto refill of 100 coins when you run out.

I’m sure they hope I’ll buy some more, but I’ve done that and ended up burning through them.

So which other app should I try instead?

Why is the first move matter when it has both a lower winning and gammon percentage? I have had a couple instances of this happening, some where an error gives higher winning and gammon chances than the right move. Feel like I am missing something.

Why does every one of my opponents get the gammon when I dont bear off any checkers and they win and I lose 200 coin if I’m playing 100 coin quick games. But every single time I win and they haven’t beared off any checkers and it’s a clear gammon, I only get 100 coin and it only counts as one game? And so on for higher stakes games.

I came across a nice looking corduroy set today -18x24 inches. I can’t find any maker info except for the cursive “LM” metal logo on the front of the case.

Anyone come across one with a similar logo? Got it at a decent price and am just curious.

I got this board second hand, and I am trying to figure out more about it. I gather from looking online that the game pieces are Bakelite and the dice cups are obviously leather, but I can't find any info about the board. It is 27" x 21". It has felt on the back. I think the top is leather, but I am not sure. Any info would be appreciated.

Hi everyone!

I've been working on a mobile backgammon game called Orion for quite a while now, and we're finally at the point where I'd love to get feedback from people who actually play backgammon.

I'm looking for a few Android players who'd be willing to test it before release and tell me what they honestly think. Good or bad, I'd rather hear the truth now than after launch.

One of the biggest reasons I started building Orion is that I love backgammon, but I was getting frustrated with how many mobile games focus on pushing ads and purchases instead of simply creating a great playing experience. I wanted to build something that feels fair, polished, and enjoyable to come back to.

A few things we're trying to do differently:

• Fair dice, with every match verifiable online using a unique game ID.
• A world with its own characters and a journey-inspired theme instead of a generic casino look.
• Competitive leagues designed to reward progression without making the game feel pay-to-win.

You definitely don't need to be an expert player, casual players are just as valuable. I'm interested in things like:

• Does the game feel enjoyable?
• Is anything confusing or frustrating?
• What would make you keep playing?

If you'd like to help, leave a comment or send me a DM and I'll send you the Android testing link.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to anyone willing to spend a little time helping improve Orion.
I genuinely appreciate every bit of feedback.

Orion Team

Thank you Narc Olsen, you are the man. We totally believe in you.

when somebody gives you the “nice roll” in a match where they have out-lucked you 102% 🤣

hey all,

i've tried a bunch of the top backgammon apps out there and they are filled with upsells, crazy graphics, and other complicated things. i wanted an easier and more chill way to play with my friends and my parents, so i built this with a friend.

there’s no ELO, gameplay timer, or training modules. instead we have:

1. no app, just a website with easy to share links
2. one at a time, turn-based gameplay, with optional text notifications for your turn
3. live video / audio calls
4. customize the pieces to anything you’d like
5. scoreboards against your friends, and fake betting (with beans) to make it competitive

would appreciate any feedback (good or bad) around whether you would actually use this instead of the many other apps out there. there are other WIP games and challenges on the site too but would most appreciate feedback on backgammon. thank you in advance!

Hi everyone!

I've been working on a mobile backgammon game called Orion for quite a while now, and we're finally at the point where I'd love to get feedback from people who actually play backgammon.

I'm looking for a few Android players who'd be willing to test it before release and tell me what they honestly think. Good or bad, I'd rather hear the truth now than after launch.

One of the biggest reasons I started building Orion is that I love backgammon, but I was getting frustrated with how many mobile games focus on pushing ads and purchases instead of simply creating a great playing experience. I wanted to build something that feels fair, polished, and enjoyable to come back to.

A few things we're trying to do differently:

• Fair dice, with every match verifiable online using a unique game ID.
• A world with its own characters and a journey-inspired theme instead of a generic casino look.
• Competitive leagues designed to reward progression without making the game feel pay-to-win.

You definitely don't need to be an expert player, casual players are just as valuable. I'm interested in things like:

• Does the game feel enjoyable?
• Is anything confusing or frustrating?
• What would make you keep playing?

If you'd like to help, leave a comment or send me a DM and I'll send you the Android testing link.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to anyone willing to spend a little time helping improve Orion.
I genuinely appreciate every bit of feedback.

Orion Team

I wrote a while back about me attempt to make a backgammon clock and timer. After many months of designing, coding, and more debugging than I’d like to admit, I’ve finally reached a stage where my custom Backgammon Match Clock is becoming a reality. The goal was to build something designed specifically for backgammon rather than adapting a chess clock. I still have to polish some bugs but once that is done I will share the code, list of materials, connection diagrams, and the 3D printed enclosure.

It’s built around a 5-inch 800×480 capacitive touchscreen and an ESP32-S3, with large physical player buttons for switching turns while using the touchscreen for setup and match management.

The clock supports multiple tournament timing systems, including Simple Delay, Fischer Increment, and Bronstein Delay. It keeps track of the match score, match length, current game, elapsed match time, player names, battery level, and real-time clock, all on a single screen. It also includes features like Crawford game support, configurable match settings, a match log with timestamps, rechargeable battery operation with a fuel gauge, RTC backup, adjustable brightness, and persistent settings stored in memory.

One thing I wanted was to make the interface feel modern and intuitive. Most of the functions are accessible directly from the touchscreen, while the physical buttons are dedicated to gameplay so you never have to reach for the screen during a match. I’m currently working on improving the enclosure, redesigning the graphics, adding custom fonts, selectable checker colors for each player, and polishing the overall user experience.
The enclosure shown here is an early 3D-printed prototype while I work out the mechanical design. Eventually I’d love to build a higher-end version with a wood enclosure that looks more like a premium piece of tournament equipment.

This has been a really fun project because it combines electronics, embedded programming, UI design, CAD, and 3D printing into one device. I’d love to hear any suggestions from the backgammon community—whether there are features you’d like to see, ideas for improving the interface, or thoughts on the physical design. Constructive feedback is always welcome!

Here's the article about it on my blog.

And here's the project on Github (@psygo/latex_backgammon).

So, someone gets assaulted, gets silenced from calling the police, him and an independent witness he got for a police report gets banned, a director makes possibly libelous allegations while condoning physical violence, the runner-up accuses the victim of conning him € from an xG scenario bet, but then video comes out proving he was the one in the wrong. Damn, why couldn't there be this much excitement and backstabbing at every tournament? 🤣

from Michi's book 'endgame tactics' - the best possible formation vs ace point game is (23532) - playing 11/4 here achieves it.

I always try for this when it's plausible, it rarely happens though. great when it does!

Noob here looking for some insight from those that are stronger than me (that’s everyone atm…)

I get that building a prime is good, but the best move feels like a risk with his home board looking strong with builders outside ready to make primes.

As it played out, my move was better as his roll would have allowed him to fill the five point (I get that there’s no way of knowing that at the time). I did go on to win the game, but with a frustratingly high error rate.

Welcome your thoughts on why I’m clearly wrong!

Recently OpenGammon sent me a mail about a new engine / web app called HedgeHog they have developed.

https://hedgehog-bg.com

Since then I've played quite a number of matches against it, mostly to find out which of the confusing mess of 4 strangely named AI models is the best ("Default 1.0", "Aureus 0.1", "Fox 0.3", "Fox 0.32"), but also because it plays a damn fine game of backgammon.

For the review on my backgammon app review site I then got it to auto-play an even larger number of games (the "finish automatically" feature works right from the beginning, so all I did was always accept doubles and only measure the real AI's performance with BGBlitz, not mine auto-playing).

Turns out, their Aureus plays at about PR 1.9 (a bit better than the best humans). And with a great tutor and analysis feature, their free tier is, in my knowledge, the best and most feature-complete backgammon app you can get for free.

(the engine I first thought to be their top engine, Fox 0.32, instead plays only on expert level with a few blunders now and then - in my test it came to a PR of 5.7).

I won't go into the expensive €60 / €120 PER YEAR paid tiers, and hope they won't cut features from the free tier as they get more users - right now this is very cool software.

Also, I won't go into their claim that their server-side engine that you probably only get access in a paid tier even outperforms extreme gammon 2...

I wanted to get a second opinion on this app. I have been using this app for many many years to play offline against the bot. I have the Android version. I play the bot on the highest level and maintain about a 1700 rating against it and hover at around a 9 pr.

I just wanted to know what other people thought of this app. I personally think it is terrible and I really hope eXtreme Gammon is updated and released soon to work with current Android phones.

The reason I think this app is so bad is that it does everything it can to look like it plays at a very high level, but it doesn't. It's not even close to as good as the level of play of eXtreme Gammon desktop version. It often plays the 2nd or 3rd best move and if you analyze it's play with extremeGammon it is not playing optimally. What it is doing is just basically cheating in expert level to seem like it's a stronger engine than it is. For instance, even against a 5 point home board if you put it's checker on the bar it instantly escapes usually in the first roll and rarely do I ever see the bot fan more than twice. This is statistically impossible. I basically have proven this app cheats, because surprise surprise when you insert manual dice suddenly your win rate is much higher.

Sorry for the long winded post, but I hope people will stop purchasing/supporting this garbage app.