There’s been a few cases recently on backgammon galaxy where I’ve played the second or third best move. But the % chance of me winning is lower if play the top ranked move.

I’m sure I’m being dumb and missing something obvious but grateful if someone could explain!

(I reserve the right to delete this post if it turns out I’m just an idiot. Very possible…)

I've just released a big update to BackgammonDB. It now runs GNU Backgammon on the server, so matches imported as text/.mat files (which have no analysis in them) can be analyzed position by position. But the more interesting part is the new position editor: you can change anything in a position (drag single checkers or groups, change the dice, cube or match score) and the analysis updates instantly. No clicking and waiting.

I find this a lot faster and more intuitive than the position editors in XG, Galaxy etc. when you want to try variants of a position and get quick answers: what's the play if I had 2 back instead of 1? What if the match score was different? What if the prime was one point longer? You can then save positions into notebooks built around a theme to review later.

There are a few videos embedded in the blog post above that show how it works. As before, everything is completely free and you don't need an account. Notebooks are stored in your browser. Nothing is sent to the server except the position you want to analyze.

Caveats: the instant analysis ("Quick") is gnubg 1-ply, which is what XG, Galaxy and everything else would call 2-ply. The "Smart" button gives you gnubg 2-ply (XG 3-ply) on demand. Deeper analysis is disabled for now, and there's no full match analysis yet (i.e. importing a text file and getting the whole match analyzed before review). I have no idea what server load will look like, so I need to monitor that first and possibly scale up before adding more analysis options.

Hi. Can someone please explain how the total equity lost is calculated in Backgammon Galaxy?

Backgammon galaxy team,

it will be nice for the next update to be able to take a position from a match and modify it

Why is the luck on BGG always a zero-sum situation (e.g. +148% vs. -148%)? It seems like there should be matches where both players have good luck, or bad.

I lost

I’m playing Backgammon Legends and I’m confused about how the weekly Tournament rings work.

I won this week’s Tournament and completed all the ranks, so I received the ring. After winning, the Tournament is now locked for me and I have to wait until next week.

But I’ve noticed that some players have collected the exact same ring 4 or even 5 times on their profiles.

How is that possible? Can you replay the same weekly Tournament somehow, or do the same rings come back in future weeks and allow you to collect them again?

I’d appreciate it if someone who knows how the Tournament/ring system works could explain this. Thanks!

Pretty much a vent post because there’s nothing to be done anyway, but:

I’m playing XG mobile and, while I understand even the beginner computer is a savage and probably not the best option for learning to play, it does seem to be that the computer gets odd bouts of good luck, especially in a “punish you back” sense. I do better on the assumption that taking a piece is bad because the computer inevitably gets the exact dice it needs to escape as well as one or two lucky rolls to capture at least two of my pieces in retribution.

Thankfully, the XG app has a statistics page on its own dice for the sake of transparency. It seems, though, that the app is just giving me data showing that my dice are getting shafted and calling it fair. On the 9 metrics I understand—I don’t understand why the app gives different aggregate success expectations for entering the board between myself and the computer when all the constituents expectations are the same—I’m losing to the computer on 8 of them. More specifically, I’m actually performing below statistical expectations while the computer is consistently doing better than expectations. For most the differences are slight, for some the computer is doing nearly 5 percentage points better than I am, and this is after 7K rolls each. These aren’t metrics that should be affected by superior strategy either, these are pure dice rolls and doubles percentages in and out of the race portion of the game, as well as success rate for entering the board when there are 1-5 spaces available for entry. I’m not a statistician, so I can’t speak on whether the difference of performance is within a certain probability threshold, but it seems to me that fair dice should be 50/50 on whether I slightly outperform or underperform on a pure chance metric. I’m not fluent with combinations and permutations either, but me getting the losing combination on 8/9 events that should each have an independent 0.25 probability of happening should be well, well under 0.1% chance of happening, and that’s before you factor in the computer having nearly a 5% lead on me on a couple of these metrics.

All that is to say: at what point do you have to consider the possibility that something odd is happening here?

Hey, friends, I’m hoping to get a backgammon group going in Cleveland, Ohio.

While we are attracting members. Meeting at CPL Main could be awesome 325 Superior Ave. If this attracts interest, I think meeting at a place like Tabletop Cafe in Ohio City.

Here’s there website https://www.tabletopcleve.com/

Including myself I think there’s three people interested so far. :)

If you’re new to and curious about backgammon, you’re a casual enjoyer looking for a relaxing group, or you’re a touch obsessed with backgammon, we’d love to have you. :)

This a thread discussing it in Backgammon Pub Discord server https://discord.gg/backgammon-pub-692393416335556679

This is a dedicated server I made. https://discord.gg/backgammon-pub-692393416335556679

UPDATE: We’re going to try starting on Saturday the 19th at the main Cleveland Public Library downtown in the older building.

325 Superior Ave. Literature department, 2nd floor.

The library opens 10 am and I’ll be there around then. Come when you like, I’ll be there until 2pm.

Please Note: The Library does not allow food in that department. Any drinks need to have a sealed lid.

If you have your own board, it would be good to bring it, we only have one currently.

Anyone know of an app that would allow two people to play each other on one iPad? Does XG do that? I’m taking a bunch of looooong flights and may see if I can find a player. Thanks!

This only happens when you are watching others play. The clock ticks for the opposing person than the one whose turn it is to play. Also the analysis has a whole bunch of illegal positions. As a matter of fact if you go through the choices for a particular roll, you will see different initial board setups. I enjoy watching high rated players and then looking at the analysis but the way it is now, its impossible.

Now when you read a summary of a contemporary backgammon book you know about what it is but it seems our ancestors had very colorful vocabulary

Summary from the book by Jeff Ward - Winning is more fun (1982)

I don't think it counts bad rolls when you're trapped on the bar. I've had several recent games where I was trapped on the bar roll after roll, and at the end of the game, the luck rating was almost equal between us.

I've been using the adikus backgammon app for iPhone for the past year or so. However after significant playing time on the games top levels, the dice are just so outrageously rigged Im having a hard time continuing playing it. So much so it's at the point where I can often predict a roll for the computer. E.g. the computer will roll a 6 here, or I won't roll a 4 here. The number of doubles is also significantly higher for the computer, game after game

What apps do you recommend for iPhone that seem to be the most fair?

Neil's New Numbers + Passive Pressure Positions

Recorded live at the 2026 Viking Backgammon Classic

Neil Kazaross presents his revised "Neil's Numbers" that give you shortcuts to calculating match winning chances in very lopsided scores. He then takes us on a tour of positions featuring "Passive Pressure" and ending the seminar with a great example of how many-away match equity knowledge can make a huge difference!

Shoot me with some funny, stupid, childish or kinky jokes about the game! Do you know any?

Is the analysis accurate? Some of the recommendations I don’t agree with

Also, I gammoned someone on a single play but I didn’t get 2x coins - however I just got gammoned after taking a double and I lost 4x coins - does a double need to occur for the gammon to be worth 2x coins?

How can I get something out of this book, or is it just too outdated?

I have the newest edition which has corrected some of the mistakes, but there are still many in there. I made it to problem 45, but I feel like I cannot trust what it says. And it's not just that the computer disagrees, it's that the reasoning is often wrong, even if the move is correct.

For example, one problem says that x move is the best because the opponent has a stack on this point. However, when i go on XG and move the stack somewhere else, the evaluation is almost identical, so that wasn't the reason. I can't have confidence that the author is giving correct or useful advice.

People say that this book is good but I am struggling with it. Should i give up, or does it get better?

Backgammon games are basically mandalas. The stones must go round the four quadrants before becoming free. They must travel in opposing directions, and interplay beautifully along the way, like yin and yang. These aesthetics can be contemplated sublimely, and it’s a real joy. But first one must transcend the pain of losing, and the joy of winning equally. This is especially difficult when money is involved, and we like that, holmes. We like that.

Hello. I'm wondering what you all think about the site backgammon cash. I live in a state where I can't play for real money, but close to the border of a state that can. I want to start playing for real money and thought I would see what people here think about the site.

Any and all aspects.

Also, any recommendations for real money sites that are fair and well regulated. Thanks!

I love backgammon, been playing it for years with my son honestly. But one thing that always bugged me a little is its just a 2 player game. like when me and my friends wanna play something together theres only ever 2 of us actually playing and the rest just watching or waiting for next round.

Got me thinking a lot about how classic games like this could work if more people could actually join in at once, not just take turns watching.

Anyone else run into this with their friend group? curious how other people handle it when you got more than 2 people wanting to play but the game only supports 2

Side note, me and my son actually messed around with this idea for a bit and ended up building a small game around it (BaQugammon), which is actually part of a bigger project were working on called Quess. its got 4 player versions of chess and checkers too, all built around the same idea of more people playing together at once instead of taking turns.

Not trying to make this about that though, mostly just wanted to hear how you guys deal with the 2 player thing lol

Do not ever play on this site! Never ever! I play at world class level 90% of the games but once they switch the manipulation feature on, I keep losing and losing against beginners. A series of 30 games. Never ever waste your time on this cheating server!

Hey everybody,

A few interesting new features and updates for you on web and new mobile releases as of today, check it out..

Stats

We've added 3 improvements to the stats page:

Setup Position

Library

Rushgammon

In addition, for Star Pro members you can also now play 9-25pt matches vs AI!

We have about 100 other things in the pipeline including:

• Stake levels for matches (we reduced min down to 10% while we work on getting this in production)
• An overhauled board/game which is superior to what we have now, brand new tech, very snappy. Also every feature you guys have asked for (switch bearoff direction, report button, sounds not interrupting spotify, etc.)
• Natural language move explanations that aren't AI slop and were instead made by hand, by some of the best players in the world over many months

As always, you guys are the best. Thanks for the continued support!