I like a lot of games from this developer so I wanted to give their backgammon a try. I’ve always wanted to learn and I liked the tutorial feature. However, once I completed the tutorial I was immediately thrown into gameplay against a computer opponent with no option to select a skill level (“novice” or “beginner” for example). From reading other reviews, it looks like that used to be a feature, so why did that go away? Now I find myself losing round after round as I’m still trying to figure out strategy against an opponent who is infinitely more “skilled” and always seems to have luckier dice rolls. (Also seeing a lot of negative reviews about the suspiciously lucky dice rolls by the opponent.) I’m not saying that I always have to win, but the dynamics don’t feel balanced. The dissatisfaction of feeling like I’m never going to get the hang of it makes me want to quit before I’ve really even gotten started. If only you could pick the skill level like you can with sudoku, I would rate it higher and stick with it instead of immediately deleting it.

I see I’m not the only person that things the game is a bit rigged. I win most every game, which is fine, but I notice that you can predict with near 100% accuracy what the machine is going to roll when you have an uncovered piece. Hint, it’s going to get your piece. I don’t think you ever play another human - which is the okay. The problem is that the machine plays a really poor game. When you double, the machine almost always declines. When you hit the auto play, the game moves at a speed that no once plays at and no one ever drops out mid game. So if you are looking for something that just passes the time, this game is fine. If you are looking to become a better player, this game isn’t for you.Update- after posting my review I received a snarky reply that the dice rolls are completely random. I completely disagree. At least three times a game I get the same roll three times in a row. While the computer/opposing player will get the exact roll needed to capture an uncovered piece in excess of 96% of the time. Yes, curiosity got the best of me and I kept track over the course of 20 games. I also found that when I would gammon my opponent, I stopped getting the multiplier - curious, it started after I wrote the first review. Now I’m just cranky. Avoid this game, it’s rigged.

So while this seems a little more realistic than other backgammon games available in the App Store it still suffers from the not so random dice roll generator. I understand losing games. I’m fine with that. It’s the constant losing I take issue with. The player you play against continually gets great rolls. If it was random the human player would also randomly great rolls. But that’s not the case. While the vs opponent gets a run that they need to put you in a no win situation it doesn’t come around to the player having the same run. The developers say it’s random but if it was random the player would randomly have a game that they stomp their opponent. That doesn’t happen with this game. It’s the constant stomping by the vs player that ruins it. After a bit it’s just no fun. Seeing your opponent roll high doubles 4 times in a game and you either get double 1s or no doubles at all. If you do roll double 6s it’s often when you’re on the rail or in a spot where you can’t move 6 pipes cause they aren’t available. I understand if it’s like this sometimes, but this is more often than sometimes. Still a smidge better than LotB, but not much. I’m not sure what the answer is. I just wish it was really random because you would randomly have a good game.

I like the graphics, I like the movement. after playing many games, I have found that once you become comfortable playing the game the programmers screw you. I have played hundreds of thousands of games of backgammon (over 40+ years) but this program gets to a point where it only rolls doubles for the opponent whilst you can only roll unusable combinations. It's like all the current computer games which are designed to teach you the only winning hand is to delete the app. I could have predicted the response of the developer – in fact I did predict the response of the programmer. they claim everything is as a result of a random number generator – that may be true after they've eliminated certain combinations already, depending on whether it's the program player or the live player. it would have been a wonderful game if they programmed it straight -but when in multiple games in sequence, the computer rolls high doubles on every roll & the human is given low non-usuable combinations on EVERY roll - that's not random. I was just amazed at how many times that the computer snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat in many consecutive games. I finally figured out the correct winning strategy – I deleted the app.