Backgammon ‪∙‬ 4+

I enjoyed playing this app for a couple of years and must play 5 - 10 games a day, but some the new changes are disappointing: Firstly, the new colours lack contrast and are a touch too pale and the fat dots on the dice look child like, as does the font. You’re a couple of marks wide of looking like a sophisticated and modern game. Secondly, and more important, the hard mode seems to have gone ballistic. It has always been predictable in throwing more doubles when losing to you, but since the change, the moment one of your pieces is taken out it goes into overdrive and gets every single number it needs and the dice give virtually non that you receive - it’s really so noticeable that I’ve almost stopped playing and considering deleting the app as it’s completely non-realistic. Please change. Thanks

The plus point - the game is almost ad free. I’m a beginner so it was useful to learn the rules and some basic strategy. I began with the easy option and soon moved onto the medium level. After a while I tried the hard level and that’s when I realised that the levels are not defined by the app opponent’s strategy, but by the dice. They are not random, illustrated by the fact that the first roll to determine who starts never comes up as a double, yet often when clearing the board, the opponent may roll three consecutive doubles, usually fours and above, while you get twos and ones. If they have a counter on the bar, it frequently returns first throw and often takes one of your single counters. I will add that you will benefit from this from time to time, more in the easy level and less in the hard one. At first I thought I was winning through strategy, but eventually I realised that the dice determine the result. As a test, after the app had conveniently rolled the exact numbers to take my counter, I used the ‘undo’ button to get to my previous move. I placed the counters in different positions this time. The app rolled different numbers and again took my counter. There is nothing random about the dice.

Used to like playing this, but now see little point as the computer is obviously set up to allow it to win the majority of games. If you take a chance and it knocks you out, it is very difficult to roll dice to get back in, even if only two columns are blocked, you will roll those numbers, can take several times to get back in, if you knock the computer out, you may only have one clear column for it to get back in, but you can guarantee it will roll that number. On clearing your chips you can guarantee that the computer will roll several high four of a kind where you will roll ones and twos. Highly fixed game, and now not really worth bothering with. Very poor. The more I play this game, the more I am convinced it’s biased, how many doubles it awards itself against low dice for player is unbelievable, don’t use this it’s frustrating, fifteen games today and each time the computer went first and doubled its way to win. Hate the game, it’s being binned.