True Backgammon HD 4+

game is okay

Play it for yourself and draw your own conclusions. I tend to agree with those who experience frustration with favourable rolls at opportune times from the computer player. It can get annoying when you have played a sound game. Sure you are playing a computer who will make the right move most of the time but when you dominate a game and still lose at the end due to a ridiculously lucky roll or terrible roll combinations forcing you into a vulnerable position, which happens all too frequently, there is something going on... No human player would be that consistently lucky. I have played this game 100's of times before coming to my conclusions. It is still better than most with good graphics. I have thought at times that the computer player comes off as one who cannot stand getting beat so needs to cheat in the end. LOL. I have read the developers comments to similar claims from others. Again, don't take my word for it, draw your own conclusions.

Lives up to its name! (And stop complaining about the dice.)

I'm updating this review, which I wrote a couple of years ago. I can tell you, based on playing this game for way too many hours, that there's no problem with the algorithm, which generates truly random dice rolls. The problem is human nature: we notice only the headwinds. Sure, there are a lot of games where I curse the computer. But there are just as many games where, if the computer could talk, it would complain at my luck or accuse me of stacking the dice.

As I wrote previously, Backgammon lovers will love this game. I have a beautiful leather backgammon table, so I sprang for the "leather" board design option. Feels almost like the real thing. And the reviews complaining that the dice are rigged are nonsense. Sometimes the computer wins; sometimes I win. And yes, sometimes, it feels like my opponent is rolling doubles way too often, just as it feels like my lane is always slower than the lanes around me in a traffic jam. Finally, I really appreciate the developer's responsiveness to my queries and his commitment to making True Backgammon the best computer backgammon out there.

Developer Response ,

Thank you very much for your warm review. You made my day :)

Terrible algorithm ruins what could be a good game!

The set up of this game is quick and easy but it is just about impossible to play a fair game when you play against the computer. You will find that the roll of the dice is anything but random. The consistency shown by the computerized player is mathmatically and statistically impossible. The laws of probability seem to preternatutally favor the "house" which will hit just about EVERY open man, ALWAYS and without exception. You will NEVER roll a high number when you need to get your pieces off the board while the computer will roll double after high double! In addition, the computerized player will always roll a number that will cover any of it's open pieces and block you 100% of the time. If you are a skilled player, you have no advantage whatsoever. You can win of course, but the fun of Backgammon is the element of randomness. This game removes ALL randomness. Whomever programmed the algorithm, should revisit the programming in the next release to enhance the fun and make the game equitable so skill is rewarded. Don't take my word for it however. Download this game, play it for awhile and form your own opinion!

Developer Response ,

From time to time the app shows an information dialog about the various possibilites the app is offering to help users prove that the app is not cheating. A list of all upcoming dice rolls can be displayed by pressing the small dice symbol in the right app menu to convince users who think that the computer rolls dice depending on the game situation. A button inside the dice dialog is available to create new dice at any time for people who think that the computer derive a benefit from the fact that he could know the upcoming dice. And there is an option to switch the app to manual dice roll, so that everyone can prove with one or two matches up to 15 points that the success rate against the computer will not increase. Believe me, as the programmer of this app I do not have the slightest benefit from writing an app which cheats, and which makes customers unhappy. This simply does not make sense. The BGBlitz-Engine from Frank Berger, available in the In-Appstore, is probably the best backgammon engine in the world. No human player will often win against such an AI, those engines are made mostly for training purposes. The feeling that the computer is cheating is even higher when playing against such an engine. The main reason is, that in a Backgammon game that one best move does not exist, but it is all about probabilities to play the game in a way, that your opponent is unable to use most possible dice rolls, while you are able to use nearly every dice roll. And this is something a computer can do much better than most casual gamers. The result is that a human most of the time has a feeling of never get the dice he is hoping for, while the computer always gets dice which fit into the game.