Board game · by text or vs the computer
Backgammon
Play a friend one turn at a time over text, or take on the computer.
Play backgammon with a friend by text
No need to be free at the same time. Play your roll, tap Send, and your friend gets a link by text. They open it, see your move on the board, play their turn and send it back. A game can last an evening or a week.
How to play
- Each player has 15 checkers. You move yours around the board towards your home board (bottom right, points 1 to 6), then bear them off. The first to bear off all 15 wins.
- Move one checker by each die, or one checker by both. Doubles count four times. You can land on any point that doesn’t hold two or more of your opponent’s checkers.
- Land on a single enemy checker (a blot) to hit it: it goes to the bar and must come back in through your home board before that player can move anything else.
- You must use both dice if you can. If only one can be used, it must be the larger one when that’s possible. With no legal move, your turn passes.
- Once all your checkers are in your home board you can bear off. A die higher than any point you hold bears off your furthest-back checker.
- The game opens with each player rolling one die: the higher die moves first and plays both numbers.
- Tap a checker to see where it can go (a ring shows a move that uses both dice), then tap the point. Undo works until you send.
Single games, gammons and backgammons
Each game stands alone: there’s no doubling cube and no match score. Win before your opponent bears off a single checker and it’s a Gammon! If they still have a checker on the bar or in your home board, it’s a Backgammon!
Fair dice, even by text
Every game gets a random seed when it starts. Each turn’s dice come from that seed and the turn number, so the link fixes the dice: nobody can roll again for a better number.
Play the computer
Tap vs Computer and pick a level. Easy plays any legal move, Medium hits and builds points, and Hard weighs every way to play the roll, counting the shots it leaves you, its primes and the race.
Tips for new players
- Make points in your home board, especially your 5 point: they block your opponent and make hitting you costly.
- Avoid leaving single checkers where your opponent has lots of rolls to hit them.
- Check the pip counts: if you’re well ahead in the race, run and stop fighting.
More two-player games: Chess, Pass the Putt, Minesweeper Duel and the Daily Duel.