Backgammon: Play the Computer Free Online

Backgammon: Play the Computer is our own take on one of the oldest board games there is. You have fifteen light checkers, the computer has fifteen dark ones, and you race them around the board in opposite directions. Bring all of yours into your home board, bear them off into the tray, and the first side with every checker off wins.

The full standard rules are here. A lone checker is a blot: land on it and it goes to the bar, and it must come back in through the other side's home board before that side moves anything else. A point with two or more checkers is closed to the other side. A double moves four times. You must use both dice when you can, and the larger one when only one fits. Win before the computer has borne off a single checker for a gammon, worth 2 points, or a backgammon, worth 3, if it also still has a checker on the bar or in your home board. There is no doubling cube: every game is played out to the end.

Playing is quick on a phone or a computer. Roll, tap a checker, and every point it can reach this turn lights up, including the far ones that use both dice; tap one and the checker moves there, or drag it if you prefer. Undo takes back moves until your turn ends. Both pip counts stay on screen the whole time, so you always know who is ahead in the race. On a tall phone screen the board turns sideways to keep the checkers big. In the settings you can show the point numbers, have the dice rolled for you, let the game bear off for you once the race is on, and choose whether a turn ends by itself or waits for you to press Done.

The computer comes in three levels. Easy plays sensible moves but often misses the best one. Medium weighs the race, its blots and the points it holds. Hard does the same and then looks one roll ahead at every reply you could make. It moves in well under a second, thinking in the background so the board stays smooth.

The daily game gives everyone the same dice in the same order, against the Hard computer, so the luck is shared and the leaderboard is fair. Your first finished daily game each day counts. A win scores 1,000 per point won (1, 2 or 3) plus the pips the computer still had to go, so a crushing win beats a close one. A loss scores 10 for each checker you bore off. The best possible score is 3,375.

The only paid item is a hint, which costs gems and plays the Hard computer's choice for your roll; you can undo it. Backgammon: Play the Computer is free to play in your browser with no download or sign-up, and its board, sound effects and music are all made for the game.