Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 10:19 pm
True Backgammon – Board Game Review
True Backgammon is a Board/Casino game from CompuLab, first launched in 1st April 2010.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 2,635+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes True Backgammon Stand Out
One of the most successful backgammon games on the iPad/iPhone, one of the most powerful computer opponents in the world.
ALL THE FACTS IN UNDER 30 SECONDS
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Play against computer or humans. Choose from three difficulty levels. Play on a cool modern wood or metal board, or choose from beautiful and richly ornamented optional boards. Play from left or right or play using black or white checkers. Play against friends in the same room or play against people anywhere on the Internet. Your choice, your game.
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One of the best backgammon AI in the world (BGBlitz) is available as an in-app purchase as your opponent or tutor. Find out how good you already are and let BGBlitz teach you how to get better. After all, who doesn't like to win?
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Connect with friends by playing with them in 2-player mode on the same device or anywhere in the world over the network. An occasional game is a great way to stay in touch with friends or to meet new people.
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Available for iPad and iPhone (iOS 12 or later). Optimised for the latest iOS.
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You could be playing backgammon like never before in less than a minute. What are you waiting for?
STILL NOT CONVINCED? READ MORE…
ALWAYS READY WHEN YOU ARE – COMPUTER OPPONENT
Whether in the middle of the night or during your coffee break, your computer is always ready for a match. Choose from three difficulty levels to suit your skill level. For those who want to play only the best, a world-class artificial intelligence opponent is available as an in-app purchase. Casual play or competitive match? True Backgammon has an opponent for you that is fun to play with or that is a teeth grinding challenge.
PLAY WITH PEOPLE NEAR YOU – GAME BOARD MODE
Imagine you are with friends and want to pass the time with a game? Or are you on the train playing against the computer and one of your fellow commuters turns out to be a backgammon player too? You don't need to carry around a real board with you all the time. Instead, True Backgammon is your board.
CONNECT WITH FRIENDS OR PLAY AGAINST RANDOM OPPONENTS ONLINE – GAME CENTER
Would you rather play against a human than an AI, but there is no opponent in sight? Join the growing community of people playing True Backgammon online every day on an iPad, iPhone, iPod, iMac or MacBook. There's always someone ready to play. And not only can you play with them, you can talk to them using the built-in voice chat.
BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER – GAME BOARDS
We didn't just want to make good AI and smooth gameplay, we also wanted to make it look good. No, not just good… we wanted them to look drop dead gorgeous. We found a skilled designer and then tortured him with feedback until we were satisfied. The result is two boards (metal and wood) that look awesome, while offering little visual distraction to keep you focused on your strategy. And for those who love a little distraction, we let the designer run wild with a selection of (optional) fancy boards, rich in decoration and beautiful detail. Which is your favourite?
AAAND ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BOARD, A MULTI-OLYMPIC CHAMPION AI – BEEE GEEEE BLITZ
From time to time there is an Olympic tournament for backgammon programs. We have persuaded the creator of the three-time winner BGBlitz to make his AI available to True Backgammon users. This AI is a world class opponent for those who want to play only the best. And it is a patient tutor. BGBlitz offers a tutor mode that will point out moves that are not optimal and show you better ones. It also gives you statistics, and you can export your current game to the common SGF format to analyse it with other applications like XG2, BGBlitz or gnuBG.
WHAT ELSE CAN WE SAY?
To cut a long story short, we have put a lot of effort into this application, not only in the gameplay, but on every level. If you choose it, we are sure you will not be disappointed.
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, True Backgammon is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 12th October 2025
Recent improvements include:
- Minor bugs fixed
- Optimized for iOS 26 and macOS 26
If you like this app and want to support its development, please rate it 5 stars, or even better, write a nice review. I appreciate your support.
Download & Availability
True Backgammon is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get True Backgammon on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We can honestly say that this app has helped improve our game. We are so glad we upgraded to the tutor mode. Thank you! Maybe we can get our BMAB rating down a bit.
Really great app. With the Bg blitz engine and tutor installed, it's by far the best backgammon app available. Beautifully done — highly recommended.
But.after the last update a nasty bug came in. When you double click in the gamefield the whole game gets smaller. Then double click again and its back to full screen.
Its a shame the beautiful interface and intuitive gameplay are ruined by non-random rolls favoring the computer. Things that happen with ridiculous frequency: – Computer immediately rolls the correct combo to hit your blot. – Computer rolls doubles when coming in from the bar. – As soon as the game turns into a race, the computer rolls double sixes – 1-2 rolls – for both players, but typically when it helps the computer to cover To demonstrate this, play a few matches with the computer rolling, then a few with manual dice rolls. The character of the matches will be completely different.
Nice graphics but dice do not fall randomly. Dice tend to favor the computer.
If they either fix the roll of the dice so it isnt bias to the computer or gave you the option to roll real dice at home and input the results for your roll and the computers roll. After all you arent going to cheat because you would only be cheating yourself. The computer at present wins the start far too often. The computer gets far too many doubles compared to the user. The computer gets far too many rolls that it exactly needs compared to the user. We do win occasionally but it is frustrating. The only good part of the game is analyzing the computers strategy. Using their strategy does make you a better player it is to bad the dice roll wasnt more random.
Ive played a ton of backgammon apps and this one is by far the favorite. No subscription. Great AI. Fast and easy to use UI. Our only tiny issue is that the description of the various luck factors is not accurate. In this app, "Quite Lucky" is less lucky than "Lucky." Thats misleading. It should be "Slightly Lucky" as the first bracket of luck, then "Lucky", "Very Lucky" etc.
Somethings changed in the dice rolls. They seem more controlled rather than random.
We like this app and have played hundreds of games, primarily because it providers a player rating and its AI helps us improve. That said, there are some quirks. For example, we cant get over the number of times the app rolls doubles to hit our single blot and send it to the bar. This literally never happens when we roll. Ive read enough review responses from the developer to know his typical replies and we dont dispute them. But man these quirks happen a lot: out of four rolls in our most recent game, the app rolled double ones twice (!) to hit our only open blots.
We like this one. But there is no way the dice are random.
We believe the dice roll for the computer is rigged and they wont convince us its not. The computer gets doubles constantly, ALWAYS rolls just what it needs to hit us and rolls just what it need to be able to cover itself. So disappointing.
We tried several backgammon apps before finding this gem. Most of the others had annoying ads you had to sit through or unnecessary and distracting glitz. Our wife and we use this to play face-to-face at a table. The clearly deliberate effort the developer made to create an easily playable backgammon game and nothing more is truly appreciated. We really like the optional settings for movement style and the handful of reasonable gameplay options. It allows us to tweak it so the controls work the way we prefer. We also like the ability to have the game play out the last many moves itself once the outcome is pretty much decided except the last few moves to clear the board. We were a career game developer and we find ourselves admiring what this developer has accomplished. Well done.
This app is as close to playing with a real opponent as it gets. Better, since the tutor was added. Its improved our game and made it fun to play the engine. It also looks just like a classic board which makes it fun to play with others. If you want get real real, just carry your own dice. Highly recommend.
Love the BGBlitz tutor mode. Thank you.
We like its smart engine. We play at Advanced level and Im winning by a thin margin, 49 – 32 so far. We would like to play Nackgammon though because its more fun for us. But we cant find any option in the menu that lets us choose this. Can you please add this Nackgammon feature.
This is by far the best backgammon game available. Our wife and we have played this for years. The developer is a good communicator and keeps this game up to date.
We love this game but we cant help but feel it is somehow rigged. The computer seems to throw exactly it needs to go out or to land on us. Its uncanny how often, the computer rolls doubles exactly when needed or the exact count each time in order to land on us. Happens way too often! UPDATE: we appreciate the response; in reality, we realize its not riggedjust very frustrating. Thanks. 2nd Update: we have probably played dozens of games with this app and maybe rigged is not the correct word but we fund it uncanny that the computer can roll exactly the right number it needs to put checkers in home, the exact number always needed to land on our checker and the uncanny number of doubles the computer rolls, especially when the opponent is in their home courtdefinitely giving the opponent the advantage. It happens way too often. We are going to find another game to play with the computer and see if we get the same results. Thanks.
The game has a nice simple look and plays smoothly. We know that the developers can prove it doesnt cheat, but it feels like its pretty lucky at hitting the numbers its needs when it matters most, which happens IRL too.
Playing with online opponents isnt ready yet for use, in our opinion. We tried to use this feature several times and waited several minutes each time, but no online opponents were available. If the app currently has low amount of users, there should be a clearer way to show how many people are currently online and actually waiting to play an online game. Otherwise there is no feedback about when we can expect to find a match.
The play and graphics are fast and smooth. The levels of play from beginner to pro are all challenging. And the support from the developer is amazing! If youre looking for a backgammon game, this is The One.
Game play is generally fine. However, the AI opponent always seems to get the perfect roll when it counts as well as very frequently rolling multiple doubles in the end game, while we get none. Tired of playing it and always having this happen.
After seriously considering the developers response to our initial review, and after playing another 100 games or so, we are happy to admit that what we perceived as unfair rolls was very likely due to our biases as a human being. Research in psychology (Im a college professor, we read this stuff) indicates that we humans interpret good luck and bad luck differently. In the case of this game: When we get a lucky string of rolls that gives us an advantage in the game, we tend to see that as good luck rather than evidence that the rolls are rigged in our favor. But when we get an unlucky series of rolls, we are inclined to interpret that as evidence the dice are rigged against us. Moreover, the unlucky rolls stand out in our memory more than the lucky rolls, so our memory accumulates evidence of the dice being rigged against us, but we are less likely to remember all the times luck was in our favor. So we are likely to believe the dice are rigged against us. As the developer says, they have no incentive to rig the game against us. Think about it. Why would they want to upset players by rigging the dice against them, and thus get bad reviews which discourage others from trying the game? We cannot tell you with certainty that the dice arent rigged against the human player. What we can tell you is that there are plenty of reasons to doubt the notion that the dice are rigged, and plenty of reasons to believe that humans are inclined to perceive random events as, on balance, unfair. Last but not least, we apologize to the developer for our initial negative review. We will be more thoughtful in the future when writing reviews of apps. Original review: Except for the nonrandom rolls, this app has everything you want in a backgammon app. But after playing about 100 games, its clear that the app gives itself extraordinarily lucky roles to get out of tight spots and put your chips on the bar. The frequency of the lucky rolls it gets and the unlucky rolls the human player gets is not plausibly consistent with a hypothesis of random rolls. This is true of every backgammon app Ive tried. What makes for a challenging computer opponent is NOT that its a very good player, but that the dice become increasingly biased against the human player. Maybe artificial intelligence will allow programmers to create a good backgammon app with a computer opponent whose wins derive from actual skill and not biased dice. But for now, the dice are stacked against humans in this and every other backgammon app.
Ive played Backgammon for years without knowing what we were doing. This App will observe and advise and bring your skill level to advanced. True dice, two-player mode, additional free tools, no nonsense.
No longer enjoying the app with your recent addition.
Have loved your version of this for years but we dont understand a new app option. Why is the computer opponent now allowed to block resignation requests? Having to play through a game that is clearly a loss or sacrifice more than just one point is a waste of time and not fair? Thanks.
With recent update, we rarely win. When getting bumped we can sit on bar for up to ten moves before getting back on board but the computer is rarely there for more than 2 moves. And interestingly, the last three games has won with doubles and we got none. Weird and not much fun to play when it feels stacked against you and not so random roll of dice.
Nice graphics and yes, this backgammon version it is difficult to win. But cannot exit game on iPad mini 6th generation. Cannot swip to exit, cannot use home button, no exit button, finally had to force reboot.
We tried out this app for several days on beginner mode and lost most games. The computer AI is set too hard, cant imagine what the advanced mode is like? On beginner mode, the AI seems to get the needed rolls most of the time. We feel the computer opponent needs to be dumbed down a bit on the starting modes. We did receive a developer response – said to spend more money on add-ins. Nothing about changes to the game. Problem solved, app deleted and downloaded another app from a different developer.
We had written a review stating the game cheats. Well, our bad, we no longer think so. Its just got a really brilliant algorithm. The best Ive seen. If you want to be challenged and learn backgammon to play like a champ, this is the game for you.
Great game. Smart computer! Please allow the doubling cube to be doubled as it was before. Now it says you cant double if enough points are in reach to already win the game.
This was the best backgammon app available, we tried many. Now with the latest update it freezes in middle of game. PLEASE FIX.
We learn a lot from this app. It really is the best one Ive found anywhere on the Internet. Keep up the good work, developers.
This is all around a nice backgammon app. It there is room for improvement. Paid Tutor: 1. It should not suggest to double if you have Ask First turned on. 2. We would love to get an in game explanation about why a certain move was bad and why the suggestion is better if tutor suggestions are turned on. Maybe in the future this could be connected to a generative AI model to generate explanations or link to chatGPT if you have an account. 3. The analysis of the game is difficult to understand. Some kind of contextual guide would be helpful 4. An additional mode of the games that shows the equity loss/gain while on screen 5. A sandbox to set up scenarios and understand probabilities 6. More help on when to use the doubling cube Other: 3. Play online seems to take a while to find a player and most of the time it hasnt worked for us.
Although we think this is the best, most attractive and easy to play Backgammon we have tried, once in a great while it seems to malfunction, and not let us move for a roll. Very very occaisionally. There is one thing that totally bugs us: everytime we load the game, this damned GameCenter dialog box shows up. We will never use game center, and likely will never play an online game with anyone. The Game Center requestor should be optional, not in our face every time we load the game. There is really nothing we have tried that we like better. We hate all of the ones with absurdly fancy graphics or themes. We prefer the beauty of the simplicity of this game! Much more realistic, like the physical board game, only more portable. Buy it.
We love this game. The dice are fair. The design is simple. The only feature we would add to this game would be a pip counter.
Learning a lot. The leather board is our favorite. Thanks.
Totally enjoyable reminds us of playing back to YMCA as a child.
The dice doesnt always move the number shown on the dice. Right now the dice shows a 5 and 6. The dice will only move the 6 spaces, no matter the order we place the dice. This isnt the first time it has happened. Im aware of the the issue the developer has with all the complaints of the dice preprogrammed to attack all stand alone pips. Our issue isnt that, its all of the doubles rolled by the computer for itself and none for we players. If we had 3-4 doubles given to us every game, sure Id win also. Your game is t the only one that does this, it seems to be insidious with the other backgammon games available. Just tired of suddenly the computer gets the doubles and we are left in the dust, so to speak.
Ive been looking for a good backgammon game that is challenging but accurate and fair. We have found that this game makes really novice moves on the advanced setting. Frustrating. And then it will go on spurts of double 4s and double 5s. Like literally 4 or 5 times in a row. Something is seriously wrong with the dice rolling. Sometimes it favors us and sometimes the computer, but still it tells us that Im not getting good mix of dice rolls. We were expecting much better from a game we had to pay for. Ill be deleting the game.
We play your backgammon daily and this last change is stupid and we dont like it, so many more touches, no auto bearing off, no switching dice sequence for the move we still cant win but thats our fault. Why did you make these changes? Did you think it made a more real backgammon experience. Im old and change sometime is hard but come on!! If you make changes to whats been out there for a very long time then at least give us the ability to turn them on or off so we cant continue playing as always.
Regularly freezes/crashes. Frustrating.
If youre an avid player near to or at pro level beware. Occasionally, youll be profoundly disappointed. The odds of rolling any double over three consecutive throws are 1 in 46,656. Amazingly, True Backgammon did it twice over four, five-game matches. With that kind of luck, we could buy TikTok.
The developer updated this app in March 2024 and ruined it with an undo feature that allows you to undo the other players moves, and then locks up the game. Together with the constant hanging when playing over the network, makes it impossible to play.
The latest update broke the game. After rolling the die one time, you cant move any piece. The entire game becomes frozen. Closing and restarting game has no affect. Restarting iPad has no affect.
We bought this particular Backgammon game mostly because it claims it does not collect data. Kudos to developer for that (if its really true). AnywayIve only owned this game a short time and we like lots of things about it. However.. After playing over 100 games against the computer, we are frustrated and ready to delete it. From our experience with it so far, we honestly have to agree with those who say the dice seem to be skewed in favor of the computer. Maybe Im doing something wrong or am just really unlucky in playing the game, but it seems when we leave an exposed piece, nine times out of ten the computer gets the roll to hit it. And if the computer leaves a piece open, we seldom get the roll needed to hit. Another thing Ive experienced in game after game is that near the end of the game, when we are racing to remove our pieces, the computer suddenly starts rolling multiple doubles. For example, in a recent game, we were far ahead and expected an easy win. But we lost because the computer rolled 4 sets of doubles out of its last 6 rolls. This seems to be a trend with the game and it defies randomness. Its not fun to play a dice game where the rolls go uncannily in favor of the computer. We dont want to delete the game, because in most ways we think its excellent. Ill keep playing this game for a while longer and see if the dice issue improves. But if not, between our own frustration and our wife getting tired of hearing us curse loudly at the game, itll get deleted.
Playing against the machine is fantastic. It does not fool around and shows no mercy makes for a very interesting game.
Simple, straightforward with no distractions. Love it.
The free version is fine for casual play. More advances players will be very happy if they spend a few dollars to upgrade to the AI engine.
Nice simple play, and one of the best ways to know the game does not cheat. However, you can resign right before a gammon and lose only one point! Simple fix would be to as opponent to accept / refuse the resignation.
Ironic that no matter how many times we move to a particular spot, the computer just happens to roll the exact number it needs to get us out.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 6.23
- Size: 64.88 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN, DE
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: CompuLab
Last updated: 12th October 2025 | Genre: Board, Casino | Developer: CompuLab