Last updated on January 23rd, 2026 at 12:21 am
Backgammon Classic Board Live – Strategy Game Review
Backgammon Classic Board Live is a Strategy/Board/Entertainment game from Adikus, first launched in 30th January 2013.
It’s rated 17+ and currently has 51,731+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Backgammon Classic Board Live Stand Out
Master Backgammon — rise through 10 skill levels from Novice to Grandmaster and compete online with ELO rankings!
10 SKILL LEVELS
Challenge yourself with progressive difficulty that grows with you:
• 10 levels — from Novice to Grandmaster
• Unlock new levels as you win matches
• Track your progress and statistics for each level
• Perfect for beginners learning the game or experts seeking a challenge
COMPETITIVE ONLINE PLAY
• ELO Rating System — climb the ranks against real players worldwide
• Fast matchmaking — find opponents in seconds
• Play friends in private rooms
GAME FEATURES
• Solo Mode — master your skills through 10 progressive levels
• Pass & Play — challenge a friend on the same device
• Online Mode — compete with players around the world
• One-Tap Movement — intuitive checker controls
• Fair play guaranteed — 100% random dice rolls
• Doubling Cube — with Crawford rule support
• Beautiful graphics — multiple board skins and themes
• Premium sound — immersive music and effects
FREE TO PLAY
All game modes and features are completely free. No paywalls, no pay-to-win — just pure backgammon skill.
Supports Portrait and Landscape on all iPhone and iPad devices.
Download now and start your journey to Grandmaster!
This Strategy game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Backgammon Classic Board Live is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 15th January 2026
Recent improvements include:
• Internal improvements and minor bug fixes
— Previous major update —
• Added ELO rating system for online games
• In the Solo mode: the game now uses 10 levels with gradual difficulty instead of the old Easy/Medium/Hard.
Download & Availability
Backgammon Classic Board Live is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Backgammon Classic Board Live 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:
App used to open to clean interface- just a solid backgammon. Devs added AI for bells and whistles that are counterproductive for users who just want to play a bit of backgammon. Switching to other backgammon app.
This game has one of the better interfaces and it is good for novices to sharpen their skills. However, if you are a good player medium difficulty is to easy, while hard is not enjoyable at all. In fact, it is infuriating as the computer cheats ridiculously and throw a perfect game 90% of the time. This is simply unrealistic and often leaves you as just an observer. We find ourselves resetting the game often which due to its pointless nature past a certain point. Please fix the hard level and make it somewhat realistic.
We really like the play with friends option but when playing against the AI, the rolls definitely arent a random. Im on level 9 and you can basically tell what the AI will roll before it rolls because its always what results in it capturing your pieces regardless of how small the odds of it are.
It certainly has an extraordinary skill to always roll the right number at the right time.
The dice roll too perfectly for the bot. Bot seems to roll a lot of double sixes. Wish there was a randomized dice setting.
We used to love this app because of how simple of a concept it was. In a time where everyone is AI this and AI that dumping it into whatever they possibly could, we always loved this was a simple easy medium hard backgammon computer opponent that we could play offline or online. Having to now select a level and progress ruins the ease and simplicity we have become accustomed to.
Theres no chance these rolls are random, or at least theres no chance the ai cant see what the next roll is going to be. It makes some of the most outrageously dumb plays exactly before we roll something that couldnt possibly hit it. Itll also leave a piece in harms way until the roll before we couldve been able to hit it. Otherwise, it plays very conservatively. Other than that its pretty fun.
Dice rolls are nearly always in the computers favor and we can tell when Im being set for a set back. For example, if we place the computer on the bar it reenters immediately. When the computer places us on the bar, we are held on the bar until the computer is baring off. We do not recommend this game because its not realistic.
We really enjoy this game and play it every day. The gameplay is smooth, fun, and feels fair. Ive reached level 10 (max level), and it kept us motivated the whole time. One of the best backgammon apps Ive used. Highly recommended.
We enjoy this app and play it a lot but it has a few issues. The hard version is very difficult, and despite promises to the contrary by the developer, we are sure it cheats with throwing excellent dice for itself, with the perfect roll appearing often-for itself . Do NOT leave anything open as it will invariably hit you, and then not let you back in while it blocks its home board. The intermediate setting makes stupid mistakes -it doesnt hit you sometimes when it would be smart and safe for it to do so. And it often doesnt make easy and obviously advantageous points. The auto version works better when you are completely home, but not always. Before you get home, the latest update we install in Jan 2026 is very bad at getting all the chips home-when there are still chips not home it moves chips which are home! Complaints aside, we like the game, but improvements could be made. It needs another level between medium and difficult! A week we solved the problem of not having a decent adversary (with medium too mediocre and hard being totally stacked against us. We chose the two player option and play against ourselves! Its challenging (without having it stacked against us), and the good news is that we always win.
We have played on the app for a while, but the ads are getting out of control. They are unskippable and constant, and contradict the entire point of what this app was for us.
Frustrated around the AI managing to always roll the right number to put at least one piece on the rail.
Easy levels are ok. As you progress through AI levels rolls of the dice are no longer random. 10 games in a row perfectly placing two pieces on the computers inner board? Not random.
We roll 75% more ones then our opponent and 34% less sixes. Does that sound random.
We LOVE this backgammon game, and have been playing it daily for a long time. Within the past couple months, Temu has been showing a series of ad pictures at the bottom of the start screen of the game. Some of these pictures are very disturbing, and we dont know how to eliminate them. We dont want to quit playing this game, but we really cant keep seeing those pornographic pictures.
The game cheats. Not too much, but enough to make it very frustrating and obvious. The computer seems to roll the perfect dice combos towards the end of the game to come out on top if youve won too many in a row. It also seem to block all spots at the entrance soon after it bumps you. Overall, on the medium difficulty setting, you can win 80-85% of the time with experience and good strategy. With ~1000 games, we have 100% of the backgammons, 89% of the gammons and 76% of the simple wins.
There is a LOT to love about this app. We like the clean design, the easy tap to move pieces, the green rims on pieces to let you know which pieces can be moved (if you select a piece that cannot be moved). The sounds are also very satisfying. Having played on easy for a while to learn and now on medium, it is very clear the dice is biased towards the bot on solo player mode. The bot gets double a bit more frequently. But the really clear bias is how easily and often a tagged piece gets the correct roll to come back in for the bot compared to the human players roll. We will have to roll multiple times to get back in – and this is over many many games – but every single time unless the board is blocked up – the bot always lands the right number. We only took away one star for this but its frustrating enough that Ive trialed other apps for backgammon.
As other players have pointed out at the top level, the hard version, it appears to make the game unfair. They biased the dice in favor of the AI opponent. He gets double six as far too often any consistently gets important roles at key times. We havent run a statistical analysis on it and we know observation can be faulty, but we played the game enough to know this game is not fair at the top level. Its beatable, but extremely challenging and its simply because of the dice rolling.
Computer Opponent always rolls several doubles, especially to get home. Almost always rolls whats needed to cover his men, especially in home. Just would prefer more randomness all the way around in the dice rolling, please.
Too many ads and no way to buy the game and remove ads.
It seems every single time we get down to the end. The other player gets doubles and wins when it looks like we would have won.
We like the game. But randomly, when our location setting turns off, we cant play the game until we turn it back on. We get a message that we need an Apple game subscription. When we turn location back on that message goes away. Why does the developer need our location? Or any game for that matter.
How does it get the exact roll that it needs literally every time??? So rigged.
When the dice are rolled on upper levels, you can expect the bot opponent to get the exact roll they need every time. Other than that, the game is pretty good.
As other reviewers have pointed out its obviously rigged in certain situations. Too bad otherwise all good.
Great game Dice NOT random Its not random.
We have used this extensively for some years, and the number of times the computer gets exactly the roll it needs, defies the laws of probability.
Somehow, whenever we play online the game always giving the 6-6 to opponent 1-1 to us lol. Or whenever we have opening it is always getting broken. Which we never get those rolls to break.
This game clearly rolls the dice unfairly. It will give you 3-5 good games in a row where dice roll in your favor then the next 6 will be games where the dice only roll so that your opponent can trap your pieces. Its clearly meant for enticing players with a dopamine hit. People with higher scores have basically just watched the ads that double your points to get higher scores.
Fun, fast game. We dont mind ads, but these ads seem to go forever, no way to exit.
Its OK as a backgammon game but after you've had it on your phone for a while you have to endure 60 to 90'seconds of commercials for other apps to play a single game. After each game sets up a fresh que of commercials. We'd rather pay a small nominal fee and not have to deal with the commercials. We dont use this game much anymore.
Not randomized rolls at all including the multiplayer mode. Great game but loaded dice.
Way too many doubles in this game. Make one mistake and the opponent takes it away.
Without a doubt the easiest computer interface. Dont listen to the dice rigging people. Its silly. There is no reason to cheat. For godsake it free.
Dont know why we put ourselves through this frustration. Played Backgammon for over 50 years and we cant get anywhere in this game. Sad, you cant find a fair game.
If it possible, please allow more undo steps.
This is a mostly well done version of backgammon. Biggest issue is with single player against the ai, the rolls are definitely not random. After playing several hundred rounds Ive started to notice patterns with frequency of doubles. Also the harder ai gets perfect rolls more often than statistically probable. Ive decided to delete this game and try another one. If we cant find a good backgammon, Ill code our own and release it for free with no ads.
This game, when playing the solo game is so rigged toward the opponent. Its so obvious and very irritating and frustrating.
Fun game. However, when playing against the app, the app will roll the exact roll to win.
When you are playing against people with higher scores, you routinely have low rolls. If you are trying to roll to be back on, without fail you always roll doubles for the space that is filled. Makes us not want to play.
Love this game and we cant even tell you how many games we played against AI and there is no way the rolls are random. It is true what everyone in these reviews say, 9/10 if you have an open piece somehow the AI rolls to directly land on it. Not impossible but it doesnt make it feel like a fair game.
Playing for a whole now we've noticed that the dice rolls aren't completely random or fair. Playing against the AI also shows less than probable rolls and moves.
Decent layout but having played on different difficulty levels for a while now, in solo play the hard difficulty level can be frustrating because the dice roll is almost certainly gamed toward computer. Several games have ended with the computer getting the perfect dice roll.
We have played this game for a long time, however the AI on hard mode cheats so much that its predictable. Its as if we know exactly how the dice will land before he plays.
Great game. Love it however be prepared for lots of doubles especially when boarding off. Its not random.
Rolls seem very favorable to the computer.
Just ridiculous how many times it hits the one or two openings and how many times you fail to hit 4 openings.
Its like the app makers have read our reviews and decided to go all in and make it worse. Since we originally wrote this review a few weeks ago, the rolls the AI gets are stupidly perfect to take you out.ON MODERATE DIFFICULTY! This game is so rigged it can be very frustrating. Your opponents, computer or live, will no doubt roll numbers that will bury you. It seems like the game is decided from the beginning based on an algorithm. The rolls are not random, they are programmed to make you feel like you dont know what youre doing. But the ads are few and it can be a learning tool.
Every game we feel like Im playing the dice not the other player. They say its random and we would agree. Its better than a lot of apps Ive used. But we continually wanna get put up on the bar with three open spaces can roll five times before we get down. Our opponent with one open space has never rolled more than two times to get down. We played this game for a long time, but in recent weeks got so frustrated. We finally deleted the app.
Became unplayable on hard level because of the dice rolls clearly favoring the bot. Maddening experience when the bot gets exactly the number it needs or rolls three doubles back to back or always gets the exact roll to hit an open piece every game. Deleted out of irritation.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 3.7.3
- Size: 98.51 MB
- iOS: 18 or later
- Languages: NL, EN, FR, DE, EL, IT, PT, RU, ES, TR
- Content Advisory: Frequent/Intense Simulated Gambling
- Developer: Adikus
Last updated: 15th January 2026 | Genre: Strategy, Board | Developer: Adikus