# iTavli-Best backgammon game — user reviews > 129 indexed App Store user reviews of iTavli by Vasileios Gkanis, rated 3.70/5 from 55 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/itavli-best-backgammon-game/id427813048/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/itavli-best-backgammon-game/id427813048.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 22 · 4★ 13 · 3★ 8 · 2★ 6 · 1★ 6 ## What do users think of iTavli? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🎮 Comprehensive game variants (Portes, Plakoto, Fevga, Acey-Deucey) - 🌐 Online multiplayer functionality with global players - 🎯 Good for learning multiple backgammon variations - 🎨 Stylish and attractive user interface design - 👥 Ability to play tournaments with all three games in sequence - 📱 Accessible way to play with friends remotely - ⚡ Smooth gameplay mechanics (when working properly) **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes during gameplay - 🐛 Game-breaking bugs affecting piece placement and movement - 🤖 Weak AI opponent at all difficulty levels - 🐛 Illegal moves allowed (extra moves on doubles, pieces moving backwards) - 📊 Unfair difficulty scaling (relies on dice luck rather than strategy) - ⚙️ Settings reset after closing app - 🎯 Undo function unreliable or non-functional - 📱 Poor online connectivity and matchmaking issues - 💰 Intrusive ads and aggressive monetization - 🔧 UI/UX issues causing accidental moves - 🎵 Missing sound effects and audio feedback - ⏱️ Game freezes when opponent disconnects - 📱 Compatibility issues with newer devices (iPhone X, etc.) **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes during gameplay, especially in tournament mode - Pieces disappear or become invisible when stacked - Opponent's pieces land on player's pieces and stall game - Illegal moves allowed (extra moves on doubles, moving backwards) - Game freezes when online opponent disconnects - Undo function only works for first move - Game selection doesn't match what loads (Plakoto/Fevga confusion) - Checker stuck in place for extended periods - Board state inconsistency between players - App won't respond to play button - Game hangs waiting for online player acceptance - Crashes when finishing online games - Sluggish performance after multiple games - Dice rolls appear biased or unfair - In-app purchases not registering properly - Game becomes unresponsive mid-game - Pieces move illegally in Acey-Deucey variant - Tournament mode freezes at Fevga (third game) **Most requested features** - Improved AI difficulty with better strategic gameplay - Resign button for early game exit - Reliable undo/confirm button for moves - Tournament save/resume functionality - Sound effects and dice rolling audio - Authentic kafenio background ambiance - Player rating and statistics system - Move timer for online games - Bluetooth connectivity between devices - Customizable board colors and checker colors - Better online player discovery and filtering - In-game contact/support option - Auto-finish when neither player can capture - Faster online game responsiveness - Right-aligned default board setup option - Headphone compatibility - Improved graphics and animation speed ## Newest reviews (18 of 129) ### 3/5 — Buggiest game ever *2024-11-16* Been playing a couple years. Game still has major major bugs. Today it allowed my opponent to capture me in a game where you don’t/shouldn’t be able to capture the opponent’s checker. That checker was stuck for a long time and my other checkers were in différent places on MY board compared to my opponent’s board. THEN, to top it off, near the end of the game, my opponent’s game shut down and restarted. I took a couple screen shots. We have a game-ruining bug at least once every 5 games. The bug are horrendous. Never had any game or app with incessant and major bugs like this. I really don’t understand why the developers can’t fix these. **Developer response:** Hi Veggie, Could you please describe the problem? We would like to fix it!! Thank you ### 3/5 — Nice collection of game modes! *2024-10-03* One suggestion: please make board full-screen. I don't really need beach and seashells. ### 2/5 — Crashes, cheats *2024-07-11* It used to be a fun game but now it’s frustrating. The game frequently gives the iPad five moves when it rolls doubles. It also crashes too often (the app and iOS are up to date). ### 4/5 — Too many crashes *2024-04-12, version 5.3.4* Good to have all three traditional games, but crashes too often. Also very easy to beat the algorithm ### 4/5 — Good game but still crashes *2024-02-15* Great way to learn the 3 games. But the game still freezes when you finish an online game and the other player leaves. I try to quit but nothing happens so I have to restart my phone/iPad to restart the app. Also, the "master" local player still makes a lot of stupid moves. **Developer response:** Hi, Could you please try version 5.3.2? If this problem persists, could you please contact us? Thank you ### 3/5 — Fun, but CHEATS *2023-09-08* It’s fun to play but makes obvious tactical mistakes, misses obvious moves to secure a win and cheats (by frequently making five moves when a double is rolled). ### 2/5 — Average *2022-03-29* Too easy for people to quit games without consequences. Should have a rating system and timer on moves **Developer response:** Hello George, You can report those people. The number in parenthesis next to a player's name denotes how many times that player has abandoned a game. Thus, you can decline the invitation from players who have been reported many times. Here is a link with useful information on the online gaming https://www.itavli.com/how-to-play-an-online-backgammon-game/ ### 2/5 — sometimes disappointing *2021-06-10, version 5.2.3* it’s one of the better games out there, but still too many annoying blips - and favourable dice rolls 🤨 ### 3/5 — Cool options but not fair dicing *2020-08-27* I Love backgammon and have MANY different applications for it. While this app offers some less commonly know variations on the basic game (which is GREAT), the “levels” of expertise are not based on strategy but instead they rely on the computer getting “perfect rolls” of the dice in order to win. That’s very disappointing. ### 3/5 — Algorithms need improvement *2020-01-11* Even on the highest level of difficulty, playing against the computer it often overlooks logical blocking, bumping, or defensive moves. The developers however have done an excellent job of correcting bugs. ### 4/5 — Great application *2019-09-11, version 4.8.4* Needs higher skills to challenge. On PC app.the games do not revolve automatically. Keep up the good work. Nick ### 3/5 — Lots of potential but glitchy *2019-08-18* Hard on plackoto is not hard at all.... nor on fevge. Undo only works sometimes. ### 4/5 — Great game *2019-06-03* Love the game, but can't connect to other device by Bluetooth. Please advise. ### 2/5 — The app is not good at Plakoto *2019-03-20, version 4.7.3* Sorry to complain, but the app in “master” level makes the silliest of mistakes; moves that range from very unwise all the way to suicide. **Developer response:** Hi Alexandros, Thank you for nice feedback and for being a supporter. We added the Modern Backgammon before the Portes game, because it is a Portes game, and if we had added it after the Portes game or at the end, it would look awkward. We fixed the problem with the wrong pictures in version 4.7.1 Thank you ### 4/5 — I like the variety of games *2019-03-08* I am giving 4 stars because of the good variety of games and the overall potential of the game. The UI needs some work to make it more smooth, it’s easy to make mistakes and unwanted moves (eg make a move when trying to undo). That in combination with not being able to confirm the second move (meaning you can undo your first move but when the second move is done you cannot undo it, it just moves on to the next player) causes some erroneous moves and frustration. The AI is a bit basic and needs a lot of improvement (the developer should play the game and add intelligence, for example get all pieces in at the end to avoid losing double, rather than make silly unnecessary moves). Also there are some issues with the games (in some cases the game I select it’s not the game that comes up, especially with plakoto and fevga; it seems to have started after I paid for those games (one is still not available as paid game but I get the other displayed twice) ... NOTE resolved after I uninstalled and reinstalled the game). Now, the online game also needs work: the game often hangs-up waiting for another player to accept, it hangs up when tossing the dice to see who starts first, it seems to crash and then say the other player quit and asking you to report him (he did not, because he invited me for another game straight away which leads me to believe he crashed), and overall need better critical mass to make it interesting. Finally you asked me to provide more info in one of my previous comments, where and how? There is no “contact us” option. About the Undo on the second move. I have checked the option but only works for the first move. **Developer response:** Hi Skeptikos, In order to be able to undo your last move you need to select the "Undo last move" option. You see that option when you roll the dices to determine who plays first. We would try to improve the AI in next versions. Which games did you play? The issues with the online game are due to bad network connection ... we would try to improve the existing code. We do not have a contact form in the app, but you could visit our site: http://www.i-smartsolutions.com/itavli/ Thank you Thank you ### 3/5 — Not a stable app *2019-02-11, version 4.7.3* It bugs once every two games,,,always in the crunch of the game ### 3/5 — Needs improvements *2018-06-17, version 4.5.2* There is no iPhone X version. The headphones cannot be used at the same time when one uses the app. ### 3/5 — It’s alright! 😐 *2018-04-02, version 4.4.1* It does the trick, not more not less! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Unstable app *2023-03-18, version 5.3.2* Keeps crashing in mid game, becomes sluggish after a few games. Please fix it. ### 1/5 — Game stopped working *2023-02-20, version 5.3.2* Game hasn’t worked in months for me or my boyfriend on our iPhones. **Developer response:** Hi Veggie, Could you please describe the problem? We would like to fix it!! Thank you ### 1/5 — Huh??? *2022-01-13, version 5.2.7* Very unclear how to set up a game against a known opponent. How to set my username, how to find other person. So far, not used. ### 1/5 — Was great but now not working *2021-02-11, version 5.2.2* I’ve played this for a long time no problem but now you cannot press the play button. It just will not respond. Tried removing and reinstalling it but no luck. Pity as I enjoyed it and have paid for some of the games. I have an iPhone 12 Pro ### 1/5 — Can’t connect to friends *2020-03-26* Can’t connect to friends online. Would have been great to play all three games against them as this is the only app that offers that! ### 1/5 — Real Tavli, great, but..... *2020-01-27* It was really great at the beginning! There is now a lot of advertising even though the game was bought !! Constant crashes, every update made it worse !!! Do I get my money back for this lousy achievement? ### 1/5 — Awful *2019-06-03, version 4.7.4* Cancelling after only playing one game ### 1/5 — Looks like app sold to sharks *2018-02-15* I can not restore prior purchases. In addition, although the app shows In-App Purchase options for games, they are not available. It appears the only thing you can do is buy coins. **Developer response:** Hi 70tas, Do you get any error message when you try to purchase a game? We have tested both to restore prior purchase and to make new ones, and it was successful. Could you please try again? Thank you ### 1/5 — Very slow and weak *2017-03-06* Not worth a player's time ### 1/5 — Worst app I have *2016-11-24, version 4.2.3* This app is not worth ONE second of your precious time!!! When playing against the computer the program doesn't even follow the rules. On Tournament Master level I have a percentage of 99.4% out of 550 games. It's just frustrating how weak the program plays. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Best backgammon app! *2019-10-16* Has the most comprehensive variants of the game including portes, fevrga and plakato. The computer could be more difficult and would be great if you could quit the app and resume the tournament. ### 5/5 — Best honest backgammon app *2019-08-21* As I said in the title. Period. ### 5/5 — Happy *2019-01-22* I have been looking for years for an adäquat Tavli! That’s the one! ### 5/5 — Best Backgammon App ever & best customer service *2018-11-13* The developer and this whole app is amazing. They are always upgrading their app to fix the bugs and they have an impressively fast response rate when you message them on FB messenger for help or to give feedback. I have been using this app for a few years off and on. My favorite part is just about everything! -you can play all the Tavli games not just portes -you can play tournaments in order with portes, plakato, fevga -you can play games online with other players -you can play by yourself against the phone or with another physical person (or yourself) ### 5/5 — cool!!!! *2018-03-02, version 4.3.5* The game is quite hard, I play many Backgammon games but this genre is new and tactical ### 5/5 — wow *2018-03-02, version 4.3.5* wow! First play type Blackgammon new, very like game! Blackgammon, the game is quite new and unique ### 5/5 — good game backgammon *2018-03-02, version 4.3.5* Backgammon are quite fun, many modes play like the season, the NPC, with other players online, ... There are other forms of money to play or good. ### 5/5 — good game *2018-03-02, version 4.3.5* good game Backgammon. I can play with my friends without a network connection??? ### 5/5 — The game is easy to play *2018-03-02, version 4.3.5* friends to play backgammon anymore, just open the app i can play games with friends online, well done ### 5/5 — game tactics *2018-03-02, version 4.3.5* The game is quite good, but I play so I feel a bit difficult and no tactics to go when rolling dice --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-30.*