Comparison

Backgammon vs Backgammon True Dice

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Backgammon

Engage in classic backgammon with AI or live multiplayer opponents. This app offers a comprehensive experience with features like a doubling cube, rule tutorials, and detailed player statistics. Play offline or online to hone your strategic skills and climb the leaderboards.

Highlights
  • Online and offline play
  • Challenge AI or real players
  • Master the doubling cube
  • Learn and improve with hints
  • Track detailed player statistics
  • Play anywhere, portrait/landscape
Features
Read full description

Challenge adaptive AI, share the board with a friend in local pass-and-play, and master the doubling cube — all free, with dice you can actually trust. The most complete backgammon experience for iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision: sharpen your strategy with hints, track deep stats, and climb the leaderboards. * SMART, ADAPTIVE AI Beginner, Intermediate & Expert levels tuned to your playstyle — never a rigged board, just a smarter opponent. * PASS & PLAY Share one device and play a real match against a friend, head-to-head, no connection required. * LEARN & IMPROVE Move hints, legal-move highlights, and a full rules tutorial — go from your first roll to your first double with confidence. * REAL MATCH PLAY 1-point, 3-point & full matches, doubling cube, and the Crawford rule — tournament-standard play, not a simplified clone. * STATS THAT MATTER Elo-style rating, win/loss graphs, pip counts, and complete dice history, so you can see exactly how fair your rolls really are. * PLAY ANYWHERE Portrait or landscape, online or fully offline vs. AI. "The best free backgammon app—AI is tough, local play is smooth." – App Store review Also known as Tavla, Nardi, or Narde — this is backgammon the way it's meant to be played.

About

Backgammon True Dice

Features
Read full description

Backgammon you can check. Every backgammon app says its dice are random. This one lets you prove it. Before your first move, Backgammon True Dice generates a random 32-byte seed and shows you its SHA-256 fingerprint, right there on the board. Every roll of the game is derived from that seed, so the whole sequence is fixed before you make a single decision. When the game ends, the seed is revealed and the app replays every roll in front of you. Copy the seed, the fingerprint and the roll journal, and you can repeat the calculation with any tool you like. The opponent never sees the seed. It receives the board and the roll that has already happened — nothing else. Difficulty changes how deeply it thinks, never what you roll. TWO GAMES ON ONE BOARD • Backgammon — opposing tracks, hitting, the bar, gammons and backgammons • Long nardy — one direction, no hitting, one checker off the head per turn, mars PLAY YOUR WAY • Three opponent levels, from a relaxed game to a genuinely hard one • Two players on one device, passing it back and forth • Take back a whole turn until you confirm it • Legal moves highlighted, so the rules never get in the way SEE THE DICE FOR YOURSELF • The game fingerprint stays visible on the board while you play • Full roll journal, including the rolls that decided who starts • A histogram of all 36 outcomes for you and your opponent, against what fair dice would give • Journals of your last twenty games, so you can check a suspicion days later BUILT TO BE QUIET • Works entirely offline, in airplane mode, on a plane or underground • No account, no sign-in, nothing to set up • Not a single system permission requested — no contacts, no location, no notifications • Nothing is collected: no analytics, no tracking, no networking code at all Backgammon and long nardy are traditional games with centuries of history. This app adds one modern thing to them: dice you do not have to take on trust.

Screenshots

Backgammon4 screens
Backgammon True Dice4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Backgammon True Dice at none against Backgammon's shown. Backgammon's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Backgammon versus Backgammon True Dice: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBackgammonBackgammon True Dice
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (169 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews70.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings169 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size104 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLinda MottleyMalthe Hertz

Bugs and requests

Backgammon

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • App won't open
  • App freezes/hangs
  • Two taps required for one move
  • Incorrect move selection by AI
  • AI rolls are not random
Show 4 more
  • Display graphics obscure continue button
  • In 2-player mode, no menus appear when black starts
  • Software doesn't always display who goes first in 2-player hard mode
  • UI elements cover board pieces

Requested features

5 requests
  • Fix rigged AI rolls
  • Make AI more challenging/less predictable
  • Allow users to choose layout/design
  • Reconsider placement of move/undo buttons
  • Add option for cube

Backgammon True Dice

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Backgammon

No in-app purchases

None

Backgammon True Dice

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Backgammon free?
Backgammon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Backgammon True Dice free?
Backgammon True Dice is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Backgammon or Backgammon True Dice have ads?
Backgammon shows ads; Backgammon True Dice does not.

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