Comparison

Backgammon Sage Pro vs Paper Backgammon Scoreboard

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

Head to head
About

Backgammon Sage Pro

This app acts as a personal backgammon coach, offering advanced analysis and play against a strong AI engine. It helps users improve by explaining strategies, tracking progress, and drilling weaknesses. Suitable for all skill levels, from beginners to advanced players.

Highlights
  • AI-powered backgammon engine
  • Position analysis with AI justification
  • Play against a world-class bot
  • Game and match analysis
  • Progress tracking and performance rating
  • Targeted weakness drills
  • Plain-English strategy explanations
Features
Read full description

Backgammon Sage Pro is your personal backgammon coach, powered by the strongest backgammon engine on the market today. Play, analyze, and improve, calculating in the cloud so you get the strongest evaluations even when you're on the move. Whether you're learning your first prime or sharpening a tournament game, Sage shows you the best play, explains why, and tracks your progress over time. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Analyze a position: Quickly set up a checker play or cube action position and analyze it at your choice of strength, with AI justification of the best decision. • Play a world-class bot: unlimited and match games at adjustable strength, with live performance feedback and post-game analysis. • Analyze your games and matches: Every game you play, against Sage or friends, is recorded and analyzed. See where you went wrong and why. • Track your game: See Performance Rating (PR), error themes, and progress across multiple player profiles. • Drill your weaknesses: Quiz yourself on the exact positions where you went wrong, zeroing in on parts of the game where you need work. • Plain-English insight: Sage AI explains the ideas behind each position, with backgammon strategy and tactics instead of equities and probabilities. • Import your history: Bring in XG and online match files to build a complete database of your play. POWERED BY A WORLD-CLASS ENGINE Backgammon Sage Pro is powered by the open source backgammon engine, Open Sage. Open Sage is a modern standard for backgammon engines, demonstrated to outperform other commercial engines at similar evaluation strength. You can find more information on Open Sage at its github page: https://github.com/markbgsage/bgsage. FOR EVERY LEVEL New players get clear, expert guidance. Advanced players get the depth: expanded dice distribution, cloud rollouts, modern market window information for cube decisions, and the precision serious study demands. This is a strategy and analysis tool. No gambling is involved. SUBSCRIPTION Backgammon Sage Pro offers full access through a monthly or annual auto-renewing subscription. Pricing is shown in the app before you confirm. • Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. • Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://sage.bgsage.ai/terms Privacy Policy: https://sage.bgsage.ai/privacy

About

Paper Backgammon Scoreboard

Features
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A minimal scoreboard for in-person backgammon matches. Designed to do one thing well: track the match score with Crawford rule support, and nothing else. No player names, no timers, no doubling cube. If it wouldn't be on a paper scoreboard, it isn't here. It's for casual play across the board, not tournament clock-and-clipboard duty. FEATURES • Two score panels, tap either side to add a point • Flip-chart animation, scores animate with a physical flip-card effect, rotating around the coil axis • Score correction: long-press a panel to decrease a score by one (confirmation required) • Match length: tap the center when scores are 0–0 to cycle forward (3, 5, 7 … 21); long-press to cycle backward • New match: tap or long-press the center while a match is in progress to reset scores • Crawford rule automatically detected and displayed; transitions to Post-Crawford after the following game • Match over alert shown when a player reaches the target score • State persistence: your match is silently restored when reopened • Screen always on: the display stays awake while the app is open • Haptic feedback: taps, corrections, and match events have distinct feedback • Light and dark themes, following the system appearance by default; override in iOS Settings • Accessibility: VoiceOver labels and roles on all interactive elements • iPhone, landscape-only PRIVACY This app collects no data, makes no network requests, and uses no analytics or tracking.

Screenshots

Backgammon Sage Pro4 screens
Paper Backgammon Scoreboard3 screens

Verdict

The call

Backgammon Sage Pro and Paper Backgammon Scoreboard are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Backgammon Sage Pro versus Paper Backgammon Scoreboard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBackgammon Sage ProPaper Backgammon Scoreboard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (10 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings10 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationSubscription—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size58 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBackgammon Gaming Technologies LLCPéter Szász

In-app purchases

None

Backgammon Sage Pro

No in-app purchases

None

Paper Backgammon Scoreboard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Backgammon Sage Pro free?
Backgammon Sage Pro is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Paper Backgammon Scoreboard free?
Paper Backgammon Scoreboard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Backgammon Sage Pro or Paper Backgammon Scoreboard have ads?
Neither Backgammon Sage Pro nor Paper Backgammon Scoreboard shows ads.

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