Freeform Backgammon
Freeform Backgammon is an application for Android™ that lets you play backgammon and many of its variations. Freeform Backgammon presents you with the dice, board, and checkers just as a real backgammon set does. You need to bring two players and the rules.
Freeform Backgammon enforces very few rules (just that checkers have to be on a point, the bar, or in a tray). This means you can play almost any variation of backgammon you know. For example, you can vary the direction of play or use house rules that let players re-roll in certain cases (for example, on their birthday).
Freeform Backgammon does not have support for a computer player (no A.I.), you must provide two players (or know solitaire rules). Freeform Backgammon does not support play over the network, all players must be local.
Freeform Backgammon is compatible with a wide range of Android devices, but is best suited to displays of at least four inches diagonally. On smaller displays the checkers are necessarily smaller and may become too small to interact with reliably.
Freeform Backgammon uses Google Analytics to track installations and aggregate usage data (no personally identifying information is collected). You can choose to disable this network usage in the options menu.
Backgammon Variations
Here are some suggestions on backgammon variations that you can play with Freeform Backgammon.
- Standard Backgammon
- Nackgammon
- Hyper-backgammon
- Narde
- Chasing The Girls
- Acey-Deucey
- Plakoto
- Blast-off
- ???
- From the traditional layout, two players move checkers in opposite
directions based on the pair of dice rolled. Checkers can be hit and
sent to the bar. A doubling cube can be used to track how many points
the game is worth.
If you're new to backgammon or unclear on the rules of standard
backgammon, there are
lots
of great tutorials available on the internet.
- Plays like traditional backgammon, but the initial layout in
Nackgammon is slightly different with more checkers in the back quadrant.
More details and rules can be found
at bkgm.com.
- For a very fast game. The game is played with only three checkers per
side, but other than this initial layout, the rules are the same as for
traditional backgammon.
- Unlike traditional backgammon, in Narde all checkers move
in the same direction. Also, there is no "capturing" of checkers, its
simply illegal to move onto an occupied point.
Fevga and Moultezim are similar variations.
More detailed rules are readable
at bkgm.com.
- In this game, checkers move in the same direction
(counter-clockwise), and only six are placed on the board (the others
are not in play). To move, only 1s and 6s are important, other values
on the dice are ignored. A point may only contain one checker, and
instead of hitting, a checker will freely slide past its own checkers or
remove an opponents checker from the game entirely. Checkers circle the
board indefinitely until all are removed. When a player has only 1
checker remaining, the rules change! See the
bkgm.com
description for more details.
- In Acey-Deucey, all checkers start off the board (in the opponents
tray in Freeform Backgammon) and must be moved onto the board. Play is
generally the same as standard backgammon, with the exception that a
roll of "Acey-Deucey" (1-2) the player gets to move 1-2 and gets to
move their pick of doubles. More detailed rules and
additional Acey-Deucey variations can be found at
bkgm.com
or
Wikipedia.
- Checkers move as in traditional backgammon, but the initial layout has
all checkers on the farthest point from the goal. There is no
'hitting', instead a checker may "pin" a opponent's checker if it is
alone on the point. A pinned checker cannot move while pinned. There
are special rules for pinning the last checker on an opponent's starting
point. See the
bkgm.com
description for more details.
- Designed to introduce young players to backgammon, Blast-off has a
slightly different initial setup than traditional backgammon and does
not allow 'hitting' other checkers. Otherwise, play is similar to
traditional backgammon. More detailed rules are readable
at bkgm.com.
- Of course you can always make up your own variation and rules with
Freeform Backgammon and you do not need to use any of these provided
layouts.
Purchase
Resources
For more details on how to use Freeform Backgammon, please browse the Freeform Backgammon Online Help pages.
Please read the Freeform Backgammon Privacy Policy.
Support
If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact support@bitiotic.com.
Product History
Jan 12, 2023: v1.3.0: Update to recent Android and support libraries.May 18, 2015: v1.2.10: Improve checker graphics on some machines. Fix a Null-Pointer Exception when exiting.
February 1, 2014: v1.2.9: Work around invisible point on all Mali GPUs (reported on Nexus 10's Mali-T604).
January 3, 2014: v1.2.8: Update Android libraries.
September 23, 2013: v1.2.7: Improve reliability of anti-aliased triangle shader ("points" on the board).
August 23, 2013: v1.2.6: Fix crash-at-start bug on Vivante GC800 GPU.
July 16, 2013: v1.2.5: Work around graphic bug (invisible points) with ARM Mali-400 MP GPU.
May 13, 2013: v1.2.1: Improve compatibility with older GPUs.
May 8, 2013: v1.2.0: Better graphics (no more "jaggies" on checkers or points).
December 3, 2012: v1.0.7: More variations, new "Layouts" menu, fix rare crash.
November 15, 2012: v1.0.0: First version is released.
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