Freeform Backgammon Help Page

Freeform Backgammon is an Android application 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 the 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.

Freeform Backgammon does not have support for a computer player (no AI), you must provide an opponent. 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 at least four inches (or 10 centimeters) 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.

Moving checkers

There are three ways to move a checker in Freeform Backgammon.

1. Select & tap: Select a checker by tapping it (or tapping the point, bar or tray holding a checker). The checker will be highlighted. Tap a destination (a point, the bar, or a tray) and the checker will be moved to that location. You can select multiple checkers on a single point, bar or tray, and move them all together.
2. Select & drag: Select a checker by tapping it (or tapping the point, bar or tray holding a checker). The checker will be highlighted. Now drag that checker to a destination (a point, the bar, or a tray). You can select multiple checkers on a single point, bar or tray and drag them all to one destination.
3. Drag: Simply drag a checker, without selecting it, from one location to another.

Checkers must always be on one of the points, in one of the trays, or on the bar.

Rolling Dice

To roll the dice, just tap them.

Feel free to use your own dice and ignore the virtual ones.

Undo

When tapped, the undo button will undo the last change to the board (one roll of the dice, one move of a checker or one change to the doubling cube).

Doubling Cube

The doubling cube is used by players to change the value of a game in a multi-game series. Most players will not need it, and you can hide it on the Options Menu.

You can change the value on the face of the doubling cube by swiping left or right from the cube.

You can change the ownership of the cube, by dragging it up or down.

Layouts Menu

The layouts menu provides eight buttons that will quickly set up the checkers for a new game in the shown layout (it will also reset the doubling cube, and blank the dice).

Layout Choices

The above buttons correspond to the initial layouts of the following backgammon variations:

Standard backgammon

From the traditional layout, 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.

Nackgammon

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.

Hyper-backgammon

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.

Narde

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.

Chasing The Girls

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.

Acey-Deucey

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.

Plakoto

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.

Blast-off

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.

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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.

Options Menu

The options menu presents gameplay toggles and support buttons.

Option Toggles

These toggles control use of audio, use of the network (for analytics support), and display of the doubling cube.

The network toggle controls usage of Google Analytics support in Freeform Backgammon. This online service enables Bitiotic to learn about the types of devices Freeform Backgammon is used on, and which parts of Freeform Backgammon players interact with. No personally identifying information is shared, only aggregate information (like the number of times checkers were moved or dice were rolled in a game). The network is also used to send crash reports to bitiotic.com in case of a fatal error in the application.

Support Buttons

The first button will compose a draft support email to Bitiotic, and the second will open a web browser on this page.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact freeform.support@bitiotic.com.