Backgammon – Lord of the Board

About Backgammon – Lord of the Board

I picked this app up about five weeks ago because my coworker Mark insisted we needed a quick game to kill time during lunch. He’s big into backgammon, and I just needed something that worked without a ton of fuss. The app does look sharp—wood-grain boards and smooth dice rolls—but right away I noticed it wanted access to my location and contacts. I’m not a fan of that. I declined both and it still ran fine, which made me wonder why those permissions were even there. The actual game plays like real backgammon: doubling cube, proper rules, no weird house twists. I can practice against the AI or jump into a match with strangers. It’s fine for what it is, but I’m always side-eyeing apps that ask for more than they need.

Features & Highlights

There’s a single-player mode where you pick difficulty, from beginner to expert. I usually stick to medium after losing badly to the hard AI twice in a row. Multiplayer is where most people spend time—you can play with friends by sending a link, or just match with random players online. That chat feature they mention? I turned it off immediately. I don’t need random people texting me while I’m trying to roll doubles. There are also tournaments that run on a schedule, but I haven’t joined one yet because the sign-up process asks for your email again even after you already logged in. Daily bonuses give you a small coin reward, and leaderboards show how you stack up—but honestly, I ignore those because I’m not here to compete for a trophy. Customization is nice: you can swap board colors and piece styles, but most of the cool ones cost real money. The graphics are genuinely pretty, though. Feels like a polished version of the real board game.

User Experience

Getting started was simple enough. I logged in with my email (no Google or Apple sign-in option, which annoyed me because I prefer those for less tracking). The tutorial is a quick walk-through that assumes you already know how to play backgammon—if you don’t, you’ll be lost. I tried playing on my iPhone 15 Pro and it ran smoothly, no lag even during multiplayer. But one Tuesday afternoon the app crashed twice when I tried to join a match. I restarted and it worked, but that was annoying. The menus are clean but have too many ads for my liking. Every few games you get a pop-up for some coins or a special board. I get they need to make money, but it breaks the flow. I also noticed that after a match, the opponent can see your username and profile picture. I changed mine to a generic avatar because I don’t want strangers learning anything about me. Overall, the experience is fine for casual play, but the constant nudging to share data or buy stuff makes it feel less like a game and more like a funnel.

Pricing

The app is free to download, which is how I started. But there are in-app purchases everywhere. Want a fancy board? That’ll be $4.99. Want to remove ads? There’s a subscription for that—$2.99 a week or $9.99 a month. I’m not paying a monthly fee for a backgammon app, especially when I’m already suspicious of its data habits. You can earn coins by playing and logging in daily, but the earn rate is slow. A single nice board costs 2,000 coins, and you get maybe 50 per match. So it’s clearly designed to push you toward buying. There’s also a “VIP” tier for $14.99 a month that promises extra bonuses and early access to tournaments. I ignored that entirely. If you’re okay with ads and basic boards, you can play for free. But the pricing structure feels aggressive for a game that’s been around for centuries.

Updates & Support

I haven’t contacted support myself, so I can only judge by what I see in the App Store reviews. A lot of people complain about disappearing coins after updates, or matchmaking taking forever. The developer, Beach Bum Ltd., does release updates every few weeks—mostly bug fixes and “performance improvements.” I noticed one update last month added a new board theme, which is fine. But I also saw several reviews saying support emails go unanswered for days. That makes me nervous because if something goes wrong with my account or payment, I’d expect help quickly. The app doesn’t have an in-app support chat, just a contact form on their website. I haven’t needed it yet, but I’m keeping an eye on the reviews to see if things improve.

Security & Privacy

This is where my review gets critical. I read the privacy policy before downloading—and it’s not great. They collect your email, IP address, device ID, and gameplay data. They also share data with third-party analytics and advertising partners. That’s pretty standard for free apps, but I still don’t love it. The app asks for location access and contacts permission, which I denied. It still worked, so those requests feel unnecessary. I also noticed they track your in-game behavior—how long you play, what boards you look at, whether you click on ads. That’s creepy for a board game. There’s no option to play completely offline without an internet connection, so your activity is always being monitored. For a game that’s just dice and checkers, this level of data collection feels overkill. I’d feel better if they offered a simple anonymous mode or at least explained why they need location. Until then, I’m playing with my privacy settings on maximum lockdown.