Backgammon Pro for Palm OS v1.27

After reviewing Handmark’s Backgammon for Palm OS v4.1 that we really liked we just couldn’t stop there. So we decided to make another detour from the regular online backgammon stuff, went out on the net, looked around and selected Backgammon Pro for Palm OS v1.27 from Stand Alone, Inc. for our next review. In comparison with Handmark’s Backgammon v4.1, Backgammon Pro is a clearly more advanced backgammon software with loads of settings available. But how does it compare to it on the fun factor?

Overview

Backgammon Pro v1.27 has got some history already with numerous updates over its four years of existence. New features have been added to the game with nearly all releases and it shows in a wide range of customizable settings. Although there have been no updates for more than a year now that doesn’t diminish the status of the game - it is still regarded as one of the best mobile backgammon games around and is one of the three backgammon games Palm has chosen to sell on their Palm Software Connection site.

From the main game screen you can start a direct game, you can go to the settings page, check out your statistics, read the help/FAQ section or load a saved game. Finally, in case your friends play with your handheld you can have them play as a “visitor” and your own stats are not impacted by their play.

Heaven of customization

Backgammon Pro v1.27 doesn’t have too many things that you can’t set it to your liking. As there are dozens of features you can edit yourself we’ll only focus on those that clearly stand out. For a full listing, please check out the Backgammon Pro v1.27 website.

The main settings page presents pretty much the standard game settings with a couple of interesting ones, though. One of these sets Backgammon Pro apart from many other games: you can play it remotely against your friend with infrared connection. Once the “Remote player” setting is on you can make an infrared connection with another Palm OS handheld that also has Backgammon Pro installed and fight out the backgammon backgammon championship on your own devices.

In the game settings screen you can also choose whether you want to see the landing points. As you might know some online backgammon sites show the landing points, some not. It pretty much comes down to personal preference whether you like it or not - for a novice player it can be really helpful not having to count the landing points but to be able to focus on what matters. Finally, you can set settings more standard settings like the computer skill level and game animation speed.

Dice

Once ready you can move on with the more exotic game settings. On the “Dice” page you have the possibility to choose from two separate random die generators, to enter your own die roll sequence or even choose a Cheat die sequence where you can increase the number of doubles rolled for either player. Nice, but not necessarily very useful.

A.I.

The Backgammon Pro v1.27 computer opponent plays well. The default settings provide a good overall gaming experience and give a good challenge. However, the A.I. settings are very good and might be the best feature of the whole game.

There are fourteen actions (see screenshot) the computer takes into account before each move and you can adjust every action independently. In practice this means that you can define the computer’s game style down to detail. You want to play against an attacking opponent? Or you want to train yourself against an opponent who likes focusing on priming games? Just punch in the rates for each action and you are ready to go. You can save up to four different computer profiles, and if that is not enough you can even assign the computer to learn over time and improve his game.

The possibility of customizing different A.I. styles is a fantastic feature and the developers deserve an A for implementing it in the game. The reason why we like it so much is because this provides a solid and variable training ground for many players. Surely we all agree that the serious playing happens in online tournaments, but we here at Winning Backgammon can’t really think of a better way to train yourself while you are on the move.

Board

Finally, you can choose from several backgammon board artworks. Sadly though, they all are.. well.. downright ugly. It’s one thing that one needs to limit the colours & details due to hardware restrictions but in this case the graphics designers must’ve been on something when doing their work.

Gameplay

Now that we have crawled through all the settings it’s time to kick some computer butt. Once you have got over the shock caused by the abysmal graphics Backgammon Pro v1.27 does really well. Gameplay is very easy - with a single tap on the checker it moves it to the point of the higher number die, but you can also drag and drop the checkers to the desired point. If you have chosen to see the landing points you will see all the possible moves for a given checker, including moves with both dice.

As we already mentioned above the computer plays well and it does so already with the default settings. We recommend to play against the expert skill level computer, simply because it feels the most realistic and gives you the best challenge.

As a nice touch the game developers have thought of left-handed players as well. With the Palm T|X georgeous screen you can rotate the screen to landscape mode both for right-handed and left-handed players.

Game animation is nice, but more importantly useful. Unlike in Handmark’s Backgammon for Palm OS v4.1 here also the computer’s moves are animated just like you would expect. The dice are neatly flying and rolling over the board before landing on the sidebar, which also shows the essential game statistics that you need to know: pip-counts, doubling cube situation, the rolled dice, the “undo” and the “done” buttons. Next to the sidebar you’ll get the born off checkers once either player starts bearing them off.

At this moment you’ll be wondering where the match score is shown. Well, that’s the damnest thing - there is no match play. Imagine our reactions when we found that out. “What the..?” Obviously the absence of match play is a big no-no in a backgammon game; match play is at the heart of backgammon and in our view there is no excuse why it hasn’t been implemented here. Yes, you can play an endless amount of single matches but the victorious feeling you get when you defeat your opponent in a tight 7-point match is missing. You can view the current score and analyze the statistics for the games played so far on a separate statistics page but that doesn’t compansate for not haveing match play.

Conclusion

Backgammon Pro v1.27 is a very good backgammon game for smartphones and PDA’s. Obviously it doesn’t compare to backgammon software such as Snowie or even 3DFibs but it does deliver. There are many good features in the game but also a couple of annoyances of which the missing match play is almost upsetting. But as a whole it is clear why Backgammon Pro v1.27 is one of the best mobile backgammon game out there.

Pros
+ loads of custom settings
+ good A.I. and custom A.I. profiles
+ easy and comfortable gameplay

Cons
- no match play
- graphics suck

Choices

So, of the two backgammon games we reviewed which one should you choose? I guess it depends what you want from the software. Do you want simple fun or do you want to focus on training? If you want fun go for Handmark’s Backgammon for Palm OS v4.1. That one will not dazzle you with complicated settings but will just give you the game and a good computer opponent. If, however, you want more than just a game go for Backgammon Pro v1.27 from Stand Alone, Inc. It offers versatile features and a good A.I. and certainly earns the Winning Backgammon recommendation.

Epilogue

So we have now tested two rather different mobile backgammon games: Backgammon Pro v1.27 and Backgammon for Palm OS v4.1. What conclusions can we make based on these two reviews? How do they serve us backgammon enthousiasts? Well, there are the good things and there is the bad thing.

The good things are that mobile backgammon games are great fun when you are on the move or when you just want to play an odd game on your sofa in your spare time. They are entertaining and the computer is not too easy to beat. They also help a novice player to keep up the backgammon routine, something that’s very important in speeding up the learning process in the early phases in one’s backgammon career. Backgammon Pro v1.27 even works as a decent training tool with it’s customizable opponent

The bad thing is, that while the games offer a decent challenge, one might forget that the real learning happens on the online backgammon sites and by reading about backgammon theory. These games are not and can’t replace those and serve only as complementary elements to the real stuff.