Backgammon is a social game. What I really like is to play with a friend at the terrace of a cafe on a nice sunny afternoon. But backgammon is also a strategic game and you must play a lot to master all its aspects from checkers moves to cube strategy. Like many other games like chess, backgammon strategy had its revolution with the emergence of the neural net A.I, simply because computers have the power to do things the human brain is not capable of. In the case of backgammon, software can play millions of games against itself to determine what the best action is to take at any given point. There are several software able to do the job, but XG Mobile (eXtreme Gammon) has definitely been the top contender for many years now. The good news is that you can have the power of this remarkable software in the palm of your hand with XG Mobile. Everything you need to know about it is in our XG Mobile review.
Presentation of XG Mobile
XG Mobile is not a platform that you have to connect online in order to play. It’s a software that you can download on the app Store or the Play store for about $11. Yes, it is not free, but the investment is definitely worth it if you want to be a better backgammon player. Basically on XG Mobile you are going to play against the computer and let’s be realistic, at first it is going to beat the crap out of you. Learning is your reward when you play XG mobile and several modes are here to make you improve your understanding of the game.
In the tutor mode, XG mobile will ask you to reconsider your decision if you haven’t made the most efficient play. You can choose to follow its advice or not, but if you don’t your rating at the end of the game will be quite poor. You can also choose to play a match without any advice and to see at the end if you played like a world-class champion or like a rookie.
After many games, you will see a drastic improvement of your abilities to make the right play and to turn the cube at the right time. Obviously, the path to play at a constant world class level is not easy but it is one of the reasons we all love backgammon so much.
Unlike the computer version, you won’t be able to see in detail the variation for every move and it is not possible to transcribe a full match inside the software either. But XG mobile is already a formidable tool that one will find very useful.
Personally, I use it a lot to analyze a specific decision when I play live tournaments. While playing those events, you will see a lot of players taking pictures of the board with their phones when facing important decisions. This is because you can set up a position in XG mobile and check out if your play was the best or not afterward.
Our opinion on XG mobile
XG mobile is a wonderful tool that will help you improve your game drastically. Less powerful that the computer software, it is still a must buy for every serious player in the world.
Nextgammon and Backgammon Galaxy, two of our highest rating backgammon platforms, are powered by XG Gammon and that should finish to convince you. If you really want to go to the next level, now you know what you have to do.
XG Mobile Backgammon
$11
Pros
- - Best AI
- - Available on Desktop, Mobile and Tablet
- - Best option to improve
Cons
- - Not free to play
