Backgammon Online — Play Free
Backgammon right in your browser: no signup, no ads, nothing to install. Your opponent is the Nardex neural-network engine or a live player, and the format is a single game or a match to 3, 5 or 7 points.
Play backgammon →This page is about backgammon — four starting stacks, checkers moving towards each other, hits and the bar, gammon and backgammon scoring. Looking for long narde instead? See playing long narde against the AI and the long narde rules.
Opponent and format — from a quick game to a match
In backgammon on nardex.ai you pick the opponent: the neural-network engine, which comfortably beats most amateurs and holds its own at strong club-player level, or a live player from the real-time lobby.
The format is yours too: a single game of a few minutes, or a match to 3, 5 or 7 points — the classic tournament distances, where the doubling cube and the Crawford rule come into play. Dice are rolled server-side by a cryptographically strong generator, identically for you and for the AI, and every roll stays in the game replay.
No signup, no ads
You hit «Play» and the backgammon game starts. No email confirmation, no banners, no popups. Playing is free both in the browser and in the Android app: no microtransactions, no chips, no premium tiers — our paid products are B2B only (the analytics API and an engine licence).
Anonymous progress is stored in the browser. You only need an account for the rating, for matches against people, and to keep your game history in sync across devices.
A real neural-network engine, not a script
Most backgammon sites move by plain if-else logic — «if the roll is 6-6, go there». In Nardex the move is chosen by a neural network: it evaluates the whole position and compares candidate moves by expected value rather than by a rule list.
- Rust + ONNX Runtime + CUDA position evaluation runs on the GPU in milliseconds
- Probabilistic output the network outputs win, gammon and backgammon probabilities — the best move follows from those
- Architecture in the TD-Gammon line (Tesauro, 1995), rewritten from scratch for a modern stack
- The same engine in the Analysis API access is requested on the developers page (currently private beta)
Backgammon rules — official, no house variants
The engine plays by the official rules of the game. Each side has 15 checkers and four starting stacks, and the checkers travel towards each other into their own home boards. A lone checker (a blot) can be hit and sent to the bar — it must re-enter before any other move is made.
Both dice must be played whenever a legal play exists; doubles are played four times. Bearing off starts once all 15 checkers are home. A plain win scores 1 point, a gammon 2, a backgammon 3 — all multiplied by the doubling cube (1→2→4→…→64), which is available in matches of three points and up together with the Crawford rule. Beaver and raccoon are not supported. The full walkthrough with diagrams is in the backgammon rules guide.
Want to go deeper?
The rules from the opening setup to the bear-off are covered in the backgammon guide. How to read a game review — PR, EMG and cube errors — is in the game-analysis article. How backgammon differs from long narde, point by point, is in the comparison of the two games. To play from your phone, download the Android app; the iOS version is in development.
Frequently asked questions about backgammon
Can I play backgammon online for free?
Yes, entirely free — both in the browser and in the Android app. There is no cap on the number of games, no embedded ads, no premium tiers and no microtransactions. Nardex only charges for B2B products: the analytics API and an engine licence.
Do I need to sign up?
No. A backgammon game against the AI starts anonymously: hit «Play» and you are at the board, with progress stored in the browser. An account is only needed for the rating, for matches against live opponents, and to sync your game history across devices.
How is backgammon different from long narde?
Backgammon has four starting stacks, checkers moving towards each other, hits and the bar, and bonus wins called gammon (2 points) and backgammon (3 points). Long narde has a single starting head, unidirectional movement, no hits, and bonus wins called mars and koks. The detailed comparison is in «Long narde vs backgammon».
Are there hits and a bar?
Yes — this is the defining mechanic of backgammon. A checker left alone on a point (a blot) is hit by an opposing checker and sent to the bar. While it sits there no other move is allowed: it must first re-enter through the opponent home board, and if no die gives a legal entry the turn is forfeited.
Can I play against real people?
Yes. The lobby has a real-time mode against a live opponent — either through the shared matchmaking queue or via a private room code if you want to play a friend. Backgammon has its own queue, so you will not be paired into a long-narde game by mistake.
Is there game analysis?
Yes. A finished game can be opened in a replay with a PR (performance rating) scale, best-move arrows and an equity evaluation of every decision. The best / ok / doubtful / blunder labels follow the conventions used by gnubg and XG. How to read those numbers is covered in the backgammon game-analysis guide.
Does the doubling cube work?
Yes, in matches of three points and up; in a single game (a match to 1) the cube is not used. Values run from 1 to 64, the cube passes to whoever accepts the double, refusing loses the pre-double stake, and the Crawford rule applies at match point. Beaver and raccoon are not supported.
Is there a mobile app?
Yes, for Android — download the app directly from the site or via the button under the lobby on the home page; it runs the same backgammon as the browser version. The iOS version is in development. The nardex.ai web version is adapted for mobile browsers: you can play from a phone without installing anything.
Ready to play?
One click and you are at the backgammon board against the Nardex engine. Free, no signup.
Play backgammon →