This Android app for smartphones and tablets allows you to play Backgammon on appealing Oriental boards with Arabic rules: Almaghribia or Almahbusa. You can play against the app, which is of interest for beginning or intermediate players. You can alternatively employ the app to play against someone next to you; it turns your phone or tablet into an intelligent board with built-in pebbles and dice.
In full-display mode, the entire screen of your phone or tablet is used as the board, which makes for a great visual experience with the appealing board designs. This is available without a subscription for the first two games of each day, or with a subscription (in-app) for all games. Other games show a banner add above the board and reduce the board size for that.
Moving the pebbles is different from many other board-game apps: In this app, if the dice show a 2 and a 6, a short click on a pebble will move it by 2, and a longer click on a pebble will move it by 6. Playing therefore involves less clicking. We think that this allows you to concentrate better on your moves. It is very intuitive and one gets used to it within a minute or so.
The app is very good for people who already enjoyed these games before, but it also makes for a pleasant way of learning and trying out these Arabic games. In the menu, beginners also have the option of reading the rules (English, Arabic, French and German). We recommend that beginners begin with Almaghribia, the first of the two sets of rules.
With both Almaghribia and Almahbusa, both players begin with all their pebbles on their initial position. The pebbles are moved across the board in opposite directions. There is no hitting of the opponents' pebbles, i.e. no tossing them out and returning them to home. With Almaghribia, a position occupied by a single pebble of one player cannot be moved to by the other player. With Almahbusa, a single pebble by one player can be blocked by the other player by putting a pebble on top of it. For example, a black pebble can be put on top of a single white pebble, blocking the white pebble from moving. While this is the only difference between Almaghribia and Almahbusa, it leads to a very different dynamics in the two games.
Have fun playing!