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Daily backgammon puzzle

Every day gammonchain publishes one backgammon puzzle: a position, a roll, and a single question. What is the best play? It is free, takes a minute or two, and everyone gets the same position.

How the daily puzzle works

• One position a day. A new puzzle each day (UTC), the same for every player, so you can compare answers with friends.
• From real games. Positions are taken from matches played on the server rather than invented, so they are the kind of decision you actually meet at the board.
• Chosen to be sharp. Most backgammon decisions are close to free: the top plays are worth nearly the same. The engine screens a batch of candidate positions, evaluates the most promising ones more deeply, and picks the one where the best play leads the runner-up by the widest margin.
• The score and the roll are given. Above the board you see the match score or money play, whether it is the Crawford game, the roll and how many legal plays there are.

Solving it

You move the checkers just as in a match: tap a checker, tap where it goes. Your answer is judged by the position you end up with, so the order you move in does not matter.

You get one attempt, and the first answer stands. Then you see the engine's ranking of the plays, how much equity your choice gave up, and what share of players solved it.

Keep your streak

Your streak counts the consecutive days you found the best play. Miss a day, or miss the play, and it starts again. No account is needed: the puzzle works with the key your browser creates on your first visit, so a streak belongs to that browser unless you register.

Play today's backgammon puzzle

Want a full game instead? Play a match against a person or a bot, with dice you can verify.