Backgammon

Photos

Screenshot of Backgammon for Atari 2600

Review

This is the second console backgammon game released. The first came a couple of years earlier for the Channel F. Its the first to have a single player mode versus the computer. That is a huge step up. If I want to play backgammon versus another person, I'd rather just play on a real board. It is a good fit for the paddle controllers. I like the feel of spinning through the positions and could imagine the pains of using a joystick. The sound was awful. There is horrible sound that occurs the whole time you are playing the game. The game allows you to make an illegal move in certain scenarios and then you either have to edit the game or reset it to fix the problem. This is noted in the manual. You need to get the difficulty switches set right or the game is really wonky. When I first tried to play, I could choose the dice rolls and freely move pieces around the board. Once you get the switches right, it plays as I would have expected. I was a little disappointed that winning the game didn't provide a victory sound or anything. The screen just faded to inactive mode.

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