Help and Support

New to backgammon?

On the home screen, open Golden Rules of Backgammon & Lessons. Thirteen short lessons take you from the first move to strategy, then a coached game reviews every turn. The glossary explains every word.

Gin Rummy, and having your cards read aloud

On the home screen, tap Gin Rummy. Play Tillman, pass one tablet across the table, or play family online. Cards are big, and each shows its suit as a shape and a word. Turn on Read my cards and Dealer Tillman says your cards out loud: what you drew, what the other player threw away, and your whole hand when you tap What do I have? He only ever reads your own cards. Pick Slow, Medium or Normal speed.

Hearing aids: pair your hearing aids to the phone or tablet by Bluetooth, in the phone's Settings.

The rules are standard two-player gin, as written at pagat.com: 10 cards each; take the top discard or draw from the pile, then throw one away; sets are 3 or 4 of a kind, runs are 3 or more in a row in one suit, ace low; knock with 10 or less deadwood (ace 1, faces 10); the other player lays off on the knocker's melds, except after gin. A knock scores the difference; an undercut scores the difference plus 10; gin scores 20 plus the other player's deadwood. If the pile is down to 2 cards, the hand doesn't count. First to 100 wins, plus 100 (200 if the other player scored nothing), and 20 for every hand won. The full rules are in the app under How to play gin.

Signing in

Tap Sign in with Google at the top. You don't need to sign in to play Tillman, play two people on one phone, or do the lessons. You do need to sign in to play online, join tournaments, and keep family standings.

Turn alerts on a phone

Open Challenge Opponents Online, then Turn alerts, then Turn on phone alerts. On an iPhone using the website, first add it to your Home Screen (Share, then Add to Home Screen) and open it from there.

Report a message or hide a player

In a game's chat, every message from someone else has Hide and Report. Hide stops you seeing that player's messages (undo it in your name's menu, Watch & chat settings). Report opens an email to us with the message filled in. A real person reads every report. You can also choose who may watch and chat in Watch & chat settings.

Delete your account

1. Sign in, then tap your name at the top of the screen.
2. Tap Delete my account, read what it removes, and tap Delete my account again.
3. Google may ask you to confirm it's you. Then your account is gone.

It removes your table name and picture, your family and friends lists and pictures, your chat messages, saved games, lesson progress, alert settings, prize shipping details, Notify me sign-ups, the real-table and one-phone games you played in, and the open tables and tournaments you started. Online games and games against Tillman stay only as scores with no name or picture, shown as "Someone", so other players' standings still add up. It can't be undone.

Can't get into the app? Email doug@1stplacebrands.com from the email you sign in with, and we'll delete it for you and write back when it's done.

The monthly prize

The official rules are in the app: open He With the Gold Rules on the home screen, then Official rules. It's free, no purchase necessary. Apple and Google are not sponsors of the prize and are not involved with it in any way.

Your privacy

Read the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use.