GamesGrid Membership

GamesGrid runs on one simple structure: a free membership that carries the entire competition, and a Premium membership that adds the extras around it. Prices will be published at launch; the shape of the model is settled, and it's set out below — so returning veterans of the original server and new players considering the platform know exactly what to expect.

For the rules around accounts and gameplay see the FAQ. For the platform's commercial principles see also the homepage and the community standards.

Free — truly free backgammon

Everyone who joins GamesGrid is a member, and the competition is free — all of it. The full single-player career: every league, every cup competition, the GamesGrid Grand Prix, the Bahamas World Championship, played against the club's over 500 members — every one of them unlockable through play, none of them behind a wall. Your complete stats and match history. No match limits, no energy timers, no "play until you're hooked, then pay" mechanic.

Free backgammon here means the real thing: there are no coins and nothing purchasable inside the competition, so if all you ever do is play, you will never pay. The original GamesGrid (1996–2008) ran on a generous free tier; the reopened club goes further. The free membership is permanent — a stable, indefinite home for anyone who wants to play backgammon online free.

What Premium adds

Premium is built from features that take real engineering investment to deliver — never from holding the free experience hostage:

The Casino — the full money game on simulated chips: cash games, chouette, and Casino Swing Tournaments. Nothing to buy, nothing to cash out, no rake — win more chips than you lose.
Tutor Mode — a live learning match against Guru: after each move, expert hints computed at Grandmaster strength — the better play, what it was worth, how serious the error was — with the option to take the move back and try again.
Analyse & export — step through any completed match on a replay board, with per-move and cube-decision analysis and mistake flags, and export the match for deeper study.
Unlimited character chat — every member speaks in their own character for everyone, free included; Premium lifts the limit on talking back.
And the quality-of-life layer — ad-free play, the Premium badge, premium boards, and a shop discount.

Premium does not buy a competitive edge. No paid members that play better, no paid lucky dice, no paid rating points. Premium does not gate the core game. The career, the events, and the full member roster are free. The game decides who advances — not the wallet.

A VIP tier will follow later: live meetings and sponsored events, and first access to new features.

What We Will Not Do

The membership page deserves an explicit list of what GamesGrid is not doing, because the broader online-backgammon industry has normalised practices that we are deliberately rejecting.

We will not run:

A virtual-currency economy (no coins, gems, chips, or any in-platform currency that gates gameplay).
Lootboxes or randomised cosmetic purchases.
Energy timers ("come back in four hours to play another game").
Pay-to-win mechanics of any kind — no boosters, no double-rating-gain events, no skill-elevating purchases.
Rake on rated matches dressed up as membership. The membership is the membership; rated matches do not have hidden per-match fees.
Aggressive upselling. No popup carousel on every login screen.

These commitments are not just marketing copy. They are architectural decisions about how the platform works.

Historical Context

For context, the original CyberArts-era GamesGrid (1996–2008) charged membership fees of "just pennies a day" — the era's standard small monthly subscription, payable by PayPal, credit card, mailed check, or transfer from the in-platform E-Jackpots wallet. The original membership included a 15-day full-refund guarantee for first-time members.

The 2026 platform's membership pricing and refund policy will reflect 2026 norms, not 2004 norms, and will be published clearly when announced. The continuity in spirit — accessible price, no aggressive monetisation, generous free tier, refundable trial — is preserved.