A whole tournament circuit, simulated like in real life
GamesGrid's single-player Career Mode brings you a full tournament circuit that runs year after year, with our virtual club members travelling it alongside you.
There is a calendar to plan, a world of cities to explore, fields for different playing strengths and a handful of titles everyone wants on their record. Every event is part of a season, and every season becomes part of your career.
The calendar
Your career unfolds through the calendar, week by week. You choose where to compete, which titles to pursue and when to take on a bigger challenge.
The circuit ranges from weekly club tournaments to major televised international events with huge fields and prize pools. Every choice shapes your season. Do you build your bankroll at familiar events, follow a series across the year or test yourself on the biggest stage?
From local club nights to major tournaments in stadiums all over the world
Open to players of all levels
Every event on the career circuit offers three main tournaments, each with its own bracket and its own champion.
Club is for beginners and improving players finding their place on the circuit.
Pro is for established tournament players with a solid understanding of checker play and the doubling cube.
Champions is the top level, where the strongest members of the club compete. It is open to anyone ready to take on the challenge.
Admission depends on your Career Rating. You may always enter a stronger field, but you cannot enter a lower one while your rating is above its entry limit.
You can enter only one main tournament per event. Choosing your field is part of the game: compete at your own level, or step up and see how far you can go.
Tournament formats
The circuit uses several tournament formats, each offering a different route to the title. Which format an event uses is part of its character: some are decided in an afternoon of single elimination, others give you a group of opponents first, and the biggest events give everybody a second life.
Single elimination
Single elimination, also known as straight knockout, is the backbone of the circuit: win and advance; lose and your run in that competition ends. A sixteen-player field is settled in four rounds, from the round of sixteen to the final, and every match is a final for the player who loses it. It is the fastest way to a champion and the format that rewards nerve, because there is no second chance and no group table to fall back on. The speed and superspeed events use it exclusively. When a knockout bracket is announced you can read your whole path to the title at a glance.
Single elimination: sixteen players, four rounds, one winner.
Group stages followed by knockout rounds
In the larger events the field is first divided into groups, and every player in a group meets every other player in that group. That guarantees you several scheduled matches before anything is decided, and a bad first day does not send you home. The top players of each group, typically the top two, then advance to a single-elimination knockout, where the format changes character: from that point on, one loss is the end. Group play rewards consistency; the knockout that follows rewards being at your best when it counts.
Groups first, then knockout: the top two of every group go through.
Double elimination
Double elimination features at the top of the circuit, and it is the most forgiving of the three: you are only out after two losses. Everybody starts in the winners' bracket; lose there and you drop into the losers' bracket, where one more defeat ends your run. The two brackets converge in the grand final, where the winners' bracket champion meets the survivor of the losers' bracket. It gives every player a second chance without turning the event into a long round robin, which is why it is used for the events that matter most.
Double elimination: two paths through the bracket, one champion.
We have deliberately left out separate consolation and last-chance competitions. Instead of dividing the prize pot between additional competitions, we keep it focused on the main tournament. Side events and the wider calendar give you other opportunities to compete.
In the main tournaments, match lengths increase as you progress: the further you go, the longer the match.
Side events
The main tournament is not the only competition running.
Alongside it, you will find speed and superspeed brackets, double-match-point events where every game decides the match, and 2 vs 2 doubles events for you and your club partner.
There are also high-roller events for players whose career bankroll can support the entry fee, and sponsor-funded freerolls that let you compete for simulated prizes without paying an entry fee.
Each event has its own programme, giving you different ways to make the week count.
Entries, prize pots and what a win is worth
Entry fees contribute to tournament prize pots. Finish in the money and you receive a share. Finish outside the paying places and your entry fee is spent, but the result still becomes part of your career.
Sponsor-funded freerolls provide another route: a chance to win prize money without paying to enter.
Your choice of event matters. Do you commit more of your bankroll to a bigger tournament, or choose a less expensive event while you rebuild? Do you compete in a field you know, or test yourself against stronger opposition?
All entry fees and prize money in Career Mode use simulated funds. There are no real-money top-ups, and nothing can be cashed out.
You build your career through play and results—not by purchasing a better position.
What a win is worth: a trophy in the cabinet and your portrait on the wall of champions.
Glossary — bracket, field, double match point and the rest
Questions about the tournaments
Is there a backgammon world championship?
Yes. Once every career year the circuit heads to the Bahamas for the GamesGrid World Championship, the longest and most prestigious event on the calendar. The setting pays tribute to the early days of international tournament backgammon. Some arrive among the favourites, others step into a stronger field to find out how far they can go.
How long does a tournament take?
The bigger the event, the longer it occupies your calendar: one, two or three career weeks. You can only be in one place at a time, so you cannot play them all — just as in real life.
What is a series?
Some tournaments belong to a series, with a separate ranking that connects results across the year. Win an event and you collect the prize; put together strong results and you become a contender in the series standings as well.
Do I have to play every tournament?
No. What happened before an event — and what comes next — helps you decide where to play. You might skip a festival because the major two weeks later matters more, choose a less expensive event while your bankroll rebuilds, or return to a city where you have a title to defend.
Which championship can I enter?
Every event has three main tournaments — Club, Pro and Champions — each with its own bracket and its own champion. Your Career Rating decides which you can enter; you may always step up to a stronger field, but you cannot enter a lower one while your rating is above its limit.
Will there be online tournaments against other people?
Yes, they are planned to follow the first release. Some events will be human-only; others will bring human players and virtual club members into the same bracket, where members help complete the field — each with a measured playing strength and a match you still have to win.
A new backgammon world is opening.
Imagine online backgammon as a living world, where you compete against over 500 unique personalities from 120 countries. Every member has their own character, life story, voice, playing strength and style. They compete in the same leagues and tournaments as you, build careers alongside yours and remember the matches, conversations and history you create together.
Learn who they are. Adapt to how they play. Earn their respect, make friends, create rivalries and become part of their story—because they will become part of yours.
