Every now and then we receive a message from someone who is dead positive that the computer is cheating.

Just to make it clear this is not possible, as the dice rolls are always random for both computer and player. In technical terms, on the matter of rolls of the dice it is simple: the human player and the computer obtain dice rolls from the same algorithm. The dice mechanism doesn't know whether the computer or the human is asking for a roll. This is because the algorithm that handles the dice rolls is simply not passed that information -- it merely returns two numbers, which are then displayed on the screen as the dice. Since the dice roll algorithm is never "told" for whom it is rolling, it is therefore logically impossible that it can favor either player.

There is, however, every chance of the computer getting "better" rolls for what may seem like dozens of games! This may sound contradictory to what I just said, but it is not. Here's why.

This has to do with how a computer plays Backgammon vs. how many humans play. MVP Backgammon always tries to work the odds in its favor. That is, every move that it takes is designed to work in such a way that a higher number of subsequent rolls are "good" ones. If this is done more often than the opponent does, the inevitable result is that MVP Backgammon will appear to get more good rolls, when in actuality it is simply playing the odds better. Human players often take chances in which success is dependent on getting an improbably good roll, but the computer never does this. It can calculate the odds much faster than a human player can, and so it admittedly has an advantage in that regard. But it does not cheat; it simply is much better and faster at math than even the most intelligent human can be.

You can test this for yourself. Play 100 games, and keep a log of every roll for both the human and computer players. You will find a random distribution of rolls. In a small sample of just a few games, a random distribution will not of course mean an "even" distribution. That's just the nature of randomness. But in a large enough sample, the rolls will even out.

Of course, a computer player cannot implement an overall game strategy with the same skill that a human player can; it evaluates each move one at a time. For this reason the best human players will beat the best computer players more often than not. Still, even to good players a good computer algorithm may seem to get more good rolls, or more doubles, or whatever yardstick you may wish to use, even when that is not the case, for the reason described above.

If you're still not convinced, feel free to use the Manual Dice mode. You'll most likely be surprised, however, to discover that the it can appear laws of physics seem to be against you as well.