Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage

Last updated: January 22, 2026

Overview

Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage is a digital adaptation of two classic board and card games released by Sierra On-Line in 1999 for Windows and Macintosh platforms.¹² The game was part of Sierra’s long-running Hoyle series, which had been bringing traditional games to home computers since 1989.³ Named after 18th century playing card expert Edmond Hoyle, the series was renowned for its accessible yet faithful recreations of beloved tabletop games.³

The title combined two distinct games: backgammon, the ancient race game where players move markers around the board attempting to bear off all their pieces first, and cribbage, a classic card game involving strategic card play and a distinctive scoring board.¹ Players could challenge ten different computer-controlled opponents of varying skill levels or compete against friends via internet play, a feature that was becoming increasingly common in late 1990s gaming.¹

Released during a turbulent period in Sierra’s corporate history—just months after the February 1999 “Black Monday” layoffs that saw approximately 135 employees lose their jobs—Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage represented the company’s continued commitment to their casual gaming catalog even as their adventure game division faced significant restructuring.⁴ The game received an ESRB rating of Everyone, making it suitable for players of all ages.¹

Game Info

Developer: Sierra On-Line, Inc.¹ Designer: Paul Horn, Rabih AbouJaoudé, Michael Katz, Robert L. Jerauld¹ Publisher: Sierra On-Line, Inc.¹ Engine: Unknown Platforms: Windows, Macintosh¹² Release Year: 1999² Series: Hoyle³ Protagonist: N/A Sierra Lineage: Core Sierra

Story Summary

As a digital adaptation of classic board and card games, Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage does not feature a traditional narrative story. Instead, the game focuses on providing authentic recreations of both backgammon and cribbage with computer opponents and multiplayer functionality.¹

In backgammon, players engage in the time-honored race game where the objective is to move all fifteen of their markers around the board and off before their opponent can do the same.¹ The game incorporates all traditional backgammon rules including the doubling cube, hitting and entering from the bar, and bearing off procedures.

Cribbage, the other half of this package, involves players using a standard deck of cards in combination with a traditional cribbage board for scoring.¹ Players form combinations of cards to accumulate points, “leapfrogging” their pegs around the board toward the finish line in a race to 121 points.¹ The game includes all standard cribbage conventions including the crib, pegging, and go situations.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage utilized a point-and-click interface controlled via keyboard and mouse.¹ The game presented both backgammon and cribbage through intuitive graphical interfaces that faithfully represented their physical counterparts while taking advantage of computer automation for scoring and rule enforcement.

Structure and Progression

The game offered two distinct gaming experiences packaged together:

• Backgammon: Complete implementation of the classic race game with computer opponents of varying difficulty levels¹
• Cribbage: Full cribbage experience including the board, dealing, pegging, and scoring phases¹

Players could compete against ten different computer-controlled opponents, each presumably offering different playing styles and skill levels.¹ For those seeking human competition, the game supported internet multiplayer, allowing friends to compete remotely.¹

Puzzles and Mechanics

Rather than traditional puzzles, Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage focused on strategic gameplay mechanics inherent to both featured games.

In backgammon, players faced strategic decisions regarding:¹

• Movement of checkers based on dice rolls
• When to hit opponent’s blots
• Timing of bearing off
• Use of the doubling cube

Cribbage gameplay required mastery of:¹

• Card selection for the crib
• Optimal play order during pegging
• Recognition of scoring combinations (fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes)
• Strategic go decisions

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Due to the limited availability of contemporary gaming magazine reviews in the research data, specific publication scores from the release era are not documented. The game was released during May 1999 for the US market.²

Modern Assessment

Modern retrospective assessments of Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage have been modest. GameFAQs users rated the game as “Fair” based on 2 user ratings.⁵ The game falls within the broader Hoyle series franchise, which maintained a steady following among casual game enthusiasts throughout the late 1990s.³

Aggregate Scores:

• MobyGames: 85% (user rating)¹
• GameFAQs: Fair (2 ratings)⁵

Development

Origins

Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage emerged from Sierra’s successful Hoyle series, which had been producing digital versions of classic games since the first volume in 1989.³ The series was named after Edmond Hoyle, the 18th century author whose books on card games established standardized rules still referenced today.³ By 1999, the Hoyle brand had expanded to cover various card games, board games, puzzles, dice games, and casino simulations.³

Production

The game was developed internally at Sierra On-Line, Inc. during a challenging period for the company.⁴ Following CUC International’s acquisition of Sierra in July 1996 and subsequent merger with HFC Incorporated to form Cendant Corporation in December 1997, the company faced significant corporate upheaval.⁴ The 1998 financial scandal involving Cendant’s leadership caused stock prices to plummet from $39to$20 per share, leading to substantial financial losses and restructuring.⁴

The development team completed the project despite these corporate challenges, releasing the game in early 1999.⁶ The game featured voice work recorded by Pat Cashman and an original score by composer Evan Schiller.¹

Development Credits:¹

• Designers: Paul Horn, Rabih AbouJaoudé, Michael Katz, Robert L. Jerauld
• Composer: Evan Schiller
• Voice Actor: Pat Cashman

Technical Achievements

Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage was developed for both Windows and Macintosh platforms, demonstrating Sierra’s continued commitment to cross-platform compatibility during this era.¹² The game supported internet multiplayer functionality, allowing players to compete against friends remotely—a feature that was becoming increasingly important in late 1990s gaming.¹

Technical Specifications

CD-ROM Version:¹

• Platforms: Windows, Macintosh
• Media: CD-ROM, Download
• Input Devices: Keyboard, Mouse
• ESRB Rating: Everyone

Cut Content

No specific information about cut content has been documented in available sources.

Version History

Version	Date	Platform	Notes
1.0	March 15, 1999	IBM PC, Macintosh	Initial release6
US Retail	May 1999	PC	US retail release2
EU Release	August 10, 2001	PC	European release2

The game was released on multiple dates across different regions, with the initial release occurring in March 1999,⁶ followed by the US retail release in May 1999,² and a later European release in October 2001.²

Technical Issues

No specific technical issues or compatibility problems have been documented in available sources. The game was designed for Windows systems of its era and Macintosh computers.¹²

Easter Eggs and Trivia

Earlier Hoyle titles were known for featuring humorous computer opponents drawn from other Sierra video game series, a tradition that made the games particularly appealing to Sierra fans.³ Whether this tradition continued in Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage is not specifically documented in available sources.

The Hoyle series utilized trademarks and designs from the Hoyle brand of playing cards under license from Brown & Bigelow.³

Voice Cast

Character	Voice Actor
Various/Narrator	Pat Cashman

Voice work by Pat Cashman.¹

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage was released during a tumultuous period in Sierra Entertainment’s history. The game arrived just months after the February 22, 1999 “Black Monday” layoffs, which saw the closure of multiple Sierra development studios and approximately 135 employees losing their jobs.⁴ Despite these challenges, Sierra continued to support their casual gaming catalog, with the Hoyle series remaining a consistent part of their lineup.

Collections

The game was part of the broader Hoyle franchise, which Sierra Entertainment developed and published from 1989 through 2003.³ The series continued under Encore, Inc. from 2005 to 2016, eventually leading to Encore’s own Classic Games series beginning in 2020.³

Fan Projects

No specific fan projects or modifications for Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage have been documented.

Related Publications

The game was associated with the broader Hoyle brand, which had connections to Edmond Hoyle’s historical rule books and the Brown & Bigelow playing card company.³ No specific hint books or strategy guides for this particular title have been documented.

Critical Perspective

Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage represents a specific moment in Sierra Entertainment’s history—the late 1990s period when the company was transitioning from an independent developer and publisher into a subsidiary of larger corporate entities.⁷ The game exemplifies Sierra’s strategy of maintaining their casual gaming catalog even as their more prominent adventure game divisions faced restructuring.

The Hoyle series as a whole had a significant impact on the digital adaptation of traditional games, bringing classic card and board games to personal computers at a time when such entertainment options were limited.³ While individual titles like Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage may not have achieved the cultural impact of Sierra’s adventure games, they provided consistent revenue and introduced countless players to traditional games in digital form.

The game also serves as a historical artifact of late 1990s gaming, representing the era’s approach to casual games before the mobile gaming revolution would transform the landscape entirely. Its inclusion of internet multiplayer functionality demonstrates Sierra’s awareness of emerging online gaming trends.¹

Downloads

Download / Preservation

• The game may be available through vintage game preservation sites
• Check Internet Archive for potential mirrors

Note: Due to Sierra Entertainment’s corporate transitions and eventual absorption into Activision Blizzard,⁷ official digital distribution of older Hoyle titles may be limited.

Series Continuity

Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage was part of Sierra’s extensive Hoyle series, which began in 1989 with Hoyle’s Official Book of Games: Volume 1 and continued through numerous iterations focusing on various types of card games, board games, puzzles, and casino games.³ The series ran under Sierra’s development until 2003, after which Encore, Inc. took over publishing from 2005 to 2016.³

Other Hoyle titles from Sierra included Hoyle Solitaire (1996), Hoyle Board Games, Hoyle Card Games, and the Hoyle Casino spin-off series that began in 1996.³⁸ The 1999 release of Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage represented Sierra’s continued commitment to their casual gaming lineup during a challenging corporate period.

• Previous: 1996 - Hoyle Solitaire
• Next: 2001 - Hoyle Board Games 2001

References

Footnotes

1. MobyGames – Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage – credits, technical specifications, ratings, game description, platform information ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸

2. GameFAQs – Hoyle Backgammon and Cribbage Data – release dates, platforms, regional releases, developer/publisher information ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

3. Wikipedia – Hoyle’s Official Book of Games – series history, developers, publishers, Edmond Hoyle connection, Brown & Bigelow license ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

4. AGDB – Sierra Entertainment – corporate history, Black Monday layoffs, CUC International acquisition, Cendant scandal ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. GameFAQs – Hoyle Backgammon and Cribbage – user ratings, platform information ↩ ↩²

6. Sierra Chest – Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage – release date, platform information ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. German Wikipedia – Sierra Entertainment – corporate history, transitions, Vivendi ownership ↩ ↩²

8. Squakenet – Hoyle’s Backgammon & Cribbage – genre classification, related games ↩