Files
bgclock/public_html/README.md
T
hansdezwartandClaude Opus 5 0274e10d4c Add a 3m / 12s preset between the other two
Three buttons left 84.7px each at a 320px viewport against 81.2px of
intrinsic content, so the horizontal padding drops to 6px and the label is
nowrap — about 11px of slack instead of 3.5px.

paintPresets() needed no change: it reads .preset from the DOM and matches
on both base and delay, which the new preset makes load-bearing since two
now share a delay and two share a base. Stepping the delay down from
3m / 15s correctly lights 3m / 12s rather than staying dark.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-11 11:46:53 +02:00

3.5 KiB
Raw Blame History

Backgammon Clock

A two-player match clock with simple delay you can actually see. Reserve time plus a fixed number of free seconds each turn that never carry over — the Backgammon Galaxy control. Defaults to 3:00 + 15s.

Plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript. No frameworks, no fonts, no images, no network.

Getting it onto your phone

Chrome will only offer a real install over HTTPS, so the file needs a host. GitHub Pages is free and takes about two minutes:

  1. Create a new public repository, e.g. bgclock.
  2. Upload all six files to the root: index.html, manifest.webmanifest, sw.js, icon-192.png, icon-512.png, icon-maskable-512.png.
  3. Settings → Pages → Source: Deploy from a branch → main / (root) → Save.
  4. Wait a minute, then open https://<you>.github.io/bgclock/ in Chrome on Android.
  5. Chrome menu (⋮) → Add to Home screenInstall.

Open it from the home-screen icon and it runs fullscreen with no browser chrome, offline, with the screen kept awake while a game is on.

If you're using a different path than /bgclock/, edit the "id" field in manifest.webmanifest to match, or just delete that line.

To try it before hosting, open index.html in any browser — everything works except installation and the service worker.

Using it

  • Tap your own half to end your turn and start your opponent's clock. At the start, whoever taps first sets the other player going.
  • The waiting player's taps are ignored, so a stray hand won't stop the clock.
  • The bar under the big time is the delay draining. When it empties you get a soft tick and your reserve starts moving. That's the moment worth hearing.
  • Reset returns to the starting position. It takes two taps: the first arms the button — it lights up and a ring unwinds around it — and a second tap within those two seconds does it. One stray thumb can't wipe a live game.
  • Pause freezes mid-turn and resumes exactly where it stopped, delay included. Opening settings pauses automatically, and leaves it paused so the clock only restarts when both players are ready.

Backgammon clocks pause between games, and after a cocked die the delay is normally restarted — use pause and reset for those.

Settings

At the top of the sheet are three presets — 2m / 12s, 3m / 12s and 3m / 15s. Tapping one jumps both timers there and lights it up. Change the time or delay by hand and the highlight goes out; land back on a preset's numbers and it comes back on.

Setting Range Default
Time 0:15 99:00 3:00
Delay 0 60 s 15 s
Colour Sage, Brass, Slate, Teal, Plum Sage
Sound on / off on

Brass is the colour in the chess.com app, if you want the exact original look. Changing time or delay resets the clock. Settings are kept in localStorage, so they survive closing the tab, force-quitting the installed app and rebooting the phone — the app also asks for persistent storage so they aren't evicted when the device runs low on space. Only the settings are stored; a game in progress isn't.

Sounds

All three are generated with the Web Audio API, so there are no audio files to download and nothing to attribute.

  • Turn change — a soft rising fifth with an octave partial, marimba-like.
  • Delay expiry — a single quiet 300 Hz tick, deliberately easy to miss unless you're listening for it.
  • Time out — a falling triad, loud and unambiguous.

Licence

Do whatever you like with it.