Aqui estão os passos que usei para que isso funcione. Vou observar que usei apenas as duas URLs que você forneceu:
Etapa 1 - instale o SBT
Eu executei os dois comandos a seguir para baixar e instalar o SBT.
$ wget http://repo.scala-sbt.org/scalasbt/sbt-native-packages/org/scala-sbt/sbt/0.13.1/sbt.rpm
$ sudo yum localinstall sbt.rpm
Etapa 2 - Reporte GIT do clone
Em seguida, executei este comando para clonar uma cópia do repositório do GitHub para o jogo de gamão.
$ git clone https://github.com/wbillingsley/play-backgammon.git
Etapa 3 - Compilando o gamão
Provavelmente, o passo crítico que você está omitindo é que você precisa alterar os diretórios para o jogo de gamão, antes de executar o SBT.
$ cd play-backgammon
Agora, dentro do diretório do projeto, execute sbt
.
$ sbt
Loading /usr/share/sbt/bin/sbt-launch-lib.bash
Getting org.scala-sbt sbt 0.12.1 ...
downloading http://repo.typesafe.com/typesafe/ivy-releases/org.scala-sbt/sbt/0.12.1/jars/sbt.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-sbt#sbt;0.12.1!sbt.jar (697ms)
downloading http://repo.typesafe.com/typesafe/ivy-releases/org.scala-sbt/main/0.12.1/jars/main.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-sbt#main;0.12.1!main.jar (2133ms)
...
Getting Scala 2.9.2 (for sbt)...
downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/scala-lang/scala-compiler/2.9.2/scala-compiler-2.9.2.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-lang#scala-compiler;2.9.2!scala-compiler.jar (6836ms)
downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/scala-lang/scala-library/2.9.2/scala-library-2.9.2.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-lang#scala-library;2.9.2!scala-library.jar (4865ms)
downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/scala-lang/jline/2.9.2/jline-2.9.2.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-lang#jline;2.9.2!jline.jar (388ms)
:: retrieving :: org.scala-sbt#boot-scala
confs: [default]
4 artifacts copied, 0 already retrieved (20090kB/71ms)
[info] Loading project definition from /home/saml/programming_projects/scala/play-backgammon/project
[info] Set current project to play-backgammon (in build file:/home/saml/programming_projects/scala/play-backgammon/)
[play-backgammon] $
Etapa # 4 - executando o jogo
[play-backgammon] $ run
Getting Scala 2.10.0-RC1 ...
downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/scala-lang/scala-compiler/2.10.0-RC1/scala-compiler-2.10.0-RC1.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-lang#scala-compiler;2.10.0-RC1!scala-compiler.jar (9087ms)
downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/scala-lang/scala-library/2.10.0-RC1/scala-library-2.10.0-RC1.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-lang#scala-library;2.10.0-RC1!scala-library.jar (3653ms)
downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/scala-lang/scala-reflect/2.10.0-RC1/scala-reflect-2.10.0-RC1.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-lang#scala-reflect;2.10.0-RC1!scala-reflect.jar (2091ms)
downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/scala-lang/jline/2.10.0-RC1/jline-2.10.0-RC1.jar ...
[SUCCESSFUL ] org.scala-lang#jline;2.10.0-RC1!jline.jar (479ms)
:: retrieving :: org.scala-sbt#boot-scala
confs: [default]
...
...
[info] downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/w3c/css/sac/1.3/sac-1.3.jar ...
[info] [SUCCESSFUL ] org.w3c.css#sac;1.3!sac.jar (372ms)
[info] downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/jboss/netty/netty/3.2.7.Final/netty-3.2.7.Final.jar ...
[info] [SUCCESSFUL ] org.jboss.netty#netty;3.2.7.Final!netty.jar(bundle) (656ms)
[info] downloading http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/easytesting/fest-util/1.1.6/fest-util-1.1.6.jar ...
[info] [SUCCESSFUL ] org.easytesting#fest-util;1.1.6!fest-util.jar (331ms)
[info] Done updating.
--- (Running the application from SBT, auto-reloading is enabled) ---
[info] play - Listening for HTTP on /0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9000
(Server started, use Ctrl+D to stop and go back to the console...)
Etapa 5 - JOGAR!
Quando chegar a este ponto, você poderá acessar seu navegador e acessar o jogo por meio do URL http://localhost:9000
.