Backgammon Articles Archive

The full backgammon guide: definitions and rules for pros and beginners. Study about the history of the backgammon game, how to set up the board, the rules of the game, notation, the best opening rules how to use the doubling cube, what is the bear-off and how to do it properly, all about tournaments, equity and money matches strategies.
Read the full Backgammon Guide article.

Backgammon is one of the oldest games in existence alongside Go and Chess. It is about 5,000 years old and may well have originated in what today is Iraq. Frescoes in many Roman villas depict the game in progress. The Emperor Claudius was a keen player and Nero played for huge sums of money.
Read the full Backgammon History article.

Backgammon board setup is the first thing you should learn when starting to play backgammon. This game board has a unique arrangement, but once you get the idea, it is pretty easy. When playing online backgammon, one should not setup the board himself, since the software takes care of that, but even the online gamers should learn how to do it.
Read the full Setting Up the Backgammon Board article.

Basic backgammon game rules: the object of the game, starting out, rolling the dice, moving the checkers, hitting and entering, bearing off and winning the game. Read this article if you are a beginner, and afterwards, you will be able to play backgammon immediately.
Read the full Backgammon Game Rules article.

Backgammon players use special marks to record the moves in a backgammon game. For example, hits are indicated by an asterisk. A move made from the bar has `bar` as its starting point. Bearing off a checker has `off` as its ending point. Where more than one checker is moved identically, as in doubles, it is indicated by showing the number of checkers moved in brackets after the move.
Read the full Notation article.

The opening move in backgammon is very crucial; therefore, every roll has to be played with great thought. In this article, our experts are revealing the secrets of the best opening moves. Read exactly how to play each roll in your first moves to open your game with an advantage. For best results, print this article and hang it on your fridge...
Read the full Best Opening Moves article.

The doubling cube has six faces, each one bears a number to record progressive doubles and redoubles, starting with 2 and going on to 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. During the course of the game, a player who feels he has a sufficient advantage may propose doubling the stakes. The player does this by turning the doubling cube to the next appropriate value.
Read the full Doubling Cube Rules article.

The bear-off, the act of removing of checkers from the board, is the final stage in the backgammon game and the first player who completes it wins the game. Bearing off is done straightforwardly, corresponding to the dice rolled, e.g. with a 54 take a checker off 5 and a checker off 4. If you roll a number bigger than the highest occupied point then you must take a checker off the next highest point, e.g. if you only have checkers on the 3-pt, 2-pt and 1-pt then you must take a checker off the 3-pt with any 3, 4, 5 or 6.
Read the full Bearing - Off article.

Backgammon tournaments are composed of series of backgammon matches that end with one, usually longer, championship final, normally the same way as tennis tournaments. The competitors in a backgammon tournament are paired off randomly at the beginning of the event, and each pair plays set of matches to decide who will move on to the next round.
Read the full Backgammon Tournaments article.

Backgammon players often talk about equity, the rate at which a player expects t6o gain or lose per point, for whatever stakes he is playing. Equity is particularly important in match play, when making doubling decisions. A match equity table shows you the probability of winning a match from a given score, assuming perfect play by both players.
Read the full Equity article.

Money game and match play are the most common forms of backgammon, online and offline. However, your choice of play must affect your strategy. When playing money game, where every game is calculated individually, you should only take into account your opponent`s weaknesses and/or strengths, while when playing series of games (match play) your chances of winning a gammon are also have to be taken in consideration.
Read the full Backgammon Game Strategies article.

Many professional poker players have started out as backgammon players, where they first learned the importance of probabilities and the significance of reacting to your opponent`s weaknesses. Poker and backgammon have many things in common. For example, doubling the stake in backgammon is commonly compared to raising the bet in poker.
Read the full Poker vs. Backgammon   article.

As time goes by, it seems that the backgammon online becomes the more popular way to play the game. There are several quality online backgammon servers and most major online gambling companies have created their own version of backgammon for money online.
Read the full Backgammon Online   article.

There are several general differences between online and offline backgammon tournaments on top of the obvious difference of physically rolling the dice and moving the checkers, and looking into the face of your opponent when playing backgammon live.
Read the full Backgammon Tournaments - Online vs. Offline article.

In most of the backgammon variants, the rules are well understood. Backgammon and all of its different variants is a game of total information, unlike poker or bridge, so there is very little opportunity for misunderstanding or, thankfully, cheating. It is impossible, though, to control the numbers that you roll and plan your game completely ahead.
Read the full Backgammon Rules and Variations   article.

The doubling cube is the very heart of backgammon and makes it the exciting game that it is. Without the invention of the cube, the game might have died off in the 1920`s. Still, the doubling cube is the least well understood and most difficult part o6f the game.
Read the full Doubling Cube Basics Rules article.

Tavla, backgammon in Turkish, is a very popular game in its homeland, played in Turkey local cafes, parks and even the cities' streets. Tavla is played on a standard backgammon board. The board set up and the movements of the checkers are exactly the same as in regular backgammon.
Read the full Tavla article.

Backgammon bonus is given by almost all online backgammon sites to both new and veteran players, real money and fun (play money) players. In order to get a backgammon bonus, you should first download the backgammon software and then, register to open a new player's account. The backgammon bonus will be transmitted to your online account and you will be able to cash it after filling a set number of games, depending on each backgammon site terms and conditions.
Read the full Backgammon Bonus article.

Online Backgammon is the easiest way to play backgammon these days. It is safer, fairer and more convenient than the traditional over-the-board type of play. Plus, online backgammon platforms are available 24/7, and you can always find someone to play with, for fun or for real money (at least at the biggest backgammon rooms).
Read the full Online Backgammon Guide article.

Backgammon is played all over the world. Backgammon has different names in different languages and sometimes even different rules. For example, in Turkey, backgammon is called Tavla and it is played without the doubling cube, while in Greece, three different games are played on the backgammon board, known as Tavil. Continue reading this international backgammon guide to learn how to play backgammon in different parts of the world.
Read the full International Backgammon article.