Backgammon is a 2 player board game that comes from the world's oldest class of games. Thanks, in great part, to the growth of online casinos, backgammon is experiencing a major increase in popularity with the gambling community. Both online backgammon and backgammon in land based casinos, are seeing more and more players enjoying this exciting game every day.
The history of backgammon goes back as far as 3000 B.C to its roots in the Royal Game of Ur. Wooden boards dating to 2600 B.C. were found in the royal tomb of the Ur al Chaldees and a cuniform tablet dated to 177 B.C., with the rules of an early form of backgammon, was also found.
The name of the game is believed to derive from the saxon words "baec" meaning "back" and "gammon" meaning "game" in about 1650. A popular myth is that the game is called backgammon because it was often found on the back side of many chess boards but this has proven to be just an old wives tale.
In 1743, the famed Edmond Hoyle wrote the first modern rules of backgammon, in his "Hoyle's Treatise on Backgammon". Then in the 1920's, a still unknown gambler in New York, introduced the doubling cube, to add to the betting element of backgammon. In this period, backgammon was most often played in private clubs among the wealthy. This has slowly changed; first with the introduction of the Official Backgammon World Championships in the 1960's organized by Prince Alexis Obelensky. Today, with the amazing growth of the internet, backgammon has caught fire with the millions of players who flock to casinos and gamble online.
Backgammon is played on a board with checkers and dice by 2 opposing players. Each player starts in his outer board and must move all their checkers first into their home or inner board and then bear them off the board. The first player to remove all their checkers is the winner. Each player has a total of 15 checkers to remove and each players checkers are a different color than their opponents checkers. Each player also has 2 six-sided dice and a cup from which the dice are rolled. (one does not roll the dice from the hand in backgammon). There is also a 6-sided doubling cube with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 on the 6 sides, which is used to raise the odds when betting on the game.
The player moves their checkers in a U shaped direction from the right on their side to the left on their side, then from the left on their opponents side to the right on their opponents side. (as seen from the players point of view.) When all the checkers are in the players home board (on the opponents right side of the board), they may then begin to bear off or remove their checkers. To experienced backgammon players the direction of play is as follows: from your opponents home board to their outer board, to your outer board to your home board.
The backgammon board has 24 triangles marked on it called points and the board is divided into 4 quadrants with 6 points in each quadrant. The board is seperated in the middle by a bar that runs from top to bottom. The bar is used as the location for the doubling cube and as the location for backgammon checkers that have been "hit" by an opposing player and temporarily knocked out of the game. Once a checker is hit, it can only re-enter the game on a later roll and re-enters in the players outer board. (essentially that checker starts over again at the beginning as far back as possible.)
The initial setup is as follows. The players place 2 checkers each on the 24 point which is the point furthest to the right on the side the player is sitting on, 5 checkers on each player's 13 point, 3 checkers on each player's 8 point and 5 checkers on each player's 6 point. By strict backgammon rules, each player starts by rolling one die and the player with the higher number moves first using the total from the 2 dice. If both players both roll the same number, they will roll again until one player rolls a higher number then the other player. After the starting roll, each player will then roll in turn, using their own pair of dice. (Basically, if the player is facing the board, the first point on the bottom right is the player's 24 point , the next point to the left of the 24 point is the 23 point and so on down to the 13 point. The player's 12 point is on the top left of the board in the direction the player is facing, the 11 point is on the right of the 12 point and so one down to the players 1 point on the players top right. This means your 1 point is your opponents 24 point and vice versa.)
The numbers rolled on the dice are considered 2 separate numbers and not just a total of the two. A player rolling a 5 and a 6, has the option of moving one checker 5 points and one checker 6 points or moving one checker 11 points. The checker(s) can be moved to an open point, to a point with the players own checker(s) on it or to a point with only one of the opponent's checkers on it. The player may not move to a point with 2 or more of the opponents checkers on it but may jump over that point. If a player rolls doubles, they may move their checker(s) 4 times instead of twice. For example if a player rolls double 3's, they may move one checker 12 points, 2 checkers 6 points or 4 checkers 3 points. When rolling double 3's, a player may also move 2 checkers 3 points each and one checker 6 points or they mave move one checker 9 points and one checker 3 points. As you can see, there is alot of skill, strategy and imagination involved in backgammon moves.
A single checker on a point is known as a "blot". If the opponent lands on the player's blot, the blot is removed from the board and placed on the middle bar. Before any other checkers can be moved by the player who's blot was removed, a blot on the bar must first be returned to the game on a later roll. The blot may be placed on any unoccupied point in the players outer board. If both numbers rolled or the total of both numbers rolled are occupied by 2 or more of the opponents checkers, the blot may not re-enter the game on that roll. If all 6 of the player's outer points are occupied by 2 or more of the opponent's checkers, the blot is frozen out and the player can't even roll until a point is open or just has one of the opponent's checkers on it.
Once one or both of the players has all of their checkers in their home or inner board, the game enters the "Bear Off" phase. When bearing off, the player must use the entire total of the dice, For example, if a player rolls a 2 and 3, the player may remove a checker from the 2 point and a checker from the 3 point, remove one checker from their 5 point or move one or two checkers within their inner board if they have none on the 2 or 3 or 5 point to bear off. As another example of rolling when bearing off, if you roll a five on a die and have no checkers on the 5 point but have a checker on the 6 point, you may move the checker five points to the 1 point. Finally, if all you have left is, for example, 2 checkers on the 2 point and 2 checkers on the 1 point and you roll double 6's , you may bear off the 4 remaining checkers.
The game starts when opening stakes are agreed to and the doubling cube is then set on it's 64 side. At this point, this indicates a value of 1. At any point during the game, a player may double the initial stake on their turn before they actually roll the dice. The opponent then has the option to accept the new bet or pass and forfit the current bet. Once a double is made and accepted, only the player who took that double may make the next double. The doubling values are 2x the original bet, then 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 times the original bet. High stakes games have proceeded beyond this point to 128x the original bet then 256x the original bet and so on but this is quite rare.
There are 3 kinds of winning games in backgammon. A "Single" game where the winner wins the value of the doubling cube or one x the bet if the doubling cube was not used. Then there is a "Gammon" or double game, where the losing player has not borne off any checkers and this is worth 2x the value of the doubling cube. Thirdly is a "Backgammon" or triple game, where the winner receives 3x the doubling cube if the losing player has not borne off any checkers and still has checkers in their outer board or on the bar.
1. If both players roll the same number on their single die rolls to determine the starting player, the initial stake is doubled.
2. No game may be won as a gammon or a backgammon unless the cube has doubled at least once.
3. When rolling the dice, the player should roll on their right side of the board. The dice must land flat and a player must re-roll if the dice go off the board or land on an angle.
4. The turn does not end until the player has moved their checkers and picked up their dice. If a player rolls before their opponent has picked up their dice, a re-roll may be called at the discretion of their opponent.
5. An un-intentional illegal move must be corrected before the next player rolls their dice or the move will stand as is.
It should be remembered these are optional rules and are not strictly enforced. Any optional rule must be declared and agreed upon by both players prior to the start of play.
Online Backgammon rooms are setup in a similar fashion to online poker rooms with the main difference being you choose one opponent at a time from the available group of players rather than choosing a table to play at as you do in online poker rooms. The player has the option of playing for play money or real money and as always, we suggest you start out playing for play money until you get a feel for the game and the online environment. Look for an online casino that offers the best bonuses, clear and concise rules, full 24/7 support and speedy, easy payment of winnings.
After the player decides on play or real money and chooses an opponent, the two players in the game then decide on terms. These terms include if they will play a single game or a match of multiple games, if they will use a doubling cube or set the stakes only in advance of each game, game speed, certain optional rules depending on the casino and whether the game will be private or public.
As we like to tell our members, whether you choose to play online from the comfort of home, play in a land based casino or in a public tournament, remember to have fun and always bet within your limits.
