Backgammon Basics, History
Backgammon Basics, History | Rules | Strategy | Links | Play Backgammon Online
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Game Description
Backgammon, one of the oldest games in
existence, dates back more than 4000 years and is believed to have been developed by the
ancient Egyptians. It is not a game of luck as many perceive, but rather, a strategic
visual game of war; in many ways as difficult to master as chess or checkers. Although an
element of luck is involved, a skilled player uses intuition, creativity and psychology to
beat the opponent.
A variant closest to the modern backgammon dates back to 500 A.D. Persia, where the game of Nard (or Nardi) was the first to use 2 die to govern the movement of checkers. The setup of the modern backgammon is identical to Nard backgammon with play commencing from a fixed arrangement of the checkers on the board.
The goal of this game is to move all player's checkers into his home board and then bear them off (i.e. remove them from the board). The first player to remove all of his checkers wins the game.
Board & Pieces
- An online Java-based Backgammon board.
- Thirty round checkers - 15 each of two different colors - Black and White.
- A pair of regular dice, numbered from 1 to 6.
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A doubling six-faced cube, marked with the numerals 2,4,8,16,32 &
;
64. This cube is used to keep track of the number of units at stake in each game, as well
as to mark the player who last doubled.
Backgammon is typically a two-player board game consisting of player's and opponents' "home" boards and "outer" boards. Each board is subdivided into six alternately colored triangles called "points". The home and outer boards are separated down the center by a partition called the "bar".
The points are numbered for either player starting in that player's home board. The outermost point is the twenty-four point, which is also the opponent's one point. Each player has fifteen checkers of his own color. The initial board arrangement of checkers is: two on each player's twenty-four point, five on each player's thirteen point, three on each player's eight point, and five on each player's six point.
