Backgammon

Backgammon is one of the most ancient board games, dating from 3000 BC, being a game of chance and skill. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans played a form of backgammon and after the 10th century it also became popular in Europe.

It is played by two persons on a specially marked board divided by a space, called the bar, into two tables – the inner and the outer table. The tables have 12 alternately colored points or triangular spaces and players move along the board according to the rolls of two dice. Being a game with quite a few rules, it is wise to review them before engaging in a play. We’re sure most of you is familiar with the boards, having a track of twelve long triangles, called points. The points are considered to be connected across one edge of the board forming a continuous track in the shape of a horseshoe, numbered from 1 to 24. Each player begins with two checkers on his 24-point, three checkers on his 8-point and 5 checkers each on his 13-point and his 6-point, moving their checkers in opposite directions, each from his own 24-point toward his 1-point. Points 1 to 6 are called the home board or inner board, points 7 to 12 forms the outer board. The 7 point is referred to as the bar point and the 13-point as the mid point.

At the start of the game, each player rolls one die. The player with the higher number moves first, then the players alternate turns rolling two dice at the beginning of each turn. The object of the game is to remove one's 15 pieces from the board first. The objective of backgammon is to move all of one's own checkers past those of one's opponent and then remove them from the board. As the playing time for each individual game is short, it is often played in matches, where victory is awarded to the first player to reach a certain number of points.

Its true followers have formed clubs; they organize tournaments which are held each year in several exotic places across the globe.