How Many Pieces To A Backgammon Set

Ane of the oldest board games for two players

Backgammon

A backgammon set up
Years active	1646 to nowadays[1]
Genres	Lath game Tables game Race game Dice game
Players	two
Setup time	10–xxx seconds
Playing time	five–60 minutes
Random chance	Medium (die rolling)
Age range	5+
Skills required	Strategy tactics counting probability
Origin: 17th century England Related game: Irish

Backgammon is a member of the big family unit of tables games, which themselves date back most v,000 years, although backgammon itself is only nether 400 years one-time. Its immediate antecedent was the 16th-century game of Irish, the Anglo-Scottish equivalent of the French Toutes Tables and Spanish Todas Tablas,^[2] the latter beingness recorded by Alfonso X in his 1283 piece of work, El Libro de los Juegos.

Backgammon is a two-thespian game in which each actor has fifteen pieces, known traditionally as 'men' (short for 'tablemen') but oft known as 'checkers' in the Usa. These pieces motility along twenty-four 'points' according to the scroll of two dice. The objective of the game is to move the xv pieces around the board and be first to bear off, i.e. remove them from the lath.

Backgammon involves a combination of strategy and luck (from rolling dice). While the dice may determine the outcome of a single game, the better player will accumulate the better record over a serial of many games. With each roll of the dice, players must choose from numerous options for moving their pieces and conceptualize possible counter-moves by the opponent. The optional use of a doubling cube allows players to raise the stakes during the game.

Similar chess, backgammon has been studied with slap-up involvement past figurer scientists. Owing to this research, backgammon software such as TD-Gammon has been developed that is capable of beating world-class human players.

History [edit]

Contrary to popular belief, Backgammon is non the oldest board game in the world, nor are all tables games variants of Backgammon. In fact, the earliest known mention of Backgammon was in a letter dated 1635 when information technology was emerging as a variant of the popular, mediaeval, Anglo-Scottish game of Irish, the latter existence described as a meliorate game.^[3] However by the 19th century, it had spread to Europe, where it rapidly superseded other tables games like Trictrac in popularity, and too to America, where the doubling cube was introduced. The history of the tables game family, of which Backgammon is the best known representative in the modern western globe, goes back several millennia.

Tables games [edit]

Backgammon is a contempo fellow member of the large family unit of tables games that engagement back to aboriginal times. The post-obit is an overview of their evolution up to the fourth dimension that Backgammon appeared on the scene.

Aboriginal History [edit]

The history of tables games can be traced back nearly 5,000 years to archaeological discoveries in the Jiroft civilisation, of Persia, ^{[four] [five] [6] [seven]} the world'south oldest game set up of board, counters and dice having been discovered in the region. The Royal Game of Ur from 2600 BCE may also exist an antecedent or intermediate of modern-24-hour interval table games like backgammon. It used tetrahedral die. Various other board games spanning from the 10th to 7th centuries BC accept been found throughout modern mean solar day Iraq, Syria, Israel, Egypt and western Islamic republic of iran.^[8]

Roman and Byzantine Empires [edit]

Tabula, meaning 'table' or 'board' in Byzantine Greek, is the oldest game with rules close to those of backgammon. It is described in an epigram of Byzantine Emperor Zeno (AD 476–491).^[ix] The overall aim was identical and the lath had the aforementioned basic layout, with 24 points, 12 on each side, and at that place were 15 counters per player. However there were three cubical dice, non two.^[ix] Modern backgammon follows the aforementioned rules as tabula for hitting a blot and bearing off. The key differences were the use of an actress die and starting with all pieces off the board. The rules for re-entering checkers in backgammon is the same as that for initially entering pieces in tabula.^[ten] The name τάβλη is still used in Greece for their version of tables, where information technology is frequently played in town plateias and cafes.^[eleven]

The τάβλι of Emperor Zeno's time is believed to be a direct descendant of the before Roman Ludus duodecim scriptorum ('Game of twelve lines') with the board's middle row of points removed, and only the two outer rows remaining.^[12] Ludus duodecim scriptorum used a board with 3 rows of 12 points each, with the 15 pieces being moved in opposing directions by the two players across iii rows according to the roll of the iii cubical dice.^{[ix] [12]} Little specific text about the gameplay of Ludus duodecim scriptorum has survived;^[xiii] it may have been related to the older Ancient Greek die game Kubeia. The primeval known mention of the game is in Ovid's Ars Amatoria ('The Art of Love'), written between ane BC and viii AD. In Roman times, this game was also known every bit alea.^{[14] [15]}

Western Europe [edit]

Tables games starting time appeared in French republic during the 11th century and became a favourite pastime of gamblers. In 1254, Louis 9 issued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing.^{[five] [xvi]} They were played in Germany in the twelfth century, and had reached Republic of iceland by the 13th century. In Spain, the Alfonso X manuscript Libro de los juegos, completed in 1283, describes rules for a number of dice and table games in addition to its word of chess.^[17] By the 17th century, games at tables had spread to Sweden. A wooden board and counters were recovered from the wreck of the Vasa among the belongings of the send's officers. Tables games announced widely in paintings of this period, mainly those of Dutch and High german painters, such as Van Ostade, Jan Steen, Hieronymus Bosch, and Bruegel. Among surviving artworks are Cardsharps by Caravaggio.

Rising of Backgammon [edit]

A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon

Origin and early development [edit]

Backgammon'southward predecessor was the tables game of Irish which was pop at the Scottish court of James IV and considered to exist "the more serious and solid game" when Backgammon began to emerge in the commencement half of the 17th century.^[18] The primeval mention of the game, which was under the name of Baggammon, was by James Howell in a letter of the alphabet dated 1635.^{[19] [a]} In English language, the give-and-take "backgammon" is most likely derived from "back" and Centre English: gamen, meaning "game" or "play". Meanwhile, the offset use documented past the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1650.^[20] In 1666, it is reported that the "erstwhile name for backgammon used by Shakespeare and others" was Tables.^[21] However, information technology is clear from Willughby that "tables" was a generic proper noun and that the phrase "playing at tables" was used in a similar manner to "playing at cards".^[22]

In the 16th century, Elizabethan laws and church regulations had prohibited "playing at tables" in England, only by the 18th century, Backgammon had superseded Irish and get pop amidst the English language clergy.^[v] Edmond Hoyle published A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon in 1753; this described rules and strategy for the game and was bound together with a similar text on whist.^[23]

The early grade of backgammon was very similar to its predecessor, Irish. The aim, board, number of pieces or "men", management of play and starting layout were the aforementioned as in the modern game.^[b] However, there was no doubling die, there was no bar on the board or the bar was not used (men just existence moved off the table when hit) and the scoring was different. The game was won double if either the winning throw was a doublet or the opponent however had men outside the home lath. It was won triple if a player bore all men off before whatever of the opponent'south men reached the home lath; this was a back-gammon. Some terminology, such every bit "point", "hitting a blot", "habitation", "doublet", "acquit off" and "men" are recognisably the same as in the modernistic game; others, such as "binding a man" (adding a second man to a signal) "binding up the tables" (taking all one's first half dozen points), "fore game", "latter game", "nipping a man" (hitting a blot and playing information technology on forwards) "playing at length" (using both dice to move ane homo) are no longer in faddy.^{[24] [22]}

By no later on than 1850, the rules of play had changed to those used today. Tables boards were now fabricated with a 'bar' in the centre and men that were hit went onto the bar. Winning double or by "two hits" was achieved by begetting all one'southward men off before the other has borne any — this was at present called a gammon. If the winner bore off all men while the loser yet had men in his adversary's table, it was a back-gammon and worth "three hits" i.e. triple.^[25]

Recent times [edit]

The most recent major development in backgammon was the addition of the doubling cube. Information technology was first introduced in the 1920s in New York City amongst members of gaming clubs in the Lower East Side.^[26] The cube required players not only to select the best move in a given position, but likewise to estimate the probability of winning from that position, transforming backgammon into the expected value-driven game played in the 20th and 21st centuries.^[26]

The popularity of backgammon surged in the mid-1960s, in part due to the charisma of Prince Alexis Obolensky who became known equally "The Father of Mod Backgammon".^[27] "Obe", as he was called by friends, co-founded the International Backgammon Association,^[28] which published a set of official rules. He also established the World Backgammon Club of Manhattan, devised a backgammon tournament arrangement in 1963, and then organized the starting time major international backgammon tournament in March 1964, which attracted royalty, celebrities and the press. The game became a huge fad and was played on college campuses, in discothèques and at country clubs;^[27] stockbrokers and bankers began playing at conservative men'south clubs.^[29] People young and erstwhile all across the state dusted off their boards and checkers. Cigarette, liquor and car companies began to sponsor tournaments, and Hugh Hefner held backgammon parties at the Playboy Mansion.^[30] Backgammon clubs were formed and tournaments were held, resulting in a World Championship promoted in Las Vegas in 1967.^[31]

In the second half of the 20th century, new terms were introduced in America, such as 'beaver' and 'checkers' (for men, although American backgammon experts, Jacoby and Crawford, continued to utilize both).^[32]

Most recently, the United States Backgammon Federation (USBGF) was organized in 2009 to repopularize the game in the United States. Board and committee members include many of the top players, tournament directors and writers in the worldwide backgammon customs. The USBGF has recently created a Standards of Ethical Practice to address bug on which tournament rules fail to touch.

In its country of origin, the UK Backgammon Federation is the national authority and runs a backgammon championship— the Backgammon Galaxy UK Open Tournament— also equally club championships, online leagues and knockout tournaments. Like the USBGF they are agile members of the World Backgammon Federation (WBF) and their tournament rules take been adopted in their entirety by the WBF.^[33]

Rules [edit]

Board in starting position with two dice and a doubling cube

Paths of move for red and blackness, with checkers in the starting position; viewed from the black side, with domicile or inner board at lower right

Since 2022, backgammon has been overseen internationally by the Globe Backgammon Federation who set up the rules of play for international tournaments.

Backgammon playing pieces may exist termed checkers, draughts, stones, men, counters, pawns, discs, pips, chips, or nips.^{[34] [35]} Checkers is American English and is derived from the game of draughts which in the Usa is chosen checkers.

The objective is for players to bear off all their checkers from the board before their opponent can practice the same. As the playing fourth dimension 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.

Board [edit]

The dimensions of a board when opened, for a tournament game, should be at a minimum of 44 cm past 55 cm to a maximum of 66 cm by 88 cm.^[36]

Setup [edit]

Each side of the board has a rail of 12 long triangles, called points. The points form a continuous rails in the shape of a horseshoe, and are numbered from i to 24. In the nigh commonly used setup, each histrion begins with fifteen pieces, 2 are placed on their 24-bespeak, three on their 8-point, and five each on their thirteen-point and their six-point. The two players move their pieces in opposing directions, from the 24-point towards the one-signal.^[37]

Points ane through half-dozen are called the home board or inner board, and points 7 through 12 are called the outer board. The 7-point is referred to as the bar betoken, and the 13-bespeak equally the midpoint. Usually the 5-signal for each player is called the "gold betoken".^{[37] [38]}

Movement [edit]

Video of a game of backgammon, showing movement around the board, entering from the bar, formation of primes, employ of the doubling cube and begetting off

To start the game, each role player rolls i die, and the histrion with the higher number moves showtime using the numbers shown on both dice.^[39] If the players whorl the same number, they must roll again, leaving the outset pair of dice on the board. The histrion with the higher number on the second curl moves using only the numbers shown on the die used for the 2d curl. Both die must land completely flat on the correct-hand side of the gameboard. The players then have alternate turns, rolling two dice at the offset of each turn.^{[37] [38]}

After rolling the die, players must, if possible, move their checkers according to the number shown on each dice. For example, if the player rolls a vi and a three (denoted as "6-three"), the player must motility one checker six points forward, and another or the same checker three points forward. The same checker may exist moved twice, equally long equally the two moves can be made separately and legally: 6 and so three, or three and so six. If a player rolls two of the same number, chosen doubles, that player must play each die twice. For instance, a whorl of 5-5 allows the role player to make four moves of v spaces each. On any curlicue, a player must motion according to the numbers on both dice if it is at all possible to exercise and then. If one or both numbers do not allow a legal motility, the role player forfeits that portion of the roll and the turn ends. If moves can be made co-ordinate to either 1 die or the other, but not both, the higher number must be used. If 1 die is unable to exist moved, but such a move is made possible past the moving of the other dice, that motility is compulsory.

In the class of a motion, a checker may country on whatsoever point that is unoccupied or is occupied past ane or more of the player'southward own checkers. It may also state on a point occupied by exactly i opposing checker, or "absorb". In this instance, the absorb has been "hit" and is placed in the eye of the lath on the bar that divides the two sides of the playing surface. A checker may never land on a point occupied past two or more opposing checkers; thus, no signal is e'er occupied by checkers from both players simultaneously.^{[37] [38]} In that location is no limit to the number of checkers that tin occupy a point at any given time.

Checkers placed on the bar must re-enter the game through the opponent'due south habitation board earlier whatsoever other motion tin exist made. A curl of 1 allows the checker to enter on the 24-bespeak (opponent's 1), a ringlet of 2 on the 23-betoken (opponent'due south 2), and then forth, upwards to a roll of 6 allowing entry on the 19-indicate (opponent's vi). Checkers may non enter on a bespeak occupied by two or more than opposing checkers. Checkers tin enter on unoccupied points, or on points occupied by a single opposing checker; in the latter example, the unmarried checker is striking and placed on the bar. More than than one checker can be on the bar at a time. A role player may not motility any other checkers until all checkers on the bar belonging to that role player have re-entered the lath.^{[37] [38]} If a player has checkers on the bar, but rolls a combination that does not let any of those checkers to re-enter, the thespian does not movement. If the opponent's home board is completely "closed" (i.due east. all vi points are each occupied by two or more checkers), there is no roll that will allow a player to enter a checker from the bar, and that thespian stops rolling and playing until at to the lowest degree 1 point becomes open (occupied by one or nada checkers) due to the opponent's moves. A play is not complete, and may be undone and replayed an unlimited number of times, until the player removes his or her die from the lath.

Begetting off [edit]

When all of a player's checkers are in that thespian'due south abode lath, that histrion may first removing them; this is called "begetting off". A roll of i may be used to bear off a checker from the 1-point, a ii from the 2-bespeak, and and so on. If all of a player's checkers are on points lower than the number showing on a particular die, the player must use that die to carry off one checker from the highest occupied point.^{[37] [38]} For example, if a player rolls a half-dozen and a v, only has no checkers on the 6-indicate and two on the 5-signal, then the half dozen and the v must be used to bear off the two checkers from the 5-point. When bearing off, a player may also move a lower die gyre earlier the higher fifty-fifty if that means the total value of the higher die is not fully utilized. For example, if a role player has exactly one checker remaining on the half dozen-indicate, and rolls a 6 and a 1, the player may motility the six-betoken checker one identify to the 5-indicate with the lower die whorl of one, and and so bear that checker off the 5-point using the die roll of half-dozen; this is sometimes useful tactically. As before, if there is a way to use all moves showing on the dice by moving checkers within the habitation lath or by bearing them off, the player must practise so. If a histrion'due south checker is hitting while in the process of begetting off, that thespian may not bear off any others until information technology has been re-entered into the game and moved into the player's home board, according to the normal movement rules.

The first player to bear off all 15 of their own checkers wins the game. If the opponent has not yet borne off whatsoever checkers when the game ends, the winner scores a gammon, which counts for double stakes. If the opponent has non nonetheless borne off whatever checkers and has some on the bar or in the winner's dwelling board, the winner scores a backgammon, which counts for triple stakes.^{[37] [38]}

Doubling cube [edit]

To speed upwards friction match play and to provide an added dimension for strategy, a doubling cube is unremarkably used. The doubling cube is not a die to be rolled, just rather a marking, with the numbers two, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 inscribed on its sides to denote the electric current stake. At the offset of each game, the doubling cube is placed on the midpoint of the bar with the number 64 showing; the cube is and then said to be "centered, on 1". When the cube is still centered, either player may start their turn by proposing that the game be played for twice the current stakes. Their opponent must either accept ("have") the doubled stakes or resign ("drop") the game immediately.

Whenever a player accepts doubled stakes, the cube is placed on their side of the board with the respective ability of two facing upward, to indicate that the right to redouble, which is to offering to go on doubling the stakes, belongs exclusively to that player.^{[37] [38]} If the opponent drops the doubled stakes, they lose the game at the current value of the doubling cube. For instance, if the cube showed the number 2 and a histrion wanted to redouble the stakes to put it at 4, the opponent choosing to drop the redouble would lose two, or twice the original stake.

In that location is no limit on the number of redoubles. Although 64 is the highest number depicted on the doubling cube, the stakes may ascension to 128, 256, and and so on. In money games, a histrion is often permitted to "beaver" when offered the cube, doubling the value of the game again, while retaining possession of the cube.^[twoscore]

A variant of the doubling cube "beaver" is the "raccoon". Players who doubled their opponent, seeing the opponent beaver the cube, may in turn then double the stakes in one case again ("raccoon") as role of that cube phase before any dice are rolled. The opponent retains the doubling cube. An example of a "raccoon" is the following: White doubles Black to 2 points, Black accepts then beavers the cube to iv points; White, confident of a win, raccoons the cube to 8 points, while Black retains the cube. Such a motility adds profoundly to the take chances of having to face up the doubling cube coming dorsum at eight times its original value when first doubling the opponent (offered at 2 points, counter offered at xvi points) should the luck of the dice change.

Some players may opt to invoke the "Murphy rule" or the "automated double rule". If both opponents roll the same opening number, the doubling cube is incremented on each occasion yet remains in the centre of the board, bachelor to either histrion. The Murphy rule may be invoked with a maximum number of automatic doubles allowed and that limit is agreed to prior to a game or lucifer commencing. When a player decides to double the opponent, the value is then a double of whatever face value is shown (eastward.1000. if ii automatic doubles have occurred putting the cube up to 4, the first in-game double will be for 8 points). The Tater rule is not an official dominion in backgammon and is rarely, if ever, seen in use at officially sanctioned tournaments.

The "Jacoby dominion", named after Oswald Jacoby, allows gammons and backgammons to count for their corresponding double and triple values only if the cube has already been offered and accepted. This encourages a player with a large lead to double, mayhap ending the game, rather than to play information technology to decision hoping for a gammon or backgammon. The Jacoby dominion is widely used in coin play but is not used in friction match play.^[41]

The "Crawford rule", named after John R. Crawford, is designed to make match play more equitable for the player in the lead. If a player is one signal away from winning a match, that player's opponent will always desire to double as early every bit possible in gild to take hold of up. Whether the game is worth one point or two, the trailing player must win to continue the match. To balance the situation, the Crawford rule requires that when a role player get-go reaches a score one point brusque of winning, neither player may use the doubling cube for the post-obit game, called the "Crawford game". After the Crawford game, normal use of the doubling cube resumes. The Crawford rule is routinely used in tournament match play.^[41] It is possible for a Crawford game to never occur in a match.

If the Crawford rule is in effect, then another option is the "Holland rule", named afterwards Tim Holland, which stipulates that after the Crawford game, a player cannot double until after at least 2 rolls take been played by each side. Information technology was common in tournament play in the 1980s, but is at present rarely used.^[42]

[edit]

Pocket-sized variations to the standard game are common amongst casual players in certain regions. For example, only allowing a maximum of five men on any point (Britain)^[43] or disallowing "hit-and-run" in the habitation board (Heart East).^{[44] [45]}

There are also many relatives of backgammon inside the tables family with different aims, modes of play and strategies. Some are played primarily throughout one geographic region, and others add new tactical elements to the game. These other tables games commonly have a dissimilar starting position, restrict certain moves, or assign special value to certain die rolls, but in some geographic games even the rules and direction of movement of the counters alter, rendering them fundamentally different.

Acey-deucey is a relative of backgammon in which players start with no counters on the lath, and must enter them onto the board at the beginning of the game. The roll of 1-2 is given special consideration, allowing the player, afterward moving the 1 and the 2, to select any desired doubles movement. A player too receives an extra plow afterwards a roll of ane-2 or of doubles.^[46]

Hypergammon is a game in which players have merely three counters on the board, starting with one each on the 24, 23 and 22 points. With the assist of a calculator this game was solved by Hugh Sconyers effectually 1994, meaning that verbal equities for all cube positions are bachelor for all 32 million possible positions.^{[47] [48]}

Nard is a traditional tables game from Persia which may be an ancestor of backgammon. It has a different opening layout in which all 15 pieces starting time on the 24th point. During play pieces may not exist hit and in that location are no gammons or backgammons.

Russian backgammon is a variant described in 1895 as: "...much in vogue in Russian federation, Germany, and other parts of the Continent...".^[49] Players start with no counters on the board, and both players move in the same direction to bear off in a mutual home board. In this variant, doubles are powerful: 4 moves are played as in backgammon, followed by four moves according to the deviation of the dice value from seven, and and so the role player has another turn (with the caveat that the turn ends if any portion of it cannot exist completed).^[50]

Gul bara and Tapa are tables games pop in south-eastern Europe and Turkey. The play will iterate among Backgammon, Gul Bara, and Tapa until ane of the players reaches a score of 7 or 5.^{[ citation needed ]}

Coan ki is an ancient Chinese tables game.

Plakoto, Fevga and Portes are three varieties of tables games played in Hellenic republic. Together, the 3 are referred to as Tavli.^[51]

Misere (backgammon to lose) is a variant of backgammon in which the objective is to lose the game.^[52]

Tavla is a Turkish variation.

Strategy and tactics [edit]

Backgammon ready, 19th century

Backgammon has an established opening theory, although it is less detailed than that of chess. The tree of positions expands quickly because of the number of possible dice rolls and the moves available on each turn. Recent computer analysis has offered more insight on opening plays, but the midgame is reached quickly. Subsequently the opening, backgammon players ofttimes rely on some established general strategies, combining and switching among them to conform to the changing conditions of a game.

A blot has the highest probability of existence striking when information technology is vi points away from an opponent'southward checker. Strategies can derive from that. The nearly direct one is merely to avoid being hit, trapped, or held in a stand-off. A "running game" describes a strategy of moving as chop-chop equally possible around the board, and is most successful when a player is already ahead in the race.^[53] When this fails, one may opt for a "holding game", maintaining control of a point on one's opponent's side of the lath, called an anchor. Every bit the game progresses, this role player may gain an advantage by striking an opponent's blot from the anchor, or by rolling big doubles that allow the checkers to escape into a running game.^[53]

The "priming game" involves building a wall of checkers, chosen a prime number, roofing a number of sequent points. This obstructs opposing checkers that are backside the prime. A checker trapped backside a vi-point prime number cannot escape until the prime is cleaved.^[53] A particularly successful priming attempt may lead to a "blitz", which is a strategy of covering the entire home board as apace every bit possible while keeping one's opponent on the bar. Because the opponent has difficulty re-entering from the bar or escaping, a player can quickly gain a running advantage and win the game, often with a gammon.^[37]

A "backgame" is a strategy that involves property two or more anchors in an opponent's habitation board while being substantially behind in the race.^[54] The anchors obstruct the opponent's checkers and create opportunities to hit them as they motion home. The backgame is mostly used only to salvage a game wherein a player is already significantly behind. Using a backgame equally an initial strategy is unremarkably unsuccessful.^{[37] [53]}

"Duplication" refers to the placement of checkers such that ane's opponent needs the same dice rolls to achieve different goals. For example, players may position all of their blots in such a way that the opponent must scroll a 2 in order to hit whatsoever of them, reducing the probability of being hit more one time.^{[37] [53]} "Diversification" refers to a complementary tactic of placing one's own checkers in such a way that more numbers are useful.^[53]

Many positions require a measurement of a player's standing in the race, for example, in making a doubling cube conclusion, or in determining whether to run home and brainstorm bearing off. The minimum total of pips needed to movement a player'due south checkers effectually and off the board is called the "pip count". The difference between the two players' pip counts is frequently used equally a measure out of the leader's racing reward. Players often apply mental calculation techniques to determine pip counts in live play.^[53]

Backgammon is played in two principal variations, "money" and "match" play. Coin play means that every signal counts evenly and every game stands alone, whether money is actually being wagered or non. "Match" play ways that the players play until one side scores (or exceeds) a certain number of points. The format has a meaning consequence on strategy. In a lucifer, the objective is non to win the maximum possible number of points, only rather to merely achieve the score needed to win the match. For example, a player leading a nine-point match by a score of 7–5 would be very reluctant to turn the doubling cube, as their opponent could take and brand a costless redouble to 4, placing the entire effect of the match on the current game. Conversely, the trailing player would double very aggressively, specially if they have chances to win a gammon in the current game. In money play, the theoretically correct checker play and cube action would never vary based on the score.

In 1975, Emmet Keeler and Joel Spencer considered the question of when to double or have a double using an idealized version of backgammon. In their idealized version, the probability of winning varies randomly over fourth dimension by Brownian motility, and there are no gammons or backgammons. They showed that the optimal fourth dimension to offering a double was when the probability of winning reached 80%, and information technology is wise to have a double only if the probability of winning is at least xx%. As their assumptions do not correspond perfectly to the existent game, actual doubling strategy may vary, just the lxxx% number notwithstanding provides a possible rule of thumb.^[55]

Cheating [edit]

To reduce the possibility of cheating, most good-quality backgammon sets utilize precision dice and a dice loving cup.^[56] This reduces the likelihood of loaded dice being used, which is the master way of cheating in face-to-face play.^[57] A mutual method of adulterous online is the use of a computer programme to observe the optimal motility on each turn; to combat this, many online sites use move-comparison software that identifies when a player'southward moves resemble those of a backgammon plan. Online cheating has therefore get extremely difficult.^[56]

Social and competitive play [edit]

Legality [edit]

In State of Oregon v. Barr, a 1982 court case pivotal to the connected widespread organised playing of backgammon in the US, the State argued that backgammon is a game of chance and that information technology was therefore subject to Oregon's stringent gambling laws. Paul Magriel was a key witness for the defence, contradicting Roger Nelson, the expert prosecution witness, by proverb, "Game theory, however, actually applies to games with imperfect knowledge, where something is concealed, such every bit poker. Backgammon is not such a game. Everything is in front of you. The person who uses that information in the most constructive manner will win." Later the endmost arguments, Judge Stephen S. Walker ended that backgammon is a game of skill, not a game of chance, and found the defendant, backgammon tournament manager Ted Barr, not guilty of promoting gambling.^[58]

Gild and tournament play [edit]

Enthusiasts accept formed clubs for social play of backgammon. Local clubs may hold informal gatherings, with members coming together at cafés and confined in the evening to play and converse.^{[59] [sixty]} A few clubs offer additional services, maintaining their ain facilities or offering calculator analysis of troublesome plays.^[61] Around 2003, some club leaders noticed a growth of interest in backgammon, and attributed it to the game's popularity on the Cyberspace.^[62]

A backgammon chouette permits three or more players to participate in a single game, often for coin. Ane player competes against a team of all the other participants, and positions rotate after each game. Chouette play often permits the utilise of multiple doubling cubes.^[37]

Backgammon clubs may too organize tournaments. Large club tournaments sometimes draw competitors from other regions, with final matches viewed past hundreds of spectators.^[63] The top players at regional tournaments often compete in major national and international championships. Winners at major tournaments may receive prizes of tens of thousands of dollars.^[64]

Starting in January 2022, tournament directors began awarding GammonPoints,^[65] a free points registry for tournament directors and players, with GammonPoint awards based on the number of players and strength of field.

International competition [edit]

The kickoff earth championship competition in backgammon was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1967. Tim Holland was declared the winner that yr and at the tournament the post-obit year. For unknown reasons, there was no championship in 1970, but in 1971, Tim Holland once again won the title. The competition remained in Las Vegas until 1975, when information technology moved to Paradise Island in the Commonwealth of the bahamas. The years 1976, 1977 & 1978 saw "dual" World Championships, i in the Bahamas attended past the Americans, and the European Open up Championships in Monte Carlo with more often than not European players. In 1979, Lewis Deyong, who had promoted the Bahamas World Championship for the prior three years, suggested that the two events exist combined.^[31] Monte Carlo was universally best-selling every bit the site of the World Backgammon Championship and has remained as such for thirty years.^[66] The Monte Carlo tournament draws hundreds of players and spectators, and is played over the course of a week.^[64]

By the 21st century, the largest international tournaments had established the basis of a tour for meridian professional players. Major tournaments are held yearly worldwide. PartyGaming sponsored the showtime World Series of Backgammon in 2006 from Cannes and later the "Backgammon Million" tournament held in the Bahamas in January 2007 with a prize pool of ane one thousand thousand dollars, the largest for whatever tournament to date.^[67] In 2008, the Earth Series of Backgammon ran the world'due south largest international events in London, the UK Masters, the biggest tournament ever held in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland with 128 international class players; the Nordic Open, which instantly became the largest in the world with effectually 500 players in all flights and 153 in the championship, and Cannes, which hosted the Riviera Cup, the traditional follow-up tournament to the Globe Championships. Cannes also hosted the WSOB championship, the WSOB finale, which saw xvi players play three-indicate shootout matches for €160,000. The event was recorded for television in Europe and aired on Eurosport.

The World Backgammon Clan (WBA)^[68] has been property the biggest backgammon tour on the circuit since 2007, the "European Backgammon Bout"^[69] (EBGT). In 2022, the WBA collaborated with the online backgammon provider Play65 for the 2022 flavor of the European Backgammon Tour and with "Betfair" in 2022. The 2022 season of the European Backgammon Tour featured 11 stops and 19 qualified players competing for €19,000 in a one thousand finale in Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus.

Gambling [edit]

When backgammon is played for money, the well-nigh mutual arrangement is to assign a monetary value to each point, and to play to a certain score, or until either histrion chooses to stop. The stakes are raised past gammons, backgammons, and use of the doubling cube. Backgammon is sometimes available in casinos. Before the commercialization of bogus neural network programs, proposition bets on specific positions were very common among backgammon players and gamblers.^[70] As with nearly gambling games, successful play requires a combination of luck and skill, every bit a single dice whorl can sometimes significantly alter the outcome of the game.^[53]

Software [edit]

The game is included in Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics for the Nintendo Switch, a collection of tabletop games.^[71]

Internet play [edit]

Backgammon software has been developed not only to play and analyze games, just besides to facilitate play betwixt humans over the net. Dice rolls are provided by random or pseudorandom number generators. Real-fourth dimension online play began with the First Internet Backgammon Server in July 1992,^{[72] [73]} simply there are now a range of options,^[74] many of which are commercial.

Play and analysis [edit]

A screen shot of GNU Backgammon, showing an evaluation and rollout of possible moves

Backgammon has been studied considerably past calculator scientists. Neural networks and other approaches have offered meaning advances to software for gameplay and analysis.

The commencement strong computer opponent was BKG 9.viii. It was written by Hans Berliner in the tardily 1970s on a December PDP-x every bit an experiment in evaluating board game positions. Early on versions of BKG played badly even against poor players, but Berliner noticed that its disquisitional mistakes were always at transitional phases in the game. He applied principles of fuzzy logic to better its play between phases, and by July 1979, BKG 9.viii was potent enough to play against the reigning globe champion Luigi Villa. Information technology won the match vii–1, becoming the first figurer programme to defeat a globe champion in any board game. Berliner stated that the victory was largely a matter of luck, as the reckoner received more favorable dice rolls.^[75]

In the late 1980s, backgammon programmers establish more success with an arroyo based on bogus neural networks. TD-Gammon, developed past Gerald Tesauro of IBM, was the first of these programs to play about the expert level. Its neural network was trained using temporal divergence learning applied to data generated from self-play.^[76] According to assessments past Pecker Robertie and Kit Woolsey, TD-Gammon's play was at or above the level of the top man players in the world.^[76] Woolsey said of the programme that "There is no question in my mind that its positional judgment is far better than mine."^[76]

Tesauro proposed using rollout analysis to compare the performance of estimator algorithms against human players.^[47] In this method, a Monte-Carlo evaluation of positions is conducted (typically thousands of trials) where dissimilar random die sequences are simulated. The rollout score of the human (or the computer) is the deviation of the average game results by following the selected move versus following the best move, then averaged for the entire prepare of taken moves.

Neural network research has resulted in three modern proprietary programs, JellyFish,^[77] Snowie^[78] and extreme Gammon,^[79] as well equally the shareware BGBlitz^[80] and the gratis software GNU Backgammon.^[81] These programs not only play the game, just offer tools for analyzing games and detailed comparisons of individual moves. The forcefulness of these programs lies in their neural networks' weights tables, which are the result of months of training. Without them, these programs play no better than a human novice. For the bearoff phase, backgammon software unremarkably relies on a database containing precomputed equities for all possible bearoff positions. At that place are 54,263 bearoff positions for each side. This means there are 54263^two full bearoff positions (~3 billion positions). In 1981 Hugh Sconyers wrote a computer program that solved all positions with ix checkers or less for both sides. In the early 1990's Hugh extended his results to all bearoff positions. For each position in that location are iv results: no cube, roller's cube, center cube and opponent's cube. So, Hugh's bearoff database contains the exact answers to ~12 billion bearoff situations.

Calculator-versus-reckoner competitions are likewise held at Estimator Olympiad events.

Come across also [edit]

• Backgammon notation
• Category:Backgammon players
• Tables games
• Tabletop games

Footnotes [edit]

1. ^ The fact that this is the earliest mention is stated in Fiske (1905), p. 285.
2. ^ Albeit Cotton fiber (1674) gives an alternative starting layout also every bit the familiar ane.

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Bibliography [edit]

• Alfonso X of Castile (1273). El Libro de los Juegos. Toledo: Majestic Scriptorium.
• Bohn, Henry George (1850). The Hand-Book of Games. London: Bohn.
• Cotton, Charles (1674). The Compleat Gamester. London: A.M. OCLC 558875155.
• Fiske, Willard (1905). Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic Literature: with Historical Notes on Other Table-Games. Florence: The Florentine Typographical Club.
• Gardner, Iain (2020). "Backgammon and cosmology at the Sasanian court". Bulletin of the Schoolhouse of Oriental and African Studies. 83 (two): 249–257. doi:10.1017/S0041977X20002177. S2CID 216459314.
• Howell, James (1835). "LXVII. [Letter] To Chief Grand. Stone" in Familiar Letters. Vol. ii. (1850). London: Humphrey Moseley. p. 105.
• Jacoby, Oswald and Crawford John R. (1970). The Backgammon Volume. NY: Viking. IA
• Parlett, David (1999). The Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford: OUP. ISBN 9780192129987
• Wheatley, Henry B. (1666). The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Vol. 9. London and NY: Croscup.
• Willughby, Francis (2003). Forgeng, Jeff; Johnston, Dorothy; Cram, David (eds.). Francis Willughby'due south Volume of Games. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN1-85928-460-4. (Critical edition of Willughby'due south volume containing descriptions of games and pastimes, c.1660-1672. Manuscript in the Middleton collection, Academy of Nottingham; document reference Mi LM 14)

External links [edit]

This sound file was created from a revision of this commodity dated 6 December 2007 (2007-12-06), and does non reflect subsequent edits.

• Backgammon at Curlie
• United kingdom Backgammon Federation
• US Backgammon Federation
• Danish Backgammon Federation
• Backgammon World Title - Monte Carlo

How Many Pieces To A Backgammon Set,

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon

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