Online Backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games in the world and can now be played as a real money online game.
The movement of the pieces on the board is dictated by the roll of the dice. Winning the game of Backgammon is by removing all of your pieces from the board. There are many variants of the game of Backgammon but they are all very similar. Backgammon is a member of the table’s family of games and is one of the oldest classes of board games in the entire world. As in many games, luck is involved and is a factor of the outcome of the game. In the long run, however, strategy is the most important part of the game of Backgammon. While rolling the dice is the portion of the game that involves luck, the strategy portion of the game is that after the roll, each player must choose from a lot of movement options and they must anticipate any possible counter moves that their opponent might make. There are many common tactics and occurrences in the game of Backgammon. Just like chess, Backgammon has been studied by mathematicians and run through many computer simulations.
Rules
The playing pieces in Backgammon are know as checkers, draughts, stones, men, counters, pawns, or chips. The objective is to remove or “bear off” all of your checkers from the board before your opponent is able to remove all of his checkers from the board. Backgammon is often played in a series of games that are called a match. The board has a track of 12 long triangles and these are called points. It is considered that the triangles are connected by the edge of the board and this creates a continuous horseshoe shaped path. The triangles are numbered 1 through 24. Players begin with 2 checkers on their 24th point and 3 checkers on the 8 point. They also start out with 5 checkers on their 6th point and 5 checkers on their 13th point. Players move their checkers in opposite directions around the horseshoe shaped track.
The home board or, as it is also know, the inner board is points 1 through 6. The outer board is considered to be points 7 through 12. The mid point is the 13th point and the 7th point is considered to be the bar point.
The order of start is determined by each player throwing one die. The highest throw is the player to start and in the case of a tie, the die is thrown again. Once the starting player is determined then players alternate their turns. In the turn players roll two dice and they must move each of two checkers, if possible, the number on one of the dice. It is possible to move the same checker twice instead of moving two different checkers. When both dice have land on the same number this is called doubles and the player gets to move 4 checkers, or a combination of 4 moves with fewer checkers, the number represented on the die.
