Backgammon Articles

Guides for players at every level, from the first game to match play with the doubling cube. Tournament reports are on the news page.

• Acey-deucy and more — Games you can play on a backgammon board: acey-deucy with its special 1-2 roll, Dutch backgammon, Russian backgammon and a short look at hypergammon.
• Backgammon rules — The complete rules of backgammon in plain words: board and setup, who starts, moving checkers, doubles, hitting, entering from the bar and bearing off.
• History of backgammon — How backgammon grew from ancient race games through Roman tabula, Persian nard and English tables into the modern game with its doubling cube and championships.
• How to practise — How to practise backgammon effectively: learning shots and pip counts, take points and match equity, reviewing games with software and building good habits.
• Nackgammon and tapa — Two backgammon variants: nackgammon with its changed starting position, and tapa, the Bulgarian and Greek game where hit checkers are pinned, not sent off.
• One-point and hypergammon — Two more ways to play: the one-point match without cube or gammons, and hypergammon, the fast variant with just three checkers per player on the deepest points.
• Play Backgammon Online Free — How to play backgammon online for free: choosing a game client, finding opponents of your level, using ratings and practice tools, and moving on to club play.
• Playing online: a guide — A step-by-step guide to your first online backgammon game: what the screen shows, rolling and moving, the pip count, the clock and playing for free.
• Recommended first moves — The recommended play for each of the fifteen opening rolls in backgammon, with the main alternatives and the ideas behind making points, splitting and running.
• The doubling cube — How the doubling cube works in backgammon matches: offering and taking a double, cube ownership, the take point idea, the Crawford rule and other cube rules.