Backgammon

• Backgammon is one of the oldest known Board Games dating back 5,000 years.
• It was played in Ancient Persia, Mesopotamia, Armenia, the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.

History

• It was known as ‘Tabula’ (Table) during the Roman Republic. Tabula was played exactly as today, except that 3 dice were used and the game started with all pieces off the board.
• It is a two player game where each player is in a race to clear the board of his fifteen checkers (pieces).

Method

• The checkers are moved along a set of 24 triangles by throwing two dice.
• The game is part luck (the throw of the dice) and part strategy (based on selecting the best of several options of moving pieces that anticipates the opponents next counter move).

Bearing Off

• The winner is the first to ‘Bear off’ and move all their pieces off the board.

The Doubling Cube

• A Dice inscribed with the numbers 2,4,8,16,32 and 64 is used to Double the stakes and speed up matches.
• When a Player proposes to Double the Stakes, his opponent must either accept or resign from the game.