LINKSLINKS| General Information |
Backgammon Galore!
The setup and rules of the game, glossary, cool sites, articles, annotated matches, variants, etiquette, and backgammon humor.GammonVillage
The Web's largest and most interactive backgammon portal. Learn about backgammon strategy from experts, play online, and keep up with the latest news and events.Backgammon Wikipedia
Article from the free Web encyclopedia that anyone can edit, with translations in more than twenty languages. There are other backgammon portal sites in Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. For translations try Babel Fish.Board Game Central
Introduction to the game and links to backgammon software and online games. Also see the Web link directories at Art Grater's Backgammon Portal and Backgame.com. The Web sites Good Gambling Guide, Gammoned.com, and Bg-Info are no longer being updated but still contain some useful general information.rec.games.backgammon
The Usenet newsgroup for unmoderated discussion of all facets of the game such as strategy, odds, and game aspects, as well as announcements of tournaments, tournament results, and news of the game in general. Postings are accessible on the Web at Google Groups, News2Web, GamesKB Forum, and Talk About Network. Some of the better contributions are saved at Tom Keith's Forum Archive. There is a large document intended to answer Frequently Asked Questions from the newsgroup rec.games.backgammon. When was the last time it was updated? Answer: December 1995. The mini-FAQ has slightly more recent information.
| Clubs and Tournaments |
Worldwide Backgammon Federation
Organizers of the annual European Championship Tournament. See the WBF Tournament Rules. Another organization dedicated to promoting the game internationally is the World Backgammon Association.Mark Your Calendar
Carol Joy Cole's lively listing of upcoming backgammon tournaments around the world. Carol also runs the Michigan Summer Championships. Check International Tournament Results for the lists of winners from major events around the world.World Championship Tournament
Held every year since 1976 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. GamesGrid maintains an historical list of backgammon World Champions. Peter Hallberg was the Monte Carlo Champion for 2004. Also see who were voted the world's GIANTS of Backgammon and pictures of the World's Top 20 players. Jake Jacobs, #12 ranked Giant, #18 Michael Meyburg and #41 Elliot Winslow have their own Web sites.Backgammon Sportal
Broadband TV Centre featuring Dod Davies and the latest videos and audio from around the backgammon world. Diane Varner has posted videos and photos at Backgammon Tournament PhotoJourney. Pictures from tournaments are also found at BackGam.com, Bg-Info, Gobi Desert Canoe Club and Huztler Gallery. See Max's Album for 100 backgammon photos from the 1970's and 80's.USA Backgammon Clubs
An up-to-date listing with links to Web sites for active clubs in the United States. A web-based clubs database is at BackGames.org. If there is no club near you, you could start your own. Find other players in your area at a Backgammon Meetup. A schedule of major U.S. tournaments is at American Backgammon Tour. Also see U.S. Tournament Rules and Unified Clock Rules.Nevada Backgammon Association
Organizers of the largest tournaments in the USA, since 1991.Backgammon by the Bay
Annotated games, problem sets, songs playlist and news about the club in the San Francisco area. Newcomers should take the virtual tour of a tournament. Other California clubs are Gammon Associates in Los Angeles and the Backgammon Club of San Diego.New England Backgammon Club
Holds weekly and monthly tournaments in the Boston area. In New York City, there are outdoor tournaments in Bryant Park run by New York Chess & Backgammon.Beltway Backgammon Club
Biweekly Sunday tournaments in Bethesda, MD near Washington, DC. The Tyson's Corner Backgammon Club in northern Virginia holds weekly Monday night tournaments. Read one visitor's first time and second impressions of the club at Nate's Polytropos backgammon blog.Backgammon Clubs in Europe
European Backgammon News has an updated list of where to play in Europe. A web-based clubs database is at BackGames.org. If there is no club near you, you could start your own. Find other players in your area at a Backgammon Meetup.British Isles Backgammon Association
The biggest backgammon body in the United Kingdom with a worldwide membership. See the BIBA club locator for England, Ireland, and Scotland. Gammonitis runs tournaments around the U.K. and over the internet. MikeMadMonk runs live monthly tournaments in London.French Backgammon Federation
FFBG organizes large tournaments and supports local clubs in France. Some other European nations with backgammon association Web sites are Austria and Switzerland.Danish Backgammon Federation
Organizers of the annual Nordic “ Wide ” Open tournament. See the list of Danish clubs. Other Scandinavian national groups are the Swedish Backgammon Federation, the Finnish Backgammon Association and the Norwegian Backgammon Federation.Japanese Backgammon League
Web site with lots of general backgammon information, mostly in Japanese. The JBL Event Schedule is translated in English. There are also tourmnaments in Thailand.
Backgammon In Australia
Clubs list maintained by the Mill Hill club in Sydney. In New Zealand, Kaponga Backgammon Club has live music during its tournaments.
| Strategy |
Backgammon Strategy Forum
Message board for questions and answers about the game. The KinchanM@xFriis Online Backgammon
How to play the opening rolls, propositions, using the cube and bearoffs. Read the helpful tips on strategy from GamesGrid, Kezan-Design, RedTop, Sho Sengoku, Webby and Doug Zare. Also see the rollout archives of MichaelZ and Morten Wang.The Pip Count
Article by Michael Crane discussing various methods for easier and faster counting. Also see Jack Kissane's Cluster Counting technique, Effective Pip Count by Walter Trice , Sho Sengoku's Five-Count and Half-crossovers by Doug Zare. Practice, practice, practice.Match Equity Table
Find your chances of winning from any match score as calculated by Kit Woolsey. Applications of this data are discussed by Hisako, Tom Keith, Sho Sengoku and Stephen Turner. Wai Mun Yoon uses the gammon price to analyze Abnormal Checker Plays in Matches.Webby's Backgammon Quizzes
Test your knowledge with the five tough positional quizzes at Alan Webb's Web site. There are more quizzes at Backpacker, GammOnLine, Gammon Time, M@xFriis, and tem_sat's. Problèmes et solutions in French are at the pages of FFBG and Serge Nicolas. Japanese sites with quizzes are GammonDojo, Gammoner's High, JBL and Yazawa's Page. Use Backgammon Quiz Cards to learn the best opening moves and replies.Dueller Matches
Study the matches as recorded by Tony Lezard with the world's top neural net computer players competing against each other. Watch expert matches from Paul's Backgammon Vaults on your web browser. Torsten Schoop has recorded matches between expert players in both Snowie and JellyFish file formats, including Snowie vs. JellyFish. Also see the computer files at Hardy's championship match archive.Blowfish & Snowfish
Free software which uses the GNU Backgammon engine to replay and analyze recorded matches. Snowfish is a backgammon playing program. Also try the free GAMMONLAB interactive board for neural net analysis of positions and matches. BG Replay is a system for publishing backgammon games and lessons on the Web.Hugh Sconyers' Backgammon Software
Set of DVD's for Windows XP with calculated bearoff equities and backgame probabilities. Also download free databases for 4-checker bearoffs and one checker races. For bearoffs with up to nine checkers per side, the free Exact Bearoff program by MDG Software calculates the percentages. Gamer Cafe has an online position evaluator.Backgammon Tally
Track the improvement in your game with this free Windows database program which lets you maintain a record of the results of all the games you play.
| Computer Players |
GNU Backgammon
Download free open source neural net software for championship-level play and analysis. The program has precompiled versions for Windows and MacOS X and also runs on Linux and Sun Solaris. For help read the F.A.Q. and tutorial All About GNU. Download ATool for batch analysis of matches. Additional information may be found at GNU Backgammon. A GNU backgammon game for the Pocket PC is BgLightCE. So what is GNU?Snowie
An expert-level neural network player and analyzer Windows program by SnowieGroup. Also see the Snowie4 page. There is a shareware Snowie 2 Web Player Edition to download. The Snowie engine is used for GOTO BackGammon.JellyFish
An expert-level player/tutor/analyzer neural network program for Windows. The Player 3.0 and Light 3.5 versions have freeware downloads. Also see the A & K Spiele JellyFish 3.5 site. There is an optional external dice generator.BGBlitz
Neural net backgammon player (TachiAI) which won the Gold Medal at the Computer Olympiad. Replay saved games and calculate cube strategy for matches with this versatile Java application which runs on Windows, Macintosh OS 9/X and Linux. “ The Swiss-Army knife for backgammon.”Ariston Backgammon
A neural net-based shareware Windows game program. Other artificial intelligence shareware game programs for Windows are 3D Backgammon, Backgammon Classic 3.2, Bob's Backgammon 2.0 and MVP Backgammon. The free Monte Carlo neural net player also has a Backgammon-To-Lose version.TD-Gammon
The first expert-level neural network program by Gerald Tesauro for the IBM OS/2 operating system only. There is a freeware download. Read more about TD-Gammon and the programs inspired by it at Jay Scott's the neural net backgammon programs.HC-Gammon
Play on the Web against an evolved neural network computer. Also playable on WebTV. The training of HC-Gammon is discussed in the Wired magazine article “In Search of the Electronic Brain”.Motif Backgammon
You can challenge the Motif computer player to a game on the Web, if your browser supports Java. Other Java-based Web computer players are by-art.com, David's Backgammon, and Inertron.Serious Backgammon
Shareware game program with dice analysis which also plays the variations nackgammon, hypergammon, longgammon, snake and domino backgammon. Also see the shareware Noteworthy Backgammon, BGmrv,and the freeware Quick Backgammon by Geert Verkade.MaxGammon
Shareware program by StrongGames which offers a choice of opponents: human, computer or network game over LAN. Other programs with this feature are Romar BackGammon, Small Rockets Backgammon, TLK 3D Backgammon Unlimited, and WinGames Pro Backgammon.David's Backgammon
Download the Windows or Macintosh version of David Byrum's shareware game program with speech recognition capability. David's Absolute Backgammon is designed for Mac OS X but works with OS 8 and 9 with CarbonLib. Another game for OS X is Big Bang Backgammon. Standalone has Backgammon 2k for the Mac OS.SlapGammon for Palm OS
The ultimate handheld game program software with move analysis and export to the Jellyfish and Snowie programs. Other game programs for the Palm operating system are Agushka, Backgammon 3.1b, Cascata, ChromaGames, Handmark, MegaGammon 3.2, PocketGammon, Power Media and Stand Alone Backgammon Pro.PocketGammon
Game for the PocketPC. Other games for the PocketPC platform are by Avantgarde Digital, BGLightCE, Cascata, ChromaGames, and Handmark . There are screenshots and reviews for seven PocketPC games at TC's Blog. KSE Backgammon 3.0 is designed for Windows Mobile. For the Newton OS there are PocketBackgammon 2.2.1 and Stand Alone Backgammon v2.11. There is a backgammon game with customisable AI for the Sharp Zaurus PDA.MobileBg
Download a free J2ME game for playing on your telephone against a computer or another player on the same phone. Other wireless games with these features are by Odesys, Dwango and Gameloft . Also see the mobile computer games for various handsets by Air Strategy, Com2uS, Elkware, and Morpheme. For Smartphone and PDA devices there are computer games by L3Solutions and Koma-Code. WIMOS 9xBackgammon plays nine variations. For the Symbian OS Cascata has Backgammon Classic Collection which incorporates two-player gaming allowing you to play via SMS (text messaging) or Bluetooth. For the Nokia 9200 series Communicator device there is 92NBackgammon, M T I T Backgammon and Omar Sharif Backgammon.LCD Backgammon
Full-featured portable electronic handheld game from Excalibur. Also for sale at Classic Chess and Games and The Sharper Image.
| FIBS (First Internet Backgammon Server) |
FIBS Home Page
Official Web site for the free cross-platform backgammon server created in 1992 by Andreas (marvin) Schneider. To play, use the telnet DNS address fibs.com:4321 or download one of the graphical interfaces. Check the current FIBS status at pattib.org or FIBS Board.FIBS-Board
Forum for discussions, news, pictures, archived files and tourney calendar. Free tournaments are organized by GammonLeague3DFiBs
Free Windows graphical client to download for play on FIBS and offline against GnuBG. Other free clients are C4FIBS, RealFIBS and the original, FIBS/W. The shareware Beggar's Backgammon Terminal is a Windows-based graphical client by Gamer Cafe for play on FIBS. For handheld computers with the Windows CE operating system there is the free FibsCE client.MacFIBS
Shareware FIBS graphical interface for Macintosh with many custom boards. Download the Backgammon Play-O-Matic companion program to save and replay games. CocoaFIBS is a free native client for Mac OS 10.3 or higher.JavaFIBS
Multi-platform Java-powered graphical interface for FIBS which works with Windows, MacOS, Linux, Solaris, AIX and OS/2. The free ParlorPlay browser-based client interface works with Windows, Mac and Linux and requires no download or Java. Free client programs for mobile phones with Java/MIDP support are Odesys Backgammon 3.0
| Online Play Sites |
GamesGrid
Multiplayer backgammon since 1997 for Windows or Macintosh OSX 10.2. GamesGrid also offers hypergammon, nackgammon and proposition play. There are leagues, daily games, and monthly money tournaments. Use an E-Jackpots account for money play. See the Players' Photos. This graph converts your GG rating to an expected match winning percentage.NetGammon
Download the client software to play for free or as a Premium member. The International Backgammon Alliance runs online tournaments and the IBA League. Member Charts is not an official NetGammon homepage. You might be a NetGammon ADDICT if....GammonSite
Play backgammon for free or as a paid member using GameSite 2000 software. You can also play the hypergammon, long gammon and nackgammon variations. eXtremeBG is an expert-level resident neural network player. Online head-to-head play, leagues and tournaments for money are hosted by Gammon Ventures. Tournaments are also organized by OTPG.Vinco Online Games (VOG)
Download the client software to play backgammon and other games for free or pay a fee to add premium Gold Membership benefits. The available variations include acey-deucey, gul bara (crazy narde), hypergammon, long gammon, nackgammon, narde (feuga) and tapa. There are tournaments for each of the variations.TrueMoneygames
Play online backgammon and poker against real people for real money or just for fun. Other play sites mainly for money backgammon are Club Games, GameAccount, GamesGrid, GammonEmpire/Play65, and onlinegammon. It also pays to play fee-based tournament backgammon and the many other games at Arkadium, BoardGamesClub, Dolphin Cove, Flipside, GameColony, Games4Dollars, Games4money, MoneyGaming, OnePlay, PlayLink, PlaymoneyWorld, Rubl.com, and ukbetting.MSN Games by Zone.com
Download free multiplayer backgammon and other games from Microsoft. Tournament information is at Eurogammon, Gammon4Fun, GammonZone, and ZCS. Other interesting Web sites created by Zone players are Auntie Zone and RedTop's Page. There are many MSN Groups for backgammon players. Use Bunny's Zone Convertor to import your MS Zone matches into the Jellyfish or Snowie programs. Also see the free BGHelper application.Yahoo! Games
Free Java-based server for backgammon and other games. Yahoo! Games hosts its own backgammon Auction, Clubs, Groups, Leagues, Member Web Pages, Message Board, News, Shopping and Yahooligans for kids. Leagues and tournaments are at Eliters. Backdoors are right over here.Pogo.com
Free Java-based site to play backgammon and other games. Other free Java-based multiplayer games sites with backgammon are BigGammon, Games.com, Gamesville, kurnik, MiniClip, Pimpernel, PlayJava and PlaySite.The Board
Free Java client to play backgammon and many variations, including the Swedish boardgame Bräde. The GameTwist, Gammonplay, LiveBackgammon and StarGames sites are for German-speaking players.Internet Backgammon
Shareware Windows program by Rod Carty which provides a two-player game where the players can be either sharing one computer or on a network with TCP/IP. No separate server is required. The freeware NetBackgammon is another program suitable for two players over a LAN, intranet with TCP/IP. Download the free OnlineBandit software to chat and play backgammon and other games. Also see Halsoft Backgammon for Virtual Places Chat. For Mac OS 8.6 and higher download the free internet-based multiplayer Backgammon Deluxe.Shockwave Backgammon
Free multiplayer live backgammon using Macromedia Shockwave software. Other free Shockwave sites are GamesPark and NabiscoWorld.It's Your Turn
Play turn-based (non-realtime) backgammon and other games for free. Similar to playing by e-mail but using a graphical Web interface which requires no download or Java and is compatible with MSN WebTV. Also see the free DailyGammon, GamesByEmail, GoldToken, puregammon, and YourturnMyturn.com . A DailyGammon ratings Web site is at zRoundTable. Richard's PBeM Server offers free backgammon, deadgammon, grandgammon, hypergammon, moultezim, nackgammon and plakoto via e-mail. Convert game records to text format usable by Snowie and Gnu Bg.J2Play Backgammon Challenge
MultiPlayer Wireless Gaming Community for Java J2ME devices enables you to play other wireless and Web gamers. Purchase for Nokia or play the Web-based version for free. Also see multiplayer Unplugged Backgammon and Mobile InteractionCase's Ladder
Challenge ladders and leagues for various backgammon servers are listed here and at MyLeague.com. Also see the tournament leagues at Eliters. Players' info is at LadderFacts. For backdoors look here.
| Publications |
Chicago Point
Preview the monthly print newsletter. “A Prime Source of Backgammon Information.” Back issues of the online version are stored here and here.Flint Area BackgammoNews
Online preview of the monthly print newsletter edited by club director Carol Joy Cole.Make Your Point
European backgammon news magazine from Gammonitis printed in full colour six times per year. Also see Bibafax, the bimonthly magazine of the British Isles Backgammon Association which is available in a full-colour PDF version.GammOnLine
Online interactive magazine edited by Kit Woolsey.“ Your Direct Line to Better Backgammon.” Subscription includes 53 back issues.Mind Sports Zine
Online archive of backgammon articles, quizzes, dictionary and rules by Michael Crane and Mind Sports Olympiad.Backgammon Bibliography
Art Grater's comprehensive compilation of books, articles and dissertations. For further information and reviews see Backgammon Galore! Books. Search the full text of books with Google Print to find references to backgammon. Compare prices from many online stores for new and used books at BooksPrice, EveryBookstore and FetchBook.Backgammon Bibliothek
The library collection of backgammon literature published in German of the Austrian Internet Backgammon Association. Also see Hardy's Bibliographie. Dan Frank's Backgammon Collection features the writings in German and English of the editor and publisher of Essential Backgammon magazine. Although no longer published there are still archive Web sites in German and English for Mario Kühl's international magazine Backgammon Today and Harald Johanni's Backgammonmagazin .The Gammon Press
Publisher of many backgammon books. Cardoza publishes books by Bill Robertie. The 2004 edition of Paul Magriel's Backgammon is published by Clock and Rose Press. Also see Jeremy Bagai's Fortuitous Press.“Backgammon Hustler”
Article published in Cigar Aficionado magazine. Read about the New York City clubs in “Backgammon Bonanza” from Salon.com. Find more articles about backgammon for free at LookSmart or for a fee at HighBeam Research or KeepMedia. Also check Google News and Topix.net for news articles that mention backgammon. Search for technical journal articles with Google Scholar.Backgammon Board'O'Matic
Publish your own backgammon writings with this free online tool to generate board diagram images suitable for printing and inserting into other documents, including Web pages. Also see GO Figure, Board component images and Backgammon Board Service. Use the Monte Carlo font to create backgammon diagrams in either the TrueType or PostScript format for Mac or Windows. You can download pdf files to print position cards. BG Replay is a system for publishing backgammon games and lessons on the Web.
| Boards |
Backgammon Shop
Chris Ternel offers online shopping from his large inventory of backgammon boards, books, software and other equipment. Other online sources for a wide variety of backgammon merchandise are Carol Joy Cole's Backgammon a La Carte and the GammonVillage Store.David Naylor
Handcrafted boards with Tuscan leather and brass checkers. Naylor boards are also available via BIBA and Backpacker. Other top quality leather briefcase style sets are sold online by All-Pro Board Games, Artgammon, BAK, Blyth, Brahma, Cambor, CBB, Dal Negro, Genesis, Hatrick, Geoffrey Parker, and Hector Saxe. For wood-framed leather tabletop boards see Elliot Delgado, Deuce, Estes Leather and JWA Leather Art. Protect your investment with a custom made padded carrying case by The Bagge Lady or CBB.Taki-Boards
Handcrafted sets by Tak Morioka with lightweight hardwood cases and velvet playing surfaces. $850.Svilo Boards
Jumbo attache case sets with the famous Svilo leather dice cups designed and hand made in Bulgaria by Svilen Todorov.A & K Backgammon Shop
Extensive online catalog of backgammon boards and accessories from Germany. Another German Web site with boards for sale is RCR Terry. Also visit Columbus, the Austrian online games shop.Your Move Chess and Games
Shop from the wide selection of backgammon sets and accessories at the Web site of America's largest chess store. You can also buy backgammon boards online at BCM Chess Shop, Chess Express, Chess Forum, Chess Sets Gallery and Vegas Chess.Boardgames.com
One of the many sites to buy boards online. Others are Ancient Games, Backgammon Express, BrainyGames, The Extraordinaire Plaza, Games Imported, The Game Preserve, Gameroom Store, Gammonboard, Hoyles, David Levy, Mall Domino, Masters Games, Neroulias, OtherGamesToo, PokerChest, Tony Sinnett, Sonné, Sudberry, Sy-Game and zänäzän.Backgammon Tables
Elegant and functional two layer glass table by Sonné. Also see the game tables at Amy Art, Cambor, Chess Express, Compleat Gamester, Courtyard Gallery, DIY, DavidLevyCreations, Deuce, The Extraordinaire Plaza, The Franklin Mint, French Accents, Game Tables Plus, GameTableStore, Gamesters, Gasperetti, George Jaques, Handler Studio, HandMadeTables, Infinity Woodworks, Inlaid Art, JDM Designs, JaMar, Level Design, MacGregor, Morini, Bob Neumann, Jaime Perczek, PlazaGallery, Powell, Romagnoli, Hector Saxe, Tony Sinnett, Sticks, TNG Enterprises, Danny Vegh's, and Greg Wood.Beach GAMMON
Roll-up canvas board with a folding plastic stand. Other roll-up travel sets are sold online at Backpackers, Gammonboard, Kalivas Games, David Naylor, Levenger, Magnet4u, Maroka Matters, Mulholland Brothers, Packgammon, Rose & Pentagram, Tavli-Everywhere, Vivre and Wrapgammon.The Gloucester Tabulae Set
Limited edition reproductions for sale of the oldest surviving backgammon set. $899(£495). A hand inked fabric version is sold at Bryanna's Treasure Box.Paint Your Own Board Kit
Handpaint a wooden backgammon board in your choice of colors. Plans for small do-it-yourself boards are at DIY and Yankee MagazineBackgammon Auction
For older, hard-to-find equipment, place your bid at the eBay online auction or buy it now from there. Also browse the many tables and boards listed for sale at Froogle and in print catalogs. You may need a currency converter.
| Dice |
Are the Dice Fair?
Read about how the random dice rolls are generated for Ariston, BgBlitz , Chouette Nation, DailyGammon, GamesGrid, GammonSite, It's Your Turn, JellyFish, MVP, and TrueMoneygames, and ukbetting. Compare statistics for actual dice rolls on FIBS, GammonSite, MSN Gaming Zone and Motif. Fill out the Official Complaint Form.Unfair Dice
Article by mathematician Ivars Peterson. Also see the MathWorld Dice article. Roll the dice to illustrate the Central Limit Theorem. Examples of very unfair dice are at Gambling Collectibles and Highland Games.Precision Dice
As explained by Larry Strommen. Also see the Dice article by Joe Celko.Dice and the Laws of Probability
A lesson by Edward D. Collins. Ed's ever-growing Backgammon Page also has helpful charts, articles and problem illustrations. Paul Stephen's Dice Roll Probabilities and Sho's Dice Tables illustrate the odds. Also see A Measure of Luck by Doug Zare.Digital Dice Kit
Build your own very random electronic dice for use at home or in the car. Also see the Dual Electronic Dice and Double Digital Dice kits. Alea is free software to generate dice rolls on computers using the Palm OS.Web Dice
The Web's original dice server. The PBM Dice Server provides up to one thousand impartial dice rolls per message for players of board games by mail. Random.org claims to have the “Web Interface to the True Random Numbers.” Or you can just click and roll Bill's World's Virtual Dice.
| Diversions |
Backgammon Images
AlltheWeb search for online pictures and graphics. Other sources for image searches across the Internet are AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, Ditto, Google, Lycos, MSN, Picsearch, and Yahoo!. Also search the smaller collections at Clipart, Corbis, DreamstimeBackgammon in Arts
Famous old paintings of backgammon scenes. There are more online collections of art about backgammon at ARC, Artcyclopedia, Artmundi, Backgammon in Arts, Bridgeman LibraryDesktop Backgammon Theme
Christina's Desktop Reflections has a Leopard Backgammon theme with matching ICQ skin. The Backgammon Dice DNA image makes a nice desktop wallpaper.The Origin of Backgammon
Web site retracing the long evolution of the game in French and English. Also see James Masters' Backgammon History which has Japanese and Spanish translations. Ric Gerace reveals his alternative version in “ Cracking the True History of Backgammon.”Ancient Backgammon
The Sumerian Royal Game of Ur is the oldest known board game. You can play the game online. The ancient Egyptians played Senet, which is another possible ancestor of modern backgammon. A Norse version of Senet is Valhalla. The Royal Game of Ur and Senet are playable as Windows shareware programs. Senet Deluxe is a shareware game for the PalmOS.Early Backgammon
Rules for some of the more recent ancestors of modern backgammon, as reconstructed from their descriptions in books from the seventeenth century. Also see dublets and ticktack. An early French version is described at the Trictrac Home Page and Le jeu de Trictrac. Soumille is the the First Trictrac Program. The free TricTracMania program plays by dutch rules. Also see The game of Jacquet.Roman Backgammon
The ancient Romans played tabula, which evolved from the game Duodecim Scripta. Also see Games of the Viking & Anglo-Saxon Age. Some old Asian versions of the game are saka, ssang-ryouk and sugoroku.Tavli...Game of the Greeks
History and how to play the variations known as portes, fevga and plakoto. Also see Tavli Rules, Games of Crete and So spielt man Tavli. Theo has playing tips for plakoto. Download the free Alexandra The Tavli game program in Greek and English. You can play all three variations online against a computer at Vageli's Java Tavli site or against other internet players over the Greek Tavli Server, Tavli mania or the Tavli Network for Windows or Macintosh. Download Thanos' free Net Tavli software for network play over TCP/IP (or direct cable connection using a crossover cable).Narde
Rules for the variation which is popular in Russia. You can download the Nards or Eastern Backgammon Windows game programs. Megasoft2000 has MegaGammon narde for the PalmOS and PocketGammon for Pocket PC devices.Acey Deucey
The rules according to Hoyle for a variation which has been popular among sailors. Play the game online at VOG or download the Wingames shareware version, Acey Ducey Backgammon. You can also play online against a friend or computer opponent with the Java version of Acey Deucy.Hyper-Backgammon
Computer oppponent by Hugh Sconyers for the variation played with only three checkers per side. CD-ROM may be ordered from Backgammon A La Carte. You can also play the game with Tower Software Serious Backgammon, at the free Java trigammon site and at various online play sites. Another three checker variant is Nannon, which uses a small six-point board and has a free demo version to download. The game Blockade requires sixteen checkers per player and uses only half of the backgammon board.Chouette
Basic rules, common variations and a scoresheet to print for a form of backgammon played by three or more. Other versions of the rules appear on the pages of ABA, Bg ACT, Backgammon Galore, MSN Games and RedTop. Also see a set of rules for a chouette tournament. Play online for free at the Chouette Nation server. To help you keep score for up to ten players there is the Chouette Calculator software by Gamer Cafe.Doubles Backgammon
Boardgame for partners which also has a free program to download and a free online version at HigherGames. Also see Circle Gammon, Gammot, Quadragammon, Quadrogammon, Roundabout, and the rules (in German) for three player TRIgammon. Zodiac is a seven-player variant from the 13th century played with three seven-sided dice.Chebache
Board game patented by Scott D. Pardee, which combines elements of checkers, backgammon and chess. There is a Chebache discussion group and a free online version at HigherGames in Flash for Windows or Mac and Windows software to download for offline play. Also see the boardgame Abagio by New Classic Games. The hybrid game backdraft has a shareware program to download. Read the rules for backgammonopoly, Chessgammon, diceless chessgammon, domino backgammon, gamma chess, MerraKesh and wargammon. Also see the Gammon en passant, Khajuraho and Twistgammon variants.Ultimate Backgammon
By Starshine Software with three 3D animated fantasy destinations, including Space Pod Wreckage Sphere. Also see the futuristic Battlegammon boardgame and the playing rules for Space Blast and stargammon. Martian Backgammon, IceGammon and kotra are icehouse games.
Please send your comments and suggestions for missing links
to: mleifer@aol.com.
Updated: November 2, 2005
