LINKSLINKS| General Information |
Backgammon Galore!
The setup and rules of the game, glossary, cool sites, FAQ, annotated matches, variants, etiquette, and backgammon humor. The site contains more then 400 articles.GammonVillage
The Web's largest and most interactive backgammon portal. Learn about backgammon strategy from experts, keep up with the latest news and events, play online, and shop for equipment and software.GammonLife
Free Web site by Michael Strato has tournament news, pictorials, interviews, articles, and discussion forums.Backgammon from Wikipedia
Article from the free Web encyclopedia that anyone can edit, with translations in more than forty languages. There are other backgammon portal sites in Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. For translations try Babel Fish.Backgammon Portal
Art Grater's Web link directory. There are also pages in Dutch and Hungarian with lists of backgammon links. Use the eXtreme backgammon backgammon-only search engine to find more links.news:rec.games.backgammon
The Usenet newsgroup for unmoderated discussion of all facets of the game. Postings are accessible on the Web at Google Groups, News2Web, and Talk About Network. Some of the better contributions are saved at the Backgammon Galore! Forum Archive. There is a large document intended to answer Frequently Asked Questions. When was the last time it was updated? Answer: March 1996.
| Clubs and Tournaments |
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 worldwide.Backgammon Players Social Network
Reports and pictures from the latest tournaments worldwide. The site is designed for global players to interact and discuss the game. Search the Internet Backgammon Database for profiles of players who compete in live tournaments around the world.Worldwide Backgammon Federation
Organizers of the annual European Championship Tournament. Another organization dedicated to promoting the game internationally is the World Backgammon Association, which supports the European Backgammon Tour.World Championship Tournament
Held every year since 1976 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. See the historical list of World Champions from 1967 to the present. The World Backgammon Ratings are based on player results in major live tournaments. Also see who were voted the world's GIANTS of Backgammon for 2007. Giants past and present who have their own Web sites include Nack Ballard, Jake Jacobs, Mochy, Michael Meyburg, Karsten Nielsen, and Elliot Winslow.U.S. Tournament Rules and Procedures
Official as of January 2008 for events on the American Backgammon Tour, replacing the version in use since March 1990. Check out all the differences here.U.S. Clock Rules and Procedures
The set of rules which became official as of October 2007 requiring the use of clocks with the Bronstein time-delayfeature. Such timers may be purchased from DGT
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. The clubs of the United States Backgammon League have free offline tournaments. If there is no club near you, you could start your own. Find other players in your area at a Backgammon Meetup.Nevada Backgammon Association
Organizers of the largest tournaments in the USA, since 1991. There are smaller weekly tournaments at the Las Vegas Backgammon Club.Backgammon by the Bay
Annotated games, problem sets, songs playlist and news about the club in the San Francisco, California area. Newcomers should take the virtual tour of a tournament. In the Los Angeles area, Gammon Associates holds two weekly tournaments.Beltway Backgammon Club
Holds Sunday afternoon tournaments once or twice a month in McLean,VA, close to the Washington, DC Beltway. The nearby Northern Virginia Backgammon Club holds weekly tournaments on Monday nights. There are Thursday night tournaments at the Baltimore Backgammon Club. The ABT Mid-Atlantic ChampionshipBgPeru
Web site for the backgammon club in Lima. There are also Web pages for clubs in Venezuela and Trinidad. In Central America there are clubs in Costa Rica and Panama.Backgammon Clubs in Europe
A list compiled by European Backgammon News. Some European nations with backgammon association Web sites are Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovine, France, Italy, and Switzerland. 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. The BIBA Tournament Rules and Procedures are here. See the BIBA club locator for England, Ireland, and Scotland. The BIBA Forum is hosted at GammonLife. Backgammon in London tournaments are organized by Mike Main.Danish Backgammon Federation
Organizers of the Nordic Open tournament, which is part of the World Series of Backgammon. See the list of Danish clubs. Other Scandinavian national groups are the Finnish Backgammon Association, Norwegian Backgammon Federation, and Swedish Backgammon Federation.Japanese Backgammon League
Web site with lots of general backgammon information, mostly in Japanese. The JBL Event Schedule is translated in English. A list of clubs throughout Australia and New Zealand is maintained by the Mill Hill club in Sydney. Check the Backgammon AustraliaFair Backgammon Tournament Rules
Dr. Jakob Garal proposes a new balanced scoring system for a game and a match and original forms and formats of tournaments, including team competitions.Tournament Backgammon on Television
Events of the World Series of Backgammon
| Strategy |
M@xFriis Online Backgammon
How to play the opening rolls, propositions, doubling, and bearoffs. Read the helpful tips on strategy from Michael Bo, Bill Robertie, Sho Sengoku, and Doug Zare. Also see the rollout archives of MichaelZ and Morten Wang.BlotBlog
Jens Göring hosts discussions about backgammon positions in English and German. Also read the BGonline forums and participate in online matches (OLM) against Stick Rice. Hardy's Backgammon Forum is for German speakers. The Kinchan strategy forum is in Japanese.GammOnLine
Online magazine founded and formerly edited by Kit Woolsey still has many free archives of matches, articles, and quizzes. A one time payment of $36 allows members at Kit's new GammonU to post messages to the discussion board forum and take part in interactive online matches (OLM) versus Kit.How to Play the Opening Rolls
Computer rollout analysis by Stick Rice for the first three moves. Also see the articles by Acepoint, Tom Keith, M@xFriis, and Phil Simborg. There is a Wikipedia article on backgammon opening theory. Backgammon Openings Book A is the first of a planned series written by Nack Ballard and Paul Weaver. Bart Brooks has published a book and quiz cards to help you remember the best opening plays and replies.The Pip Count
Article by Michael Crane discussing various methods for easier and faster counting. Also see the counting techniques of Jack Kissane, Sho Sengoku, Edward O. Thorp, Bob Townsend, Walter Trice, and Doug Zare. Practice, practice, practice.Bearoff Equities
Set of DVD's by Hugh Sconyers 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 a free online position evaluator.Match Equity Table
Find your chances of winning from any match score as calculated by Kit Woolsey. Another widely used table is MEC26. Applications of the table data are discussed by Hisako, Tom Keith, Sho Sengoku and Stephen Turner.Camden Tournament Quizzes
Test your knowledge with these challenging quiz problems by Phil Simborg. There are more quizzes at Backgammon in London, GammOnLine, GammonLuck, TheDoublingCube, JBL, and M@xFriis. Serge Nicholas has posted in French a ten position Test. Japanese Web sites with quizzes are GammonDojo, Gammoner's High, JBL and Yazawa's Page.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. 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 online Backgammon Lab and GAMMONLAB, interactive boards for neural net analysis of positions and matches. BG Replay is a system for publishing games and lessons on the Web.
| 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. User help is available at acepoint's home, All About GNU tutorial, Documentation Wiki, Guided Tour, and Japanese FAQ. Download ATool for batch analysis of matches. Additional information may be found at GNU Backgammon. 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 free twenty day trial version to download.The Snowie engine is used for GOTO BackGammon.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.” There is a BGBlitz page in Japanese. A version for cell phones is BGBlitz2Go.Ariston Backgammon
A neural net-based shareware Windows game program. Other artificial intelligence shareware game programs for Windows are 2007 Backgammon Pro 5.3, 3D Backgammon, Backgammon Classic 6.1, Bob's Backgammon 2.0, and MVP Backgammon Professional. The free Monte Carlo neural net player also has a Backgammon-To-Lose version.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. JellyFish supports four types of dice generators.TD-Gammon
The first expert-level neural network program, which was developed in 1991 by Gerald Tesauro for the IBM OS/2 operating system only. There is still a freeware download. Read more about TD-Gammon and the early programs inspired by it at Jay Scott's the neural net backgammon programs.Beat a Backgammon Robot
Play five-point matches against "The Wall" computer opponent at its Java applet Web site. You can challenge the Motif computer player to a game on the Web, if your browser supports Java. Other Java-based Web computer players which require no download are by-art.com, David's Backgammon, and Inertron.HC-Gammon
Play on the Web against an evolved neural network computer. Also playable on MSN TV. The training of HC-Gammon at Brandeis University is discussed in the Wired magazine article “In Search of the Electronic Brain.”Skillgammon
Play this "skill-oriented" variant online for free against a computer-controlled opponent. There is no doubling and no dice rolling. Moves are chosen from a small set of pre-determined dice rolls.Serious Backgammon
Shareware game program with dice analysis which also plays the variations acey deucey, gul bara, hypergammon, longgammon, nackgammon, snake, and domino backgammon. Also see the shareware BGmrv and the freeware Quick Backgammon by Geert Verkade. SmallRockets BackGammon sells versions for Windows XP and Linux platforms.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, 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. Other games playable on OS X are BGBlitz, Big Bang Backgammon, and Hardwood Backgammon. Standalone has Backgammon 2k for the Mac OS.iPhone Backgammon
The version by Gameloft works with iPhone 3G, the original iPhone and iPod touch. Also see iGammon by POW!apps and myNuMo BackgammonMobileBG
Download a free J2ME game for playing on your telephone against a computer or another player on the same phone. Other wireless games for various handsets with these features are by Air Strategy, BGBlitz2Go, Butterfly Donuts, Com2uS, Cunning Fox, Gameloft, Mearas, Morpheme, Odesys, Twistbox, and Vesuvius. For Windows Mobile Smartphone and PDA devices there are computer games by Astraware, Koma-Code and L3Solutions.MegaGammon 4.0 for Palm OS
Play backgammon and narde (feuga) against the computer on all handhelds running Palm OS 5.0 or greater. Other game programs for the Palm operating system are Astraware, Agushka, Backgammon 3.1b, ChromaGames, Handmark, L3Solutions, Power Media, Stand Alone Backgammon Pro, and ZingMagic.PocketGammon
Game for the PocketPC. Other games for the PocketPC platform are by Astraware, Avantgarde Digital, ChromaGames, Handmark, L3Solutions, Megasoft2000, and ZingMagic. There are screenshots and reviews for seven PocketPC games at TC's Blog.KSE Backgammon 4.0
AI software for play on the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform. Megasoft2000 has the Backgammon 1.0 (UIQ 3.0) opponent for Symbian OS. For the Nokia 9200 series Communicator device there is 92NBackgammon and MTIT Backgammon 1.8. There is a backgammon game with customisable AI for the Sharp Zaurus PDA.E-Backgammon
Portable handheld game from Excalibur Electronics. Also see Excalibur Touch Backgammon and LCD Backgammon.
| 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 FIBS Board and sometimes at pattib.org.FIBS Board
Forum for discussions, news, pictures, archived files and online tournaments. You can help edit the FIBS Wiki. The FIBS sysop, Patti Beadles, maintains a central repository for backgammon stuff at pattib.org. For tournament information check FibsLeaGammon. Is FIBS an experimental tool for the study of induced dysfunction?3DFiBs
Free Windows graphical client to download for play on FIBS and offline against GnuBG. Other free clients are C4FIBS, DelFibs, 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. Download Chase's custom Moondance board for JavaFIBS. 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 and MobileFIBS.
| Online Play Sites |
TrueMoneygames
Play online backgammon and poker against real people for real money or just for fun. Also see XcitingGames. Other primarily backgammon sites to play for money are BackgammonMasters, Backgammon Today, BGroom, GammonEmpire/Play65, Partouche, PartyGammon, Turbogammon, and Worldgammon.Games4Money
Play backgammon or Acey Deucey against real people for free or real money. It also pays to play fee-based tournament backgammon and the many other games at 888.com, Club Games, GameColony, GameDesire, Games4Dollars, Karambula, King, Ladbrokes, MoneyGaming, PlaymoneyWorld, and Rubl.com.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. You might be a NetGammon ADDICT if....GameAccount
AdobeFlash multiplayer backgammon and other games for free or money. No download is required. As of April 2008 Gamesgrid.com has joined the GameAccount Network.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. eXtreme Gammon is an expert-level resident neural network player. Online head-to-head play, leagues and tournaments for money are hosted by Gammon Ventures.Vinco Online Games (VOG)
Download the client software to play backgammon and other games for free or pay a fee to add Premium 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.Yahoo! Games
Free Java-based server for backgammon and other games. Yahoo! Games hosts its own backgammon Answers, Auction, Games Groups, Groups, Leagues, Member Web Pages, Message Board, News, Shopping and Yahoo!Kids. There are tournament leagues at Eliters. Backdoors to backgammon game rooms are right over here.Pogo.com
Free Java-based site to play backgammon and other games. For backgammon room backdoors look here. Other free Java-based multiplayer games sites with backgammon are Gamesville, GameTable Online, GameTrust, Nidink, Pimpernel, PlayJava, PlayOK, and TruGamer.The Board
Free Java client to play backgammon and many variations, including the Swedish boardgame Bräde. The GameTwist, LiveBackgammon, Skill7, and Speedgamez sites are for German-speaking players. BigGammon, in German and English, requires the Macromedia Flash 8.0 player plugin.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 and LIvVE interactive voice and video entertainment. For Mac OS X 10.3 or higher download the free Internet-based multiplayer Big Bang Backgammon.GameScene
Free multiplayer Web-based backgammon by CleverMedia using Shockwave or Flash. Other free Shockwave multiplayer sites are Absolute Backgammon, ESPN Arcade, and NabiscoWorld. There is a free Active X version of multiplayer backgammon at MSN Games. DirectX software is required to play at Oberon Games.GamesByEmail
Free correspondence gaming for backgammon and other games. The free turn-based (non-realtime) backgammon at It's Your Turn is similar to playing by e-mail but using a graphical Web interface which requires no download or Java and is compatible with MSN WebTV. Other free turn-based playsites are BrainKing, DailyGammon, GoldToken, and YourturnMyturn. A DailyGammon ratings Web site is at zRoundTable. Richard's PBeM Server offers free backgammon, deadgammon, grandgammon, hypergammon, malaka, moultezim, nackgammon, plakoto, savoy and spiro via e-mail. You can convert game records to text format usable by Snowie and Gnu Bg.Real Dice Network
Social gaming community with cross-platform multiplayer backgammon and other games for BlackBerry, Nokia/Symbian, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile. Read a review. Also see multiplayer games from Cmate, Mobile Interaction, and Unplugged Backgammon. I-mate Backgammon Multiplayer is available for Pocket PC and Smartphone. Try Backgammon King for play in the Magmic Gamezone.XBox 360
Play a game of Hardwood Backgammon against the neural net computer opponent, against a friend on a single console, or against an online opponent over Xbox Live.Mytopia
Online social gaming community to play backgammon and other games with friends from Facebook and MySpace.GammonZone
Hosts both free daily tournaments at World Gaming Center and many longer format Web-based events,which are played for ratings and points which are applied to Life Masters rankings. Check the online news for the latest results. The ClubGames server is home to many tournament-playing groups. Team matches for the Eurogammon community are hosted at RenGames. Tournament matches for OTPG are played at Hardwood Backgammon.Case's Ladder
Challenge ladders and leagues for various backgammon servers are listed here and at MyLeague.com. Winsome's blog has An Introduction to Case's. Tournament leagues are also listed at Eliters and GameDesire. Warp Gammon hosts tournaments and has a comparative review chart of servers where matches may be played. Other online tournaments are listed at the Zone Championship Series Web site. There are also backgammon leagues/ladders at Safe Harbor Games. Players' info is at LadderFacts.
| Publications |
Chicago Point
Preview the monthly print newsletter and view free online material. “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.Bibafax
Bi-monthly magazine of the British Isles Backgammon Association which is available in a full-colour PDF version. The Mind Sports Zine, which was last updated in April 2001, has an 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. Also see Hardy's Bibliography of books published either in english or german. For further information and reviews see Backgammon Galore! Books. Search the full text of books with Google Book Search to find references to backgammon. Compare prices from many online stores for new and used books at AllBookstores, BooksPrice, Direct Textbook, FetchBook, and UKBookWorldThe Gammon Press
Publisher of many backgammon books. Cardoza publishes books by Bill Robertie. The 2004 edition of Backgammon by Paul Magriel is published by Clock and Rose Press. Backgammon Giants Nack Ballard and Paul Weaver have authored a book on Backgammon Openings. Also see Jeremy Bagai's Fortuitous Press and Danny Kleinman's Backgammon Books. Books by Danny Kleinman and Chris Bray can be purchased at lulu.com.The Backgammon E-book
Register with the World Backgammon Association and download for free the 95-page electronic book by Stefan Gueth, How to become a Backgammon Hog. There is also a free open-content backgammon Web textbook at Wikibooks.“Backgammon Hustler”
Article published in 1999 in Cigar Aficionado magazine. Chris Bray's weekly BackgammonBackgammon 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. You can Generate a Backgammon Board Interactively with GABBI. Other tools are Backgammon Board Service, Board component images, and GO Figure. 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 |
GammonVillage Store
Shop online from a wide selection of boards, books, software, and accessories. Other online sources to purchase backgammon merchandise are Carol Joy Cole's Backgammon a La Carte and the Backgammon Shop of Chris Ternel.Taki-Boards
Handcrafted sets by Tak Morioka with lightweight hardwood cases and velvet playing surfaces available in many color combinations. Top quality leather briefcase style sets are sold online by All-Pro Board Games, BAK, Blyth, Brahma, Cambor, CBB, Dal Negro, Hatrick, Vitor Hollanda, Maharishi, Michelli, Genesis Naylor, Geoffrey Parker, Hector Saxe, T.AnthonyA & K Backgammon Shop
Extensive online catalog of backgammon boards and accessories from Germany. Other German Web sites with many boards and dice for sale are FTH Backgammon, Gammoner, and Weible Spiele. Also visit Columbus, the Austrian online games shop. Svilo Boards are large attache case sets with the famous Svilo leather dice cups designed and hand made in Bulgaria by Svilen Todorov.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, and Chess Sets Gallery.Boardgames.com
One of the many sites to buy boards online. Some others are Ancient Games, Backgammon Express, BackgammonPlus, BrainyGames, The Game Preserve, Gameroom Store, Gammonboard, Hoyles, David Levy, Mall Domino, Masters Games, Neroulias, PokerChest, Sonné, Supreme Backgammon, Sy-Game, and Yenigun.Backgammon Tables
Elegant and functional two layer glass table by Sonné. Also see the game tables at Amy Art, Brent Applegit, Brahma, Cambor, Chess Express, Compleat Gamester, DIY, DavidLevyCreations, Deuce, eGameTables, French Accents, GameTableStore, Gamesters, Gasperetti, George Jaques, Hamilton, HandmadeTables, Inlaid Art, JDM Designs, JaMar, MacGregor, Morini, Jaime Perczek, PlazaGallery, Romagnoli, Hector Saxe, Tony Sinnett, Stacks and Stacks, Stars Art and Design, Danny Vegh's, Greg Wood, and Wood ExpressionsWrapgammon™
Roll-up soft leather integrated game board designed by Mads Ehrhardt. Other roll-up travel sets are sold online at Backpacker, BagGammonThe Gloucester Tabulae Set
Limited edition reproductions for sale of the oldest surviving backgammon set. The Waterloo Museum of Games has a virtual exhibit of interesting old backgammon boards.Diamond Backgammon Board
The world's most expensive game board. The Renault F1 set is made with sterling silver and racecar materials and sells for over $27K. Other unusual but less expensive sets are made with marbles, pottery, pyrography, recycled cardboard, and salt crystals.Make Your Own Board
Plans for small do-it-yourself projects from DIY network. There are woodworking plans for boards at Lowe's, LumberJocksBackgammon 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 Google 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, BackgammonMasters, BGBlitz, Chouette Nation, DailyGammon, GamesByEmail, GammonSite, It's Your Turn, JellyFish, MSN Games, MobileBG, TrueMoneygames/XcitingGames, and Turbogammon. Compare statistics for actual dice rolls on FIBS, GammonSite, and Motif. Fill out the Official Complaint Form.Unfair Dice
Article by mathematician Ivars Peterson. Also see the MathWorld Dice article and Dice by Joe Celko. Read about dice coordinate systems. Examples of very unfair dice are at Gambling Collectibles and Highland Games.Dice and the Laws of Probability
A lesson by Edward D. Collins from Ed's ever-growing Backgammon Page. Paul Stephen's Dice Roll Probabilities and Sho's Dice Tables illustrate the odds. Roll the dice online to demonstrate the Central Limit Theorem.Web Dice Roller
Random.org has virtual dice whose randomness comes from atmospheric noise. The PBM Dice Server uses a MD5-based random number generator to provide up to one thousand impartial dice rolls per message for players of board games by mail. The Irony Games On-web Dice Server is the original. Or you can simply click and roll Bill's World's Virtual Dice.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.
| Diversions |
Backgammon Videos
Search with Truveo for videos from Google, YouTube and other channels across the Web. Broadcast and view videos of lessons and tournament action at AlltheWeb, JoostBackgammon Images
AlltheWeb search for online pictures and graphics. Other sources for image searches across the Internet are Ask, Google, Picsearch, Wikimedia, Windows Live Search, and Yahoo! Also search the smaller collections at BoardGameGeek, Clipart, Corbis, Dreamstime, Flickr, Fotosearch, Image Source, iStockphoto, PBase, Photobucket, Picasa, PictureQuest, ShutterStock, Stockxpert, and Webshots. Submit your own backgammon pictures and comments at the eXtreme backgammon! blog.BG Art Gallery
Images collected from the Web by the Nashville Backgammon Club of backgammon scenes in famous old paintings and advertising. Hardy has more backgammon in advertising images. At The Art of ReconciliationDesktop 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. There is another free backgammon design at Wallpaper Originals.Backgammon T-Shirts and Gifts
Backgammon designs printed on clothing, tote bags, coasters, mugs, mousepads and other items are sold online at Cafe Press and at Zazzle. Backgammon-theme jewelry and accessories are for sale at BackgammonElegance.Tabular History of Backgammon
Hardy Hübener's illustrated history of the game in English and German. The Origin of Backgammon Web site traces in English and French the ancestors of backgammon since 1130 which use the same starting position as the modern game. Also see James Masters' brief Backgammon History which has Japanese and Spanish translations.Ancient Backgammon
The Sumerian Royal Game of Ur is the oldest known board game. You can play the game online with a two player Shockwave version or download Ur to play at Tams11 multiplayer Gaming Lobby. The ancient Egyptians played Senet, which is another possible ancestor of modern backgammon. A Norse version of Senet is Valhalla. Senet Deluxe is a shareware game for the PalmOS. The Royal Game of Ur and Senet are playable as Windows shareware programs. Read more about the games at Lucky Dogs GamesRoman Backgammon
The ancient Romans played the board game tabula, which evolved from Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum. Also see Games of the Viking & Anglo-Saxon Age for a version played during the Roman Iron Age. Some old Asian versions of the game are saka, ssang-ryouk and sugoroku.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 the games dublets and ticktack. The Swedish-Tables Association seeks to rekindle interest in a seventeenth century version of the board game.The Trictrac Home Page
David Levy's exploration of the game which was very popular in French Society prior to the revolution. Also see Le jeu de Trictrac. Soumille is the the First Trictrac Program. The free TricTracManiac program plays by dutch rules. The game of Jacquet was started around 1800 with the decline of trictrac.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. You can play all three variations online against other internet players over the Greek Tavli Server and 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). Tavli3d has a free download of a single player game for Linux. The World Tavli Championship Challenge club in Florida seeks to promote the game.Narde
Rules for the variation which is popular in Russia. You can download the Erebuni or Nards game programs. Megasoft2000 has MegaGammon 4.0 narde (fuega) for the PalmOS and PocketGammon 2.1 for Pocket PC devices. You can also play at the Galeax Russian/English Internet online community. A game with similar rules but with a different starting position is Thirty-one.Acey Deucey
The rules according to Hoyle for a variation which has been very popular in the U.S. Navy. Download the shareware Wingames version, Acey Ducey Backgammon, or Absolute Acey Deucey for Macintosh OS X. Play the game online at Games4money, VOG, or VPchat. There is also a Java version of Acey Deucy which you can use to play online against a friend or computer opponent.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 and at various online play sites. Another three checker variant is Jordan Pollack's Nannon, which uses a small six-point board. 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 Atlanta BG, Bg ACT, Backgammon Galore, MSN Games, and Wikipedia. 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. A variation playable by three people at once is Trigammon. Games for four individual players are Circle Gammon, Quadgammon, Quadragammon, and Quadrogammon. 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 backgammon, checkers, and chess. Online there is a Chebache discussion group and a free Internet version at HigherGames. For offline computer play there is Windows software to download. Other hybrid backgammon games include Chessgammon, diceless chessgammon, domino backgammon, gamma chess and wargammon.Mindgammon
Variant which requires a special board and offers online play. Special boards are also required to play Abagio, Savoy, and Twistgammon. The games Gammon en passant and Piphit use the regular board with a few rule changes.Ultimate Backgammon
By Starshine Software with three 3D animated fantasy destinations, including Space Pod Wreckage Sphere. Also see the official 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 Mel Leifer. Links to advertising Web sites owned by marketing affiliates for online play sites will only be considered if the Web site offers unique appropriate backgammon content not already covered on this page. I am also not interested in exchanging links with poker and casino gambling Web sites.
Updated: August 27, 2008
