Join the Online Backgammon Craze

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 860

If you're a fan of fast-paced and interactive board games, then you won't want to miss out on the online backgammon phenomenon taking place at gaming sites worldwide. Unlike other board games where you play against multiple opponents, backgammon is a battle between two opponents. Each player must move his checkers as fast as he can around the backgammon board so that he can be the first to bear them off the board and win the game.

Sound easy? Don't be fooled into thinking that backgammon is a game that you can win in no time. Serious players dedicate vast amounts of time and energy into building up new skills and studying backgammon strategy. However, by applying yourself to the game and practising your new skills, you should be able to play backgammon successfully in a short period of time.

The first thing you need to do is gain a full grasp of basic backgammon rules. A backgammon set is comprised of a board, two die and fifteen checkers for each player. The board is broken into triangles referred to as points, which are colored black and white. Four separate areas on the board exist; each player has a home board and an outer board. A bar separates the board directly down the middle.

Two die are used to indicate the amount of spaces each player is able to move his checkers. If you're backgammon gambling, you will also have a doubling cube. This is an object similar to a die which displays the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 on its six sides. The doubling cube acts as a reminder of the stakes at which you are playing. These stakes can be raised at any point during a backgammon game by the player in possession of the cube.

When you throw both die, you must move your checkers the total number of spaces as shown by the pip count on the die. You can move either one or two checkers each turn. For example, if you throw a one and a four, you can move one checker one space and a second checker four spaces. Or you can move one checker the total of five spaces.

When it comes to moving checkers, you can not move a checker to a point that is already home to two or more of your opponent's checkers. However, if the point is occupied by just one, you can move your checker here and "hit" your opponent's. This forces his checker back to the bar, where it must be played in to the game again using the die before your opponent can move any of his other checkers. As you may imagine, a lot of internet backgammon strategies involve hitting other player's checkers.

The object of backgammon online is to be the first player to bring all your checkers safely to your home board. Once you have them there, you must bear them off or remove them from the board entirely by throwing the die to do so. If you do this before your opponent, you win your game.