Winning in Tournament Backgammon

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 862

The object of backgammon is to be the first player to remove all the checkers from the board. This is done by moving 15 checkers across the board and eventually bearing them off the board altogether. When playing tournament backgammon, players compete against each other by playing a match. The tournament backgammon director specifies the match length. Both players keep a running score on scorecards that are provided.

In tournament backgammon, players add points that are won to their total. The player who reaches the designated match length first is declared the winner. There is no need to aim to win a match by more points than the actual match length, as the match score is not significant to the outcome of the tournament. In tournament backgammon, if the opponent has not managed to remove any checkers from the backgammon board by the time you have won the game, you win what is called a 'gammon' - ie. two times the value of the cube. If the opponent hasn't managed to remove any checkers and, in addition, also has checkers on the bar or in your home board, you win a 'backgammon-, and therefore three times the value of the cube.

Another important tool in tournament backgammon is the doubling cube. This is the cube that determines the stakes of the game at the end of it. The cube has six different values (2, 4, 8, 16 and 32) and can is used by players to double (and redouble) the stakes in the game if they feel that they have an advantage. The opponent is not obliged to accept the doubling offer but will then forfeit the game and any stakes that are to be won.