Times are rough for online gaming these days. The rules of the industry are being redefined and it’s us, the gamers, who feel the direct impact of it all… that all being the infamous Unlawful Internet Gaming bill. But wait - things are not as bad as they would seem at first! In fact, for online backgammon it doesn’t look bad at all.

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We all want to become good backgammon players, right? We read books, play online backgammon or invite our friends for an evening of backgammon minitournaments, seek out backgammon strategy guides, discuss tricky situations on various forums, etc. We do our best to improve our game the way WE think we should be doing. But what if a leading backgammon authority would give you a number of advice how to become a good backgammon player? What if that leading authority would be Philip Vischjager, the 2006 backgammon World Champion? Would you follow his advice?

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After reviewing Handmark’s Backgammon for Palm OS v4.1 that we really liked we just couldn’t stop there. So we decided to make another detour from the regular online backgammon stuff, went out on the net, looked around and selected Backgammon Pro for Palm OS v1.27 from Stand Alone, Inc. for our next review. In comparison with Handmark’s Backgammon v4.1, Backgammon Pro is a clearly more advanced backgammon software with loads of settings available. But how does it compare to it on the fun factor?

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In today’s mobile world your mobile device can be both a powerful business tool and an entertainment center. So why not carry your favourite game with you at all times? Winningbackgammon.info tested two excellent mobile backgammon software: Backgammon for Palm OS v4.1 from Handmark and Backgammon Pro for Palm OS v1.27 from Stand Alone, Inc. First we’ll have a look at Handmark’s interpretation of backgammon.

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Jargon is important in every hobby and so it is in backgammon too. This glossary covers most of the terms you will come across in the online backgammon scene.

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When you are playing backgammon, you are contributing to a great piece of history. Backgammon history dates back 5,000 years and is thus the oldest known game to man. In the following article we are going to follow the history of backgammon and see how backgammon evolved to be the game as we know it now. There is also a nice summary of Backgammon history at Wikipedia.

Early years

To date it remains questionable where the first version of Backgammon originates. The oldest possible ancestor of the game found so far dates back to 3,000 B.C. to the ancient civilization of Sumer in Mesopotamia (present Iraq). Early 20th century excavations revealed a set of games made of wood with loose resemblance to the present Backgammon boards.

The ancient Egyptians also had their own version a possible ancestor of the modern Backgammon. Wall paintings around the ancient Egyptian empire depict people, both aristocrats and common people, playing the boardgame found also in Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb in the valley of Nile.

The first real version of Backgammon has likely originated in India or in China. Due to the trade connections between the two civilizations it is difficult to point out a definitive origin of the game, but the Indian game Parcheesi bears enough similarity to modern Backgammon to be recognized as the first ancient version of the game. The object in Parcheesi, as in backgammon, is to “bear off” all your men from the board, and in both games a player must bring all of his men into his home sector before be can start to bear them off. Further, in both games a single man or “blot” is a weakness since an opponent can play to that point and send that man off the board.

From Roman times to middle ages

Backgammon, or more precisely an ancestor of the game, eventually found its way to Europe. Greeks were playing their own version of it and later it continued to gain popularity within the Roman empire.

Backgammon had various names during the Romans times, of which worth mentioning are “tabulae” and “ludus duodecim scriptorium” – the latter meaning “the twelve-line game” for the twelve points on each side of the board. It was a very popular game especially on all levels of the society and several excavations have revealed wall paintings depicting people playing backgammon, which at the time was apparently played with three dice instead of two. For those who are interested, this page of rules and history of Tabulae is a must.

Romans took the game with them during their conquests but it was the crusades that eventually spread the game around Europe. “Tables”, as backgammon and its different versions were called (deriving from the Roman “tabulae”), spread from the upper class throughout medieval society in Europe. The Church opposed tables and other gambling games and people caught playing it were being prosecuted. Attempts to suppress tables continued until the end of 15th century, but beginning from the early 16th century onwards bans were gradually lifted around Europe.

Backgammon in the 18th & 19th centuries

The word “backgammon” was first used in 1645. H.J.R. Murray wrote then in his book “A History Other Board Games Other Than Chess” that backgammon, the modern form of “tables” was invented in the early 17th century in England. The game, still commonly called tables, was played around Europe and not surprisingly it found its way to North-America already with the early settlers. By the 18th century backgammon had become a very popular pastime on both side of the Atlantic Ocean, Thomas Jefferson for example was a keen player.

In 1743 Edmond Hoyle published his “Treatise on the game of Back – Gammon”, codifying the first official set of modern backgammon rules.

Modern backgammon

Backgammon went through the last major change in the 1920’s when some unknown gambler in New York introduced the doubling cube. This sped up the game, added an extra element of risk, and demanded new levels of strategy and skill. The marketability of the game increased as well – an important element in securing the popularity of backgammon.

The 1920’s and 1930’s were a good time for backgammon. During World War II interest decreased and it wasn’t until the 1970’s when backgammon again became hugely popular. Vast amounts of literature published in the 1970’s are still widely available in a multitude of languages.

1980’s saw again a decline in interest towards backgammon due to the introduction of computers and computer games. The young generation was lured away from traditional backgammon by flashy computer graphics. Internet and online gaming, however, has opened possibilities for backgammon to reach popularity levels never seen before in the history of backgammon. Play65 and Gammon Empire are examples of excellent online backgammon sites that show what wonderful times backgammon players are now living and of what is to come in the future.

Backgammon, like most games that are played for money, has its own notation. Backgammon notation describes complex situations in a concise way, which is much quicker to read than just describing what happened with normal language.

Learning Backgammon notation is beneficial, because many backgammon books, articles and other important information sources use it. To put it simply: by learning backgammon notation you can concentrate on what is said, not how it is said. And it really is very simple and easy to learn.

Notation Basics

Backgammon boards - both real ones and online virtual ones - have numbers from 1 to 24 on them, one number on each point. Black player moves from higher numbered points to lower numbered ones and white from lower numbered to higher numbered ones.

When a checker is moved, both its starting and finishing points are marked down divided by a slash. For example black checker moving from point 24 to point 20 would me marked “24/20″. Two checkers moving on one turn might be something like “24/20 13/8″. One checker using both dice to move is also notated by only writing up its starting and finishing points, for example: “24/14″

Bearing off checkers is marked with “off”. A checker escaping from the five point would therefore go down to history like this: “5/off”.

Returning to game from the bar is notated by only writing down the point which the checker entered the board on.
Checkers coming off the bar entering the board on two point and four point would be notated as: “2 4″

Notation needs more than just movement in backgammon - it needs to show the die rolls too. Die rolls are notated by writing down the result of the both dice with no space in between. So if one die shows six and the other one two, backgammon notation would show it like this: “62″.

If we add player color to show whose turn it was, we have a complete notation system. White player throwing three and a one and moving from six point to five point and from eight point to five point would be:
White 31: 6/5 8/5

Advanced notation

One could notate a whole game using the method described above, but couple of small additions make the notation system even clearer.

Hitting could be tracked with the system above, but it is such a crucial part of the game,that it is marked with a “*”.
Checker moving from six point to five point and hitting opponents blot there would be notated like this: “6/5*”.

Moving with doubles would take a lot of space if each move was notated separately, so a shorter version is used: the number of moving checkers is written down in parenthesis.
Three checkers moving from 13 point to 8 point and one from 11 point to six point: “13/8(3) 11/6″.

Examples

With this notation system it is easy to describe complex movements that would require a long explanation in regular writing. A whole game can easily be notated move by move for later analysis.

Couple of examples
Black 55: 13/8*(2) 9/4 18/13
Black rolls double-5 and moves four checkers. He moves two from 13 point to hit white’s blot at eight point, one from nine point to four point and one from 18 point to 13 point.

White 66: 6*/24
White throws a lucky double, enters from the bar, hits a blot and races around the board.

Black 51: 6/1*/off
Black throws five and a one. He moves his checker from six point to the five point, where he hits a blot and then bears the same checker off. Notice that normally the landing on one point wouldn’t be notated, but because the checker hit a blot there, it is written down.

Conclusion

All hobbies or fields of expertise use their own jargon and notation systems and backgammon is no different. Once you get hold of it the backgammon notation will enable you to enjoy the world of backgammon even more. It’ll be also much easier to chat online with your friends about the developments of backgammon battles you have fought not having to waste your time describing the eventes word by word.