Winning Backgammon

Winning Backgammon is a plain, practical guide to one of the oldest board games still played today. The articles are written for players who know little more than how the checkers move, and for club players who want to understand why strong players choose the moves they do. Everything here is free to read, and every topic links to the next one, so you can start at the beginning or jump straight to the part of the game that troubles you most.

Start with the rules

If you are new to the game, read Backgammon Rules for the complete rule set used in competitive play: the setup, how the dice move the checkers, hitting and entering, bearing off, and how gammons and backgammons are scored. How to Play Backgammon walks through the same ground in a more relaxed way, and Backgammon for Beginners suggests a path from your first game to your first tournament. When a word looks strange, the Quick Backgammon Glossary explains it, and Backgammon Notation shows how moves such as 13/7 8/7 are written down.

The opening and the early game

The first few rolls of a game are the most studied positions in backgammon. Computer analysis has settled the best way to play almost every opening roll, and our guide to Opening Moves lists them, noting where two or three plays are practically equal. Replies to Opening Moves covers your answer to the opponent's first roll, including how to play doubles, and Early Game Strategy explains the two goals of the opening phase: making key points and freeing your back checkers.

Strategy for every phase

Backgammon Strategy is the overview: hit, make points, and escape. From there you can study each type of game in depth:

• Attacking plans: The Blitz and Playing for Gammon.
• Blocking plans: Priming Games and Six-Point Primes.
• Defensive plans: the Holding Game, the Backgame and Saving the Gammon.
• The end of the game: Pip Count Basics, The Race and The Bear-Off.
• Checker play principles: Duplication, Diversification and the Probability Tables.

The doubling cube

The doubling cube turned backgammon into the game experts play today. The Doubling Cube explains when to double, when to take and when to pass, while the Crawford Rule and the Jacoby Rule cover the two special rules you will meet in match play and in single games.

Variants

Once you know the standard game, try a variant. Hypergammon is played with only three checkers per side and is short, sharp and fully solved by computers. Nackgammon adds two extra back checkers and leads to longer, more strategic games.

Tournaments, history and news

Backgammon Tournaments explains formats, match lengths, clocks and etiquette for players heading to their first event. You can also read about the 2006 World Championship in Monte Carlo, trace the game back thousands of years in Backgammon History, find out how analysis programs can speed up your learning in the Backgammon Software Review, and follow recent events in Backgammon News.

Whatever your level, the quickest way to improve is to combine three things: play often, read a little, and review your own games honestly. The articles on this site are here to help with the reading part.