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Backgammon is an ancient game of tactics and strategy. People can be put off learning how to play as at first glance it does look difficult with the unusual board markings, the playing pieces and rolling of dice. In reality, backgammon is quite easy to learn the basics. After you have mastered them you can get deeper in to the tactical side of the game. So to start you off, let’s take a quick look at what the game entails. In simple terms, backgammon is a game for two players head to head. It involves rolling dice them depending on the outcome of the roll, moving your pieces from one side of the playing board to the other. You then start to remove your pieces from the board before your opponent does. The first player to successfully remove all their pieces is the winner. The tactics and strategy fall within this and is something you will learn as you play. To begin the game, dice are rolled to decide which player goes first. The player with the highest scoring roll has that honour. Turns are then taken alternately with each player rolling the dice and deciding how best to move their pieces over the board accordingly. Two dice are rolled with the score determining the number of spaces you can move. An example being if you roll a three and a four you can move your pieces three spaces and four spaces. Here is where the element of strategy starts to come to the fore as with the three four roll (total of seven) you can move one of your pieces seven spaces or split the three and four between two pieces moving one three spaces and one four spaces. However should you roll a double (for example two fours) you have a further option by which you can double the numbers. In this instance you may have four moves of four spaces. So whilst backgammon is essentially about rolling dice and moving playing pieces you can now see how strategic nuances bring themselves to the fore as you try to out fox your opponent. When moving your pieces in the game, be aware that they are known as points probably because of their long, thin triangular shape which ends in a point. One of your game objectives is to gain control of a point by moving two or more of your pieces on to it. If you succeed in this then your opponent cannot occupy the same point even if counting their roll. But if you have just the one playing piece on a point then your opponent can assume control of that point. These are the basics of backgammon. Roll dice and decide how best to move your pieces depending on each roll and to ultimately beat your opponent. As you get in to the game you will start to develop your own tactics and strategies (as will your opponent). Each game is different and can provide great entertainment as well as exercising the old grey matter. If reading this has whetted your appetite and you would like to know more about the game then you may like to download a free ebook all about it. You can access your free backgammon ebook from http://www.backgammonstrategy.co.uk today.
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