More than thousand years in existence, Backgammon is one of the oldest and most popular games around. Since the game has garnered global acclaim, it would not be wrong to call it a universal game. The game can be played as a multiplayer competition and also on a one-to-one level. Numerous organizations around the world conduct worldwide tournaments that are known to offer some huge prizes. However, if you are not familiar with the game, it would be wise to get a clear understanding of how the basic board is set up for the game. If you are looking to take your game to the next level, this knowledge of the board set-up is unavoidable. Once you understand this aspect of the game, you can move on to learning the other finer details of the game.
As we mentioned, the prerequisite to being good at Backgammon is learning the board structure thoroughly. Each player is assigned light and dark checkers, quite similar to a game of chess in fact. A divider splits the game board into two halves. The outer and inner boards are kept on two different sides. The first aim of any player should be to move his/her checkers or men towards the home board. Both participants in the game are required to move their men towards the home board to be able begin bearing off. The bearing off stage, which is the final stage, is what decides the winner. The first participant who bears off all his/her checkers is the winner.
The game of Backgammon has a total of 24 points with six points for each of the four quadrants. Alternate colour triangles comprise the main structure of the board. Players roll the dice and the number to appear determines how many steps a player can move. These checkers are supposed to be moved towards the quadrants. Once the two opponent checkers occupy a specific point, the other player is not allowed to move his/her men on that particular point. On the other hand, if there is just one of the opponents checker on the point, the other player is free to move in on this spot.
The checker of the opponent is knocked into the middle bar in the case of a hit. These are the fundamental rules to participate in Backgammon. Online games of Backgammon also work on the same concept. Each player gets a total of 15 checkers in a single game. Point 1 is the closest one and it is located on your home board. Similarly, the 24th point is the farthest and is located on the opposition player’s home board. You are required to place 2 checkers on point 24, 5 checkers on point 13, 3 on the point 8 and 5 on the sixth one. The opponent’s setting is a supposed to be a mirror image of yours. In the online version of the game, you do not to worry about setting the checkers.
Once you can master these basics, you can move on to further intricacies of the game to gain more success. Try a couple of free online games to get a drift of the game.
