GAMMONLINKS

By Mel Leifer   •   Updated: May 1, 2013

GENERAL INFORMATION

Backgammon Galore!
The setup and rules of the game in six languages, glossary, FAQ, annotated matches, variants, etiquette, and backgammon humor. The site contains more then 600 articles.

GammonVillage
The Web's largest and most interactive backgammon portal. Read the online magazine articles and shop for boards, books, and software. GammonVillage is on Facebook and Twitter.

GammonLife
Free Web site by Michael Strato has tournament results, pictorials, interviews, and articles to improve your game.

Backgammon from Wikipedia
Article from the free Web encyclopedia that anyone can edit, with translations in more than sixty languages. There is also a Wiktionary glossary of backgammon terms. See the Tables (board game) article for backgammon variants played throughout the world. There are other backgammon portal sites in Bulgarian, Catalan, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. For help with translations try Bing or Google.

Extreme Backgammon Web Search
The first backgammon-only search engine on the net. There are Web pages with lists of categorized backgammon links in Dutch, German, and Hungarian.

news:rec.games.backgammon
The Usenet newsgroup for unmoderated discussion of all facets of the game. Postings are accessible on the Web at Google Groups. Some of the better contributions are saved at the Backgammon Galore! Forum Archive.

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CLUBS & TOURNAMENTS

Mark Your Calendar
Carol Joy Cole's lively listing of upcoming backgammon tournaments around the world. Carol also runs the Michigan Summer Championships. Check International Tournament Results for the lists of winners from major events worldwide. Results from European tournaments may often be found at GammonManager.com. For major US tourneys, check GamerCafe for final and in-progress results.

World Championship Tournament
Held every year since 1976 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The tournament has a page on Facebook. See the historical list of World Champions from 1967 to the present.

World Series of Backgammon
Sponsors of tournaments in Europe and the online WSOB 7 Series tournament on Betfair. Watch some of the top recorded matches on WSOB TV. Follow WSOB on Facebook and Twitter.

World Backgammon Association
Organization founded by Chiva K. Tafazzoli dedicated to promoting the game internationally which supports the European Backgammon Tour and the U.S. Open Tournament. Follow WBA on Facebook.

Worldwide Backgammon Federation
Organizers of the annual European Championship Tournament. The WBF also sanctions championships directed by Marco Fornasir in Austria, Italy, and Slovenia.

US Backgammon Federation
Follow USBGF on Facebook and Twitter. Watch streaming live and recorded tournament match videos at the USBGF channels at Live Tournament Streaming, USTREAM and YouTube.

American Backgammon Tour
Annual backgammon tournament points race with twenty major live events throughout the USA. Follow ABT live tournament action on Facebook and YouTube. ABT events follow U.S. Tournament Rules and Procedures. Before your first ABT tournament read 31 Things You Need to Know.

U.S. Clock Rules and Procedures
The official set of tournament rules which require the use of clocks with the Simple Delay time control feature. Also see the suggestions on clock ethics. Some popular hardware digital timers are sold by Chronos, DGT, Duel Timer, and Saitek. For the Excalibur GTII timer there is a Web page tutorial on proper settings for a backgammon match. For iPhone/iPod devices the Merkmatics Chess Clock app may be downloaded at iTunes. Some other game timer apps for iPhone/iPod are A1 Game Clock, GameClock Tournament, and Game Time. There is a free Chess Clock for Android app by Tomas Hubalek. Free to download is AGClock for Windows which also includes a scoreboard.

USA Backgammon Clubs
An up-to-date listing with links to Web sites for active clubs in the United States. A Web-based clubs database is at BackGames.org. The clubs of the United States Backgammon League have free live play tournaments. If there is no club near you, you could start your own. Find other players in your area at a Backgammon Meetup.

Nevada Backgammon Association
Organizers of the largest tournaments in the USA, since 1991. There are smaller weekly tournaments at the Las Vegas Backgammon Club.

Backgammon by the Bay
Annotated games, problem sets, songs playlist and news about the club in the San Francisco, California area. Newcomers should take the virtual tour of a tournament. In the Los Angeles area, Gammon Associates runs tournaments twice a week.

Beltway Backgammon Club
Winners of the 2012 USBGF National Club Team Championship. Sunday afternoon tournaments are held in Vienna, VA, close to the Washington, DC Beltway. The nearby Northern Virginia Backgammon Club has weekly tournaments. In Maryland, tournaments are held once a week at the Baltimore Backgammon Club and monthly at MDBackgammon.

Vancouver Backgammon Club
Monthly tournaments in British Columbia, Canada. In Quebec, there is Fédération de Backgammon du Québec. The Ottawa Backgammon Club, the oldest in Canada, has a blog.

Backgammon in Venezuela
Web site for the club in Caracas. There are also Web pages for clubs in Costa Rica, Panama, and Peru. There are Facebook pages for Backgammon Costa Rica, Backgammon Peru, and Jamaica Backgammon.

European Backgammon Tour
The European Backgammon Tour (EBGT) 2012 is a series of tournaments unifying 6 tournaments and a Grand Finale for 16 qualified players. There are online qualifiers at Betfair.

Backgammon Clubs in Europe
A list compiled by European Backgammon News. Some European nations with backgammon association Web sites are Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovine, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, and Turkey. There are also Web sites for Ukraine and the Russian Backgammon Federation. A Web-based clubs database is at BackGames.org. If there is no club near you, you could start your own. Find other players in your area at a Backgammon Meetup.

British Isles Backgammon Association
The biggest backgammon body in the United Kingdom with a worldwide membership. Follow BIBA on Facebook and Twitter. BIBA maintains a club locator page for England, Ireland, and Scotland. The BIBA Tournament Rules and Procedures are here. Backgammon in London tournaments are organized by Mike Main. London Players Backgammon League is for individual players. There is a backgammon competition as part of the annual Mind Sports Olympiad held in London. Also see the Backgammon Federation of Central England.

Danish Backgammon Federation
Organizers of the Nordic Open tournament. Every issue since 1989 of the DBGF Gammon magazine is posted online. Other Scandinavian national groups are the Finnish Backgammon Association, Norwegian Backgammon Federation, and Swedish Backgammon Federation.

Japanese Backgammon League
Web site with lots of general backgammon information, mostly in Japanese. The JBL Event Schedule is translated in English. The annual Japan Open is the biggest tournament in Asia. There are also clubs in Hong Kong and the Philippines. The Malaysia Backgammon Association is on Facebook. A list of clubs throughout Australia is maintained by Sydney Backgammon. The Akarana Backgammon League plays in Auckland City, New Zealand.

Tournament Backgammon on TV
Events of the World Series of Backgammon are broadcast on television in Europe and available as videos on the Vimeo WSOB Channel and via Internet live streaming video at Ustream.tv. Mind Engagement Media specializes in filming backgammon events for television or the Internet. The Backgammon Sportal broadband TV centre features Dod Davies with short video interviews from around the backgammon world. Upload and view newer videos of tournament action at YouTube.

GIANTS of Backgammon
The world's best as voted by tournament directors and championship-level players. There is a megalist page with a compilation of all the results from the top 32 voting since 1993. Some Giants past and present who have their own Web sites include Nack Ballard, Jake Jacobs, Mochy, Karsten Nielsen, Jacob Rice, and Elliot Winslow. There is a six part YouTube documentary about Matvey "Falafel" Natanzon.

Internet Backgammon Database
Collection of profiles of players who compete in live tournaments around the world. Roland Herrera has created a portrait gallery of prominent international tournament players. See Max's Album for 100 backgammon photos from the 1970's and '80's. Some other sites with pictures from tournaments years ago are BackGam.com, Backgammon Central, Bg-Info, and GammonLife.

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STRATEGY

The Backgammon Learning Center
Lessons taught by Phil Simborg and other expert tournament players. Also see the short topical lessons offerred for sale by the pros at MindGamesCenter. There are video lessons taught by Mochy and other champions at Back-Gammon.TV and as an iPhone/iPad/iPod app. There is also a Back-Gammon.TV Facebook page. For free tips to improve your game see the Web sites of top players Michael Bo, Tak Morioka, and Piranha.

CheckerPlay.com
A large categorized collection of computer-analyzed positions and problems. Follow Checkerplay on Facebook. Read the position analysis articles by Robert Wachtel at backgammon.org. You can download pdf files to print position cards or store positions for study and future reference with the Backgammon Position Cards application for iPhone/iPod touch. To use your Android device for training there are Pip Counter and Cube Trainer apps developed by gammonfreak.

Position of the Day
Blog of interesting positions analyzed by Chris Bray, longtime backgammon correspondent of The Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom. Chris is also on twitter . Some other blogs are Robert Andersson, Backgammon for Beginners, Backgammon Camp, Backgammon Study , Big Money Bill, Computational Backgammon, The Dorbel Daily, DouglasZare, Dubrovnik, Examiner, GammonGo, Mochy's Backgammon Study, and Nori's My Backgammon Study.

BGonline Forums
Online discussions hosted by Stick with participation by many other expert tournament players. The DragTheBar and Two Plus Two backgammon forums feature commentary by former World Champion Bill Robertie. For German speakers, there is Hardy's Backgammon Forum. There are also active discussion forums in Danish, Japanese, and Italian.

GammOnLine Article Index
Archive of articles published between 1999 and 2003 at GammOnLine, the online magazine founded and formerly edited by Kit Woolsey. Subcribers to Kit's GammonU can retrieve past issues, post messages to the discussion board forum and take part in interactive online matches (OLM) versus Kit.

The Opening Rolls
Computer rollouts by Stick Rice for the best way to play the first three moves. Also see the analyses by Acepoint, Murat Akcan, APBG.net, eXtreme Gammon, Tim Chow, Tom Keith, Christian Liebe-Harcort, and Phil Simborg. There is a Wikipedia article on backgammon opening theory. Nack Ballard and Paul Weaver wrote Backgammon Openings Book A. Backgammon Openings Strategy is an app for Blackberry. Also see the program Opening Ceremony of Backgammon.

The Pip Count
Michael Crane reviews various methods for easier and faster counting. Also see the counting and race analysis techniques of Ash Dalvi, Jack Kissane, Nigel Merrigan, Jean-Luc Seret, Edward O. Thorp, Bob Townsend, Walter Trice, and Doug Zare. Need to practice? Pipcounter for Backgammon is an Android app for that.

Zare Race Database
The program by Douglas Zare for studying bearoff and longer race positions has a free trial version. For bearoffs with up to nine checkers per side, the free Exact Bearoff program by MDG Software calculates the percentages. Acepoint's Home has bearoff analysis for three vs.three checker positions. For 15x15 positions there is the Bearoff Equities set of DVD's by Hugh Sconyers with calculated bearoff equities and backgame probabilities. Gamer Cafe has a free online position evaluator.

Match Equity Table
Find your percentage chances of winning from any match score as calculated by Kit Woolsey. Other tables in use are Mec26 and Rockwell-Kazaross. Applications of the table data are discussed by Tom Keith, Fabrice Liardet, and Stephen Turner.

Camden Tournament Quizzes
Test your knowledge with these challenging quiz problems by Phil Simborg. There are more quizzes at Backgammon in London, Checkerplay Challenge, GammonLuck, TheDoublingCube, and JBL. Serge Nicholas has posted in French a ten position Test. The Japanese Backgammon League has posted many Quiz Contests with rollout solutions. Other Japanese Web sites with quizzes are GammonDojo, Gammoner's High, Osaka 2012, and Yazawa's Page.

Paul's Backgammon Vaults
Choose from a large collection of recorded matches to replay on your Web browser. Othello maintains an online Database of BG Matches with BGReplay. Also see the match files at Hardy's championship Match Archive.

Blowfish & Snowfish
Free software which uses the GNU Backgammon engine to replay and analyze recorded matches. Snowfish is a backgammon playing program. Also try the free online Backgammon Lab and GAMMONLAB, interactive boards for neural net analysis of positions and matches. BG Replay is a system for publishing games and lessons on the Web.

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COMPUTER PLAYERS

GNU Backgammon
Download free open source neural net software for championship-level play and analysis. The program has precompiled versions for Windows and MacOS X and also runs on Linux and Sun Solaris. Additional information may be found at the GNU Backgammon portal. User help is available from acepoint's home, All About GNU, Documentation Wiki, German Tutorial, Ken Larsen, Guided Tour, and the Japanese FAQ. Report bugs or wishes here. So what is GNU?

eXtreme Gammon
World-class artificial intelligence-based game player and analysis tool for Windows OS, Apple mobile devices as XG Mobile, and as an online opponent at the GammonSite server. Compare features with the BGBlitz, GnuBG and Snowie programs. Ken Larsen provides User help. Follow on Facebook .

Snowie
An expert-level neural network player and analyzer Windows program by SnowieGroup. There is a free twenty day trial version to download.

BGBlitz
Neural net backgammon player which has won the Gold Medal at the Computer Olympiad. Replay saved games and calculate cube strategy for matches with this versatile Java application which runs on Windows, Macintosh OS 9/X and Linux. "The Swiss-Army knife for backgammon." There is a BGBlitz page in Japanese. A version for cell phones and other mobile devices is BGBlitz2Go. Read an article about the making of BGBlitz2Go.

Ariston Backgammon
A neural net-based shareware Windows game program. Other artificial intelligence shareware game programs for Windows are 3D Backgammon, Backgammon Classic 7.2, Bob's Backgammon 2.0, and MVP Backgammon Professional. The free Monte Carlo neural net player also has a Backgammon-To-Lose version.

TD-Gammon
The first expert-level neural network program, which was developed in 1992 by Gerald Tesauro for the IBM OS/2 operating system only. Read more about TD-Gammon and the early programs inspired by it, such as JellyFish, at Jay Scott's the neural net backgammon programs.

Beat a Backgammon Robot
Play and analyze matches or nackgammon games against "The Wall" computer opponent at its Java applet Web site. Meet other players at the Robot's Facebook group. Other Java-based Web computer players which require no download are by-art.com, David's Backgammon, Great Day Games, Inertron, and Motif. You can embed the LabPixies backgammon gadget to play against on your iGoogle home page, blog or other personal Web site.

HC-Gammon
Play on the Web against an evolved neural network computer. The training of HC-Gammon at Brandeis University is discussed in the Wired magazine article "In Search of the Electronic Brain."

Skillgammon
"Skill-oriented" variant by GSN WorldWinner for free online play against a computer-controlled opponent. There is no doubling and no dice rolling. Instead, players chose their rolls from among a small pre-selected set.

Serious Backgammon
Shareware game program with dice analysis which also plays the variations acey deucey, gul bara, hypergammon, longgammon, nackgammon, snake, and domino backgammon. The freeware Quick Backgammon by Geert Verkade for Windows PC has a separate Random Rolls Creator file to download.There is also a version to buy for Windows phone.

MaxGammon
Shareware program by StrongGames which offers a choice of opponents: human, computer or network game over LAN. Other programs with this feature are Romar BackGammon and TLK 3D Backgammon Unlimited.

David's Backgammon
Download the Windows or Macintosh version of David Byrum's shareware game program with speech recognition capability. David's Absolute Backgammon was designed for Mac OS X. Other games playable on Macs are BGBlitz, Backgammon Premium , Hardwood Backgammon, and Masters of Backgammon.

iGammon
Game application developed by Tom Keith for iPhone,iPod touch, and iPad. Read Tom's article. Other computer opponents for Apple mobile devices are Art Deco Backgammon 3D, Astraware, Backgammon by George, Backgammon Gold, Backgammon Guru Pro, Backgammon NJ, Backgammon Pro, Backgammon Professional, Masters of Backgammon, Pocket Backgammon, and XG Mobile.

True Backgammon HD for iPad
Download the fully featured game app in English and German for play against the computer or against a friend. Other game apps for iPad are Backgammon Guru Pro, Backgammon NJ HD, and XG Mobile.

Backgammon for E-readers
Compulab True Backgammon is a game for Amazon Kindle e-reader devices. Apps for the Barnes and Noble NOOK include Agile Fusion Backgammon, Silver Creek Hardwood, and Backgammon NJ for Android.

Backgammon for Android
Shop the Google Play store for many game apps to download. Also for Android see Astraware Boardgames, Backgammon NJ, and Backgammon Pro II. GameColony has a free Backgammon GC app for Android phones and tablets.

Backgammon for Windows Phone
Backgammon, tavla, tavli and dice apps to download. Some are free.

Backgammon for BlackBerry
By developer Handmark. Other computer opponents to play on your BlackBerry are Backgammon Mania and BGBlitz2Go. Shop the BlackBerry World webstore for more backgammon apps.

MobileBG
Download a free J2ME game for playing on your telephone against a computer or another player on the same phone. Other wireless games for various handsets with these features are by Air Strategy, BGBlitz2Go, Logler, and Odesys. For Nokia phones there is NokiMoki's Backgammon Classic and more from the Nokia Store. For the Palm Pre phone there are games by Astraware and PlayScreen.

Touch Screen Backgammon
Portable handheld game from Excalibur. Also see Einstein Touch Backgammon.

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FIBS (First Internet Backgammon Server)

FIBS Home Page
Official Web site for the free cross-platform backgammon server created in 1992 by Andreas (marvin) Schneider. To play, use the Telnet DNS address fibs.com:4321 or download one of the graphical interfaces. You can also use the java applet registration tool. Check the current FIBS connection status at FIBS Board or at FIBSdotcom on Twitter. If FIBS is down, try the free TigerGammon or melBG servers, which work with the FIBS-compatible graphical clients.

FIBS Board
Forum for discussions, news, pictures, archived files and online tournaments. Follow FIBSdotcom on Twitter. You can help edit the FIBS Wiki. For tournament information check FibsLeaGammon and David Escoffery's page. Is FIBS an experimental tool for the study of induced dysfunction?

FIBzilla
Download the free Windows graphical client, formerly known as 3DFiBs, for play on FIBS and offline against the GnuBG bot. Download the free GreedyGammon software to play against the bot on this new server. Other free clients are C4FIBS, DelFibs, Gibbon, RealFIBS and the original, FIBS/W. The shareware Beggar's Backgammon Terminal is a Windows-based graphical client by Gamer Cafe for play on FIBS. The free FibsCE client was created for handheld computers with the Windows CE operating system.

JavaFIBS
Multi-platform Java-powered graphical interface for FIBS which works with Windows, MacOS, Linux, Solaris, AIX and OS/2. See the How to connect page. The free ParlorPlay browser-based client interface works with Windows, Mac and Linux and requires no download or Java.

PadGammon (Backgammon Online HD)
Download the first Internet-capable FIBS app for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. MacGammon Online is an OSX FIBS client. A FIBS client is included with BGBlitz2Go 2.1.0 for most mobile phones which support Java. Client programs for mobile phones with Java/MIDP support are Odesys Backgammon 3.0, MobileBG FIBS, and MobileFIBS.

MacFIBS
Shareware FIBS graphical interface for Macintosh with many custom boards. Download the Backgammon Play-O-Matic companion program to save and replay games. CocoaFIBS is a free native client for Mac OS 10.3 or higher.

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ONLINE PLAY SITES

SafeHarborGames
Download the software to play backgammon, NO HIT backgammon, and other games for free. There are leagues, ladders, and GammonZone tournaments. Also see World Gaming Center for leagues, ladders, and online tournaments.

GridGammon
Download the Windows client software to play or watch for free. Many of the world's top tournament players compete regularly here, including many who formerly played at GameAccount GamesGrid, when it was still available to players in the USA and other countries. GridGammon is the Internet host for the International Backgammon Championship tournament.

GammonSite
Play backgammon for free or as a paid member using GameSite 2000 software. You can also play the hypergammon, long gammon and nackgammon variations. eXtreme Gammon is an expert-level resident neural network player. Online head-to-head play, leagues and tournaments for money are hosted by Gammon Ventures.

NetGammon
Download the client software to play for free or as a Premium member. The International Backgammon Alliance runs online tournaments.

Online Backgammon Money
The latest news, reviews and promotions at several cash play sites. Internet gambling In the United States is regulated according to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

BGroom
Play backgammon games and tournaments for money. Other primarily backgammon sites to play for money are BackgammonMasters, Partouche, and PartyGammon.

Games4Money
Play backgammon or acey deucey against real people for free or real money. It also pays to play fee-based tournament backgammon and the many other games at GameDesire, William Hill, King, Ladbrokes, and Rubl. The Greentube network of skill games offers backgammon at Digibet, Skill7, and StarGames. Multiplayer backgammon sites on the Jadestone Network include Betfair, bwin, Paf, and Unibet. The GameColony play site also has a free Backgammon GC app for Android phones and tablets.

GameAccount
AdobeFlash multiplayer backgammon and other games for free or money. Note: GameAccount prohibits access to players in the USA and some other countries. Other backgammon play sites which are part of the Game Account Network and may not be available in your country are BlueSQ, GamesGrid, MoneyGaming and Worldgammon. GameAccount.com has now joined MoneyGaming.

Yahoo! Games
Free Java-based server for multiplayer backgammon and other games. There is also a Quick Play Flash version to compete against the computer. Yahoo!Games hosts its own sites for backgammon Answers, Games Groups, Groups, Leagues, News, Shopping, and Yahoo!Kids. There are tournament leagues at Eliters. Backdoors to backgammon game rooms are right over here.

Pogo
Free Java-based site to play backgammon and other games. For backgammon room backdoors look here. Other free Java-based multiplayer games sites with backgammon are FlyOrDie, Games.com, GameTwist, Nidink, PlayJava, PlayOK, and ZooEscape. Download the free Onlinebandit software to chat and play backgammon and other games. Download the VPChat client software for chat and to play backgammon and acey-deucy.

Vinco Online Games (VOG)
Download the client software designed for the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser to play backgammon and other games for free. The available variations include acey-deucey, gul bara (crazy narde), hypergammon, long gammon, nackgammon, narde (feuga), and tapa.

Novel Games
Free single player and multiplayer Internet backgammon for any OS capable of running Adobe Flash. Novel Games also has the variants Gul Bara and Tapa. Another free Flash site requiring no game download is GamesGames. To play backgammon at MSN Games, you must use the Internet 7 or later browser.

Hardwood Backgammon
Play either by yourself against the computer or online anytime with people everywhere. From Silvercreek Entertainment with downloads for Windows, Mac OSX, iPad/iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire, Nook, and XBox 360.

DailyGammon
Free turn-based backgammon, where you need not be online at the same time as your opponents. There are single elimination and alternative tournaments. Track the status of all your ongoing matches with the Dailygammon Updater iGoogle gadget.

GamesByEmail
Free correspondence gaming for backgammon and other games. The free turn-based (non-realtime) backgammon at It's Your Turn is similar to playing by e-mail but using a graphical Web interface which requires no download or Java and is compatible with MSN WebTV. Other free turn-based playsites are BrainKing, GoldToken, Pocket-Monkey(tm), Turn Play, and YourTurnMyTurn. Richard's PBeM Server offers free backgammon, deadgammon, grandgammon, hypergammon, malaka, moultezim, nackgammon, plakoto, savoy and spiro via e-mail. You can convert game records to text format usable by Snowie and Gnu Bg.

PlayGem Social Backgammon
Available on Facebook to play for free against your friends. Some other free backgammon game apps on Facebook are Backgammon Plus , Backgammon Pro , Backgammon Live , Live Challenge , SheshBesh , Tavla , and Tavla Plus .

Apple Game Center
Download the FaceMe Backgammon app by Quatrian to play on the multiplayer social gaming network for iOS 4.2 or later devices. Other apps to download for play at Game Center are Backgammon for Masters and Trivial Technology Backgammon. Backgammon NJ has a Game Center FAQ. For Blackberry devices there is Magmic Backgammon King.

Come2Play
Live challenge free multiplayer backgammon. Follow on Facebook. Come2Play powers multiplayer backgammon at GamingWonderland.

Backgammon Live
Multiplayer game for Symbian and Windows Phone devices. Invite your Facebook friends and Twitter followers to play a turn based game for Android with the free Backgammon Friends Matchbox app. Play others using Skype Internet telephone at GameXN.

SweBoard
Free Java client site to play backgammon and many variants including the Swedish boardgame bräde. Sites for German-speaking players are BrettspielWelt, LiveBackgammon, MeinGAMES, and Speedgamez. BigGammon, in German and English, requires the Macromedia Flash 8.0 player plugin.

GammonZone
Runs free tournaments at Safe Harbor Games which are played for ratings and Life Master points. Check the GZ online news.

Case's Ladder
Challenge ladders and leagues for various backgammon servers are listed here and at MyLeague.com. Winsome's blog has An Introduction to Case's. Free tournament-based online leagues are also listed at Eliters. Warp Gammon hosts tournaments and has a comparative review chart of servers where matches may be played.

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PUBLICATIONS

Chicago Point
"A Prime Source of Backgammon Information." Free online material. Download for free the final issue of the print version. Back issues of the online version are stored here and here. Follow Editor Bill Davis on Twitter.

Flint Area BackgammoNews
Online preview of the bimonthly print newsletter edited by club director Carol Joy Cole.

PrimeTime Backgammon
Bi-monthly electronic and print magazine published by the US Backgammon Federation.

Bibafax
Bi-monthly magazine of the British Isles Backgammon Association which is available in a full-colour PDF version.

Backgammon Bibliography
A comprehensive compilation by Art Grater of books, articles and dissertations. Also see Hardy's Bibliography of books published either in English or German. For further information and reviews see Backgammon Galore! Books. Read previews of books that mention "backgammon" at Google Books. Search library catalogs worldwide at WorldCat. To purchase old, rare and out-of-print backgammon books search the current inventories at AbeBooks, UKBookWorld, and ZVAB.

The Gammon Press
Bill Robertie's site sells books by Bill and other authors. Cardoza also publishes books by Bill Robertie. The 2004 edition of Backgammon by Paul Magriel is published by Clock and Rose Press. Backgammon Giants Nack Ballard and Paul Weaver co-authored a book on Backgammon Openings. Also see Jeremy Bagai's Fortuitous Press and Mike Corbett Books. Raymond Kershaw's Backgammon Funfair contains a large collection of amusing puzzles. Chris Bray is the author of Backgammon for Dummies. Books by Danny Kleinman and Chris Bray can be purchased at Lulu.com. Compare prices from many online stores for new and used books at AllBookstores, BooksPrice, FetchBook, and Powell's.

Backgammon E-book
Register with the World Backgammon Association and download for free the 95-page electronic book by Stefan Gueth, How to become a Backgammon Hog. Another free book to download in pdf format is Everday Errors in Checker Pay by Dr. Baron Gossett Euler. There is a free open-content backgammon Web textbook at Wikibooks. Also check the many backgammon eBook titles available for Kindle and Nook e-reader devices.

"Backgammon Hustler"
Article published in 1999 in Cigar Aficionado magazine. Find more articles about backgammon for a fee at HighBeam Research and NewspaperARCHIVE. Also check Google News and Topix for news articles that mention backgammon. Search for technical journal articles with Google Scholar.

Backgammon Board'O'Matic
Publish your own backgammon writings with this free online tool to generate board diagram images suitable for printing and inserting into other documents, including Web pages. You can Generate a Backgammon Board Interactively with GABBI or bglog by Simon Woodhead. Other tools are APBG.net Board Diagrams, Backgammon Board Service, and Board Component Images. Use the Monte Carlo font to create backgammon diagrams in either the TrueType or PostScript format for Mac or Windows. There is a backgammon-inspired typeface called Tavla.You can download pdf files to print position cards. BG Replay is a system for publishing backgammon games and lessons on the Web.

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BOARDS

GammonVillage Store
Visit the online store for a wide selection of top brand boards, books, software, and accessories. Other sources to purchase backgammon merchandise online are Carol Joy Cole's Backgammon a La Carte and the Backgammon Shop of Chris Ternel.

Svilo Boards
Large attache case sets with the famous Svilo leather dice cups designed and hand made in Bulgaria by Svilen Todorov. Other top quality leather briefcase style sets are sold online by Aries, Aspinal of London, Asprey, Bamford & Sons, Ghurka, Genesis Naylor, Geoffrey Parker, Pickett , Renzo Romagnoli, Hector Saxe, Sy-Game, T.Anthony, William & Son , Wycliffe Brothers®, Zaza & Sacci, and Zontik Games. For wood-framed leather tabletop boards see Deuce, Elliot Pielle Delgado, Estes Leather, and JWA Leather Art.

Custom Built Backgammon
Order a set individually handcrafted by CBB. Custom boards may also be ordered from Alexandra, Brahma Boards, Emmanuel David, FM Gammon, Vitor Hollanda, Hampden Designs, Geoffrey Parker, Pickett, and Tim's Custom Leather.

Crisloid
Manufacturers of attaché and table top backgammon sets and accessories since 1948 in the USA . Follow Crisloid on Facebook. Crisloid sets with cork playing surfaces are also sold online at Zontik Games.

Wrapgammon™
Roll-up soft leather integrated game board designed by Mads Ehrhardt. Other roll-up travel sets are sold online at Aspinal of London, Assignment Whisper, BagGammon, Tory Burch, Crisloid, Estes Village, Thomas Lyte, Packgammon, Pickett, Rose & Pentagram, A Summer Shop, Under Cover UK, and Wood Expressions. For a really big game see the Jaques Giant Outdoor Set.

Backgammon Tables
Elegant and functional two layer glass table by Sonné. Also see the game tables at Alexandra Llewellyn, Amy Art, Cambor Games, Chess Express, Dartbrook Rustic, Hardwood Creations, Emmanuel David, Deuce, Don Frost Sculptor, Game Table Showroom, Gasperetti, Gracious Style, Hamilton, HandmadeTables, JaMar, Mark Lackley, MacGregor, Malachite Art, Phil Manker, Morini, Oomph, Geoffrey Parker, Perczek, PlazaGallery, Hector Saxe, Scully & Scully, Tony Sinnett, The Source Collection, Stacks and Stacks, Stars Art and Design, Thompson, Treasure Combers, Western Art and Architecture, and Wood Expressions.

A & K Backgammon Shop
Extensive Web catalog of backgammon boards and accessories from Germany. Other German Web sites with boards and dice for sale are Denkspiele24, FTH Backgammon, Gammoner, KATOCO, and Weible Spiele. Also visit Columbus, the Austrian online games shop. The Swedish store Gammon Games also sells backgammon products online.

Your Move Chess and Games
Shop from the selection of backgammon sets and accessories at the Web site of America's largest chess store. In Canada, Village Games sells a very wide range of backgammon sets from its large Toronto showroom/store and over the Internet.

The Backgammon Store
One of the many Web sites to shop for boards and accessories. Some of the others are Ancient Games, BackgammonFunStore , BackgammonHellas, BackgammonPlus, Bello Games New York, Boardgames.com, Cambor Games, Compleat Gamester, The Game Preserve, Gameroom Store, David Levy, Mall Domino, Masters Games, PokerChest, Sonné, and Yenigun. You can also find backgammon boards to buy online at Chess Express, Chess Forum, and The London Chess Centre.

Backgammon Online Auction
For older, hard-to-find equipment, place your bid at eBay or buy it now from there. Also browse the boards and tables for sale at Amazon and Google Shopping. You may need a currency converter.

Diamond Backgammon Board
The world's most expensive backgammon set. Geoffrey Parker's most expensive backgammon set costs $387,890. The Masque de femme Lalique set in leather printed croco black has clear crystal playing pieces. The Renault F1 carbon fiber set is made with sterling silver and Formula One racecar materials. Parker makes a Bentley backgammon set. There are also Ferrari and Lotus carbon fiber sets. Other unusual but much less expensive sets are made using acrylic, a cigar box, embroidery, malachite, marbles, salt crystals, sponge, and terracotta tiles. Also see the Backgammon in the round board.

The Gloucester Tabulae Set
Limited edition reproductions for sale of the oldest surviving backgammon set. Antique backgammon sets are bought and sold online at Antique Chess Shop. See French Accents for fine continental antique game tables. The Waterloo Museum of Games has a virtual exhibit of unusual old backgammon boards.

Build Your Own Board
How to make a wooden backgammon game. There are more woodworking plans for boards at eHow, LumberJocks, U-bild, and Woodcraft. HGTV has free directions for making a fused glass set. You can even make a simple game board using duct tape or an Altoids tin.

Stitch Your Own Board
A pattern for both cross stitch and needlepoint. For other sewing patterns see Anne Cram Designs , Art Needlepoint, At River's End, Cross Stitch Stash . Needlepoint Tool Time, Past Times, Pepita, Sudberry House, TheCraftStar , and Zecca. You can also knit your own board with patterns from Knitwhits and Ravelry. A pattern for a knitted afghan is at Woollythoughts. DIY Network has video instructions for a knitted board bag. Patterns for quilted boards are available online from Curiousity and Quilt Woman.

Backgammon Sets for Tablet Computers
Download the Sushi Backgammon theme board app to play against a friend on your iPad. Also see Backgammon Board HD for iPad. To play on Android tablet or mobile phone download the Freeform Backgammon board app from the Amazon Appstore or the Google Play Store. A board app for Blackberry is Old City Backgammon.

Backgammon Scoreboard
Add the optimised Michael Bo Backgammon Scoreboard to your set. There is also an iPhone/iPod Touch version of this scoreboard.

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DICE

Are the Dice Fair?
Read about how the random online dice rolls are generated for Ariston, Backgammon NJ, BackgammonMasters, BGBlitz, BGBlitz2go, DailyGammon, GamesByEmail, GammonSite, It's Your Turn, JellyFish, MSN Games, MobileBG, and Serious Backgammon. Compare statistics for actual dice rolls on Ariston, FIBS, GammonSite, Motif, and Safe Harbor Games. Fill out the Official Complaint Form.

Unfair Dice
Article by mathematician Ivars Peterson. Also see the MathWorld Dice article and Dice by Joe Celko. Read about dice coordinate systems. Examples of very unfair dice are at Gambling Collectibles and Highland Games.

Precision Dice
The fairest-rolling dice. The corners of backgammon precision dice are rounded to add additional "action" to the dice as well as to prevent marring of the playing surface. The spots are drilled and filled with material of the same weight as the rest of the die and will have flush faces. Puchase online at Bello Games, BgShop, Dice Games, GammonCity, Gammon Press, GammonVillage, Koplow Games, Novadice, Hector Saxe, Svilo, Village Games , and Zontik Games. Zontik also sells luxurious non-precision Swarovski crystal studded dice with an alligator carrying case.

The Meyer Dice Tube
Instead of using a rolling cup give your dice a fair shake by flipping the closed clear tube with 13 rubber rods inside. See the advantages of this method for playing backgammon. Watch a video demonstration. An alternative rolling device is the baffle box, which may be purchased from Essential Backgammon. There is also an clear acrylic version, so you can watch the dice tumble.

Web Dice Roller
Random.org has virtual dice whose randomness comes from atmospheric noise. The PBM Dice Server uses a MD5-based random number generator to provide impartial dice rolls for players of board games by mail. My Dice is an app for iPhone. For Windows Phone there are RollDice and DiceCup apps. Build your own very random electronic dice for use at home or in the car with the Hobbytron Dual Electronic Dice kit.

Mersenne Twister
Home page for the algorithm used by many backgammon programs as a pseudorandom number generator for dice rolls.

Dice and the Laws of Probability
A lesson by Edward D. Collins from Ed's ever-growing Backgammon Page. Paul Stephen's Dice rolls and probability illustrates the odds. Roll the dice online to demonstrate the Central Limit Theorem.

DiceCollector.com
The Web home for Kevin Cook's world's largest collection of dice, with lots of general information and dice links.

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DIVERSIONS

Backgammon on YouTube
Other places to broadcast and view videos of lessons and tournament action are eHow, MonkeySee, Ustream.tv, Vimeo, and Yahoo!. Mind Engagement Media, which specializes in filming backgammon events for television and the Internet, is on Facebook and Twitter. There are video lessons by Mochy and other champions at Back-gammon.TV.

Backgammon Images
Picsearch results for online pictures and animations. Other sources for image searches across the Internet are Ask, Bing, blekko, Google, Wikimedia, and Yahoo! Also search the smaller collections at BoardGameGeek, Can Stock Photo, Clipart, Corbis, Dreamstime, Extreme Backgammon, Flickr, Fotosearch, Getty Images, GoGraph, Image Source, Inmagine, iStockphoto, Jupiterimages, PBase, Photobucket, Picasa, ShutterStock, Thinkstock, Tumblr, Twicsy, and Webshots. There is a free backgammon desktop design at Wallpaper Originals. Submit your own backgammon pictures and comments at the eXtreme backgammon! blog.

BG Art Gallery
Images collected from the Web by the Nashville Backgammon Club of backgammon scenes in famous old paintings and advertising. Hardy has more images of backgammon in advertisements. Other online collections of art about backgammon may be found at AllPosters, ARC, Art.com, Art Prints on Demand, Artcyclopedia, Artmundi, Barewalls, Bridgeman Art Library, Canvaz, Marinni Gallery, NiceArtGallery, The Origin of Backgammon, Svilo's Gallery, and Wikigallery. Artist Ara Peterson has created many colorful wooden backgammon boards. At The Art of Reconciliation there are sixty backgammon sets painted by contemporary artists to symbolize the desire for peace and reconciliation between nations.

Backgammon T-Shirts and Gifts
Backgammon designs printed on clothing, coasters, iPhone cases, mousepads, mugs, tote bags and other items are sold online at Cafe Press and at Zazzle. Shop online for backgammon tee shirts at I Hate Backgammon™ , Cruelest Game, Gaming Goodies, Spreadshirt, and Tagbanger. Backgammon-theme jewelry and accessories are for sale at BackgammonElegance.

Tabular History of Backgammon
Hardy Hübener's illustrated history of the game in English and German. The Origin of Backgammon Web site traces in English and French the ancestors of backgammon since 1130 which use the same starting position as the modern game. James Masters' brief Backgammon History has Japanese and Spanish translations. Bill Davis has gathered the known historical facts on Backgammon and Doubling.

Ancient Backgammon
The Sumerian Royal Game of Ur is the oldest known board game. You can play Ur at the Tams11 multiplayer Gaming Lobby. The ancient Egyptians played Senet, which is another possible ancestor of modern backgammon. There are Senet Deluxe apps for iPad and iPhone. The British Museum Web site has free Adobe Shockwave two player versions of Ur and Senet. Novel Games has free flash multiplayer versions of the Royal Game of Ur and Senet. There are also game programs to download for The Royal Game of Ur and Senet. A Norse version of Senet is Valhalla. More historical info and links to play Senet on your computer are at Terry's The Game of Senet. Read more about the history of both of these ancient games at Lucky Dogs Games

Roman Backgammon
The ancient Romans played the board game tabula, which evolved from Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum. Try the game Duodecim Scripta yourself for free online at Novel Games. For Apple mobile devices there is a Roman Backgammon app to download. Also see Games of the Viking & Anglo-Saxon Age for a version played during the Roman Iron Age. Some old Asian versions of the game are saka, ssang-ryouk and sugoroku.

Early Backgammon
Rules for some of the more recent ancestors of modern backgammon, as reconstructed from their descriptions in books from the seventeenth century. Also see the old games of dublets and ticktack. The Swedish -Tables Association seeks to rekindle interest in a seventeenth century version of the board game. The Edmond Hoyle blog by David Levy discusses eighteenth century backgammon and other games.

The Trictrac Home Page
David Levy's exploration of the game which was popular in French society prior to the revolution. Also see Le jeu de Trictrac. Soumille is the the First Trictrac Program. The free TricTracManiac program plays by Dutch rules. The game of Jacquet was started around 1800 with the decline of trictrac.

Tavli
History of the Greek game with the variations known as portes, feyga and plakoto. Also see Games of Crete and the German page So spielt man Tavli. To play the three Greek games against the computer try the Web applet at Moja Grecja or download the Leon or Palamedes Windows programs. Play multiplayer Tavli at GamesFair . Single player Tavli3d is free to download. The World Tavli Championship Challenge club is in Florida.

Tawle
Play online against the computer at Fuzztak.com in English and Arabic. Tawle contains three different versions of backgammon, the most popular ones in the Middle East: Sheish Beish, Ma7booseh, and 31. For Apple devices there are Tawle and Tawla apps.

Narde
Rules for the variant similar to fevga and moultezim which is popular in Russia. There are narde apps for iPad and Android devices.

Acey Deucey
The rules according to Hoyle for a variation which has been popular in the U.S. Navy. Download the shareware Absolute Acey Deucey for Macintosh OS X. Play the game online at Games4money, VOG, or VPchat and elsewhere. There is also a Java version of Acey Deucy which you can use to play online against a friend or computer opponent.

Hyper Backgammon
Computer oppponent by Hugh Sconyers for the variation played with only three checkers per side. CD-ROM may be ordered from Backgammon A La Carte. You can also play the game with Tower Software Serious Backgammon and at various online playsites. Another three checker variant is Nannon by professor Jordan Pollack, which uses a pocket size six-point board. There is also a Nannon app for iPhone and iPad. The game Blockade requires sixteen checkers per player and uses only half of the backgammon board.

Chouette
Basic rules and common variations for a form of backgammon played by three or more. Other versions of the rules appear on the pages of Bg ACT, Backgammon Galore, MSN Games, Wikibooks, and Wikipedia. Also see a set of rules for a chouette tournament. Printable chouette scoresheets are available for free download from BPC Chicago and Greg Cattanach. To help you keep score for up to ten players there is the Chouette Calculator software by Gamer Cafe. Play online for free with the Chouette Nation client software.

Backgammon Wars
Online group game where up to six players can play on the same extended board as individuals or as teams. Another partners game is Doubles Backgammon. A variation playable by three people at once is Trigammon. Games for four individual players are Circle Gammon, Quadgammon, and Quadragammon. Zodiac is a seven-player variant from the 13th century played with three seven-sided dice.

Chebache
Board game patented by Scott D. Pardee, which combines elements of backgammon, checkers, and chess. Online there is a Chebache discussion group and a free Internet version at HigherGames. For offline computer play there is Windows software to download. Some other hybrid backgammon games include diceless backgammon, domino backgammon, gamma chess, No Chance backgammon, and wargammon.

Piphit
Variant game with a rules change for the dice throws. Read David Markwick's Piphit - Changing Backgammon. Non-traditional boards are used to play "3D" Skill /Fast backgammon, Quackgammon, Savoy, and Twistgammon. Martian Backgammon, IceGammon and Kotra are Icehouse Games.

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