Playing Backgammon Online – For Fun or Profit – by Stephen Todd

The Internet has many websites to help you pass the time away and ease boredom. Some of these online distractions come in the form of Internet games that you can pay to play or as a free form of entertainment. Some of the available outlets allow you to play chess, checkers, solitaire, as well as playing backgammon online.

When you are interested in playing backgammon online, you can choose to either play against a human competitor or if you don’t feel like dealing with a real person, the computer is also equipped to play backgammon online.

There are plenty of websites to go to when you are in the mood for a game of backgammon, where you can even choose the option to play for cash prizes or achieve rankings for the best game players.

Gammon Village.com is a website that promises a good game of online backgammon. The site claims that there will be no Java or browser issues when using this website. The connections to play backgammon at this site are fast and stable, featuring entertaining and impressive graphics. When there is an issue regarding play, 24-hour customer support is available live and online. When downloading the software, you should know that it accommodates a variety of different languages, including Portuguese, Danish, and Japanese.

When you are looking to play backgammon online against a wide-range of playing levels, the realistic 3D Back-gammon.com website offers a large network of players. These players hail from all across the world, and games are for fun, as well as for monetary prizes. The software takes less than 5 minutes to download, and then you can engage in exciting single, session, and multiplayer tournament games. At the end of every game, each player receives a ranking – and those interested should keep in mind that all of the games are timed. It is also free to enjoy this backgammon experience, even featuring the option of joining a league.

If you are looking for a Java applet that allows you to play backgammon online, you should look into Motif, – played using Netscape, or Internet Explorer web browsers. With Motif, you are strictly playing against the computer. Another website that requires the use of a Java-enabled browser is Yahoo Games, which allows visitors to play online backgammon against computer opponents, as well as against a variety of gaming members. It is free to play using Yahoo, but more advanced options, such as joining a league requires a subscription to premium services.

The list of Internet sites to choose from when you wish to play backgammon online is endless. A few others to consider include: Vinco Online Game (VOG); Games Grid; GameSite 2000, as well as HC-Gammon, which allows you to play against a computer opponent. When seeking out At the Crosswords, you will encounter a Shockwave variety of backgammon that allows visitors to play against the computer.



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For more information on backgammon and online gaming please visit our web site: www.net-planet.org

Online Backgammon Ranks Among the Most Popular Internet Games – by Gene Marshall

The chances of an ancient board game becoming one of the all time favorite hi-tech Internet games should in theory have been very remote, yet online backgammon has managed to become one of the most popular of Internet games. How could this have happened? To understand the success of internet backgammon we need to appreciate the nature of the game and the interests of today’s game players who have become such devoted backgammon online patrons.

The backgammon game is a game of skill and strategy, yet at the same time it is very easy to learn, as the many children who take up backgammon clearly indicate. The key objective of the contest, to be the first player in a position to “bear off” (or remove) from the board all their checkers is one that is instantly understood. The backgammon rules are easily learned, with even the youngest players quickly understanding how to move their checkers in response to the dice throws. The basics of backgammon strategy such as hitting the opponent’s blots (single checkers) and how to build primes (blockade opposing pieces) are also quickly mastered. When taken together with the high profile backgammon has enjoyed for so many years, we can see how it made an ideal candidate for translation into an online game.

The fun of playing this familiar game with fellow backgammon enthusiasts from around the world is without doubt one of the key factors behind the success of online backgammon, but there are many others. The convenience element is another major advantage. People value a game that they can play from the comfort of their own home or office, and that they can access at a time that fits in with their schedule. The free backgammon download brings a high-resolution 3-D backgammon game straight to your personal computer with no need to go out and buy the software. Even if you do not know how to play backgammon, the wealth of information available on these online sites, and great opportunities for free practice games against backgammon computers, soon put you in the picture.

The attractions of the winning you can make through backgammon gambling are without doubt another major factor in encouraging people to play backgammon online. Interest is aroused by the large number of backgammon tournaments the online sites host. These contests are often divided into different divisions with players allocated according to their skill and experience. The elimination system is common with players eliminated in each round until the remaining two struggle it out between them to win the championship and a substantial cash prize. Even the players eliminated have contests arranged for them and these can also yield significant prize money. The excitement as a tournament draws to a close, and the temptation of the high winnings, contribute a great deal to the game’s following. It is not hard to see how to play backgammon via the Internet has become such a favorite with people of all nationalities and age groups.



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The Backgammon Game Crosses All International Boundaries – an article by Gene Marshall

The backgammon game has enjoyed an international following for thousands of years. Children all over the world learn how to play backgammon at an early age, and games of backgammon can be found in schools, clubs and cafes across the globe. We may well wonder how a game that originated an estimated five thousand years ago has become such a world conqueror? Certainly the straightforward nature of the game’s objective – to be the first player in a position to remove (bear off) all their checkers from the board, and the easy to understand nature of the other backgammon rules, have been factors in its appeal since they ensure that players can learn to play backgammon faster than board games. Yet a game that is boring, even if it is easy to learn, is not going to become so popular. Therefore, the excitement backgammon generates and the demands for quick thinking it makes on participants are without doubt much more important factors in explaining its spread.

People brought up in the age of the internet and computers might come to the conclusion that Internet backgammon has been the prime factor in making the game into an international favorite. The fact is that backgammon was being taken from country to country thousand of years before backgammon online was ever dreamed about. The Romans played a significant role in carrying the game from the areas of Iran and Iraq where it originated to the many other lands that formed part of the Roman Empire. It is also interesting to note that backgammon gambling was also a very important feature of the game in this early stage of its history. The Roman version of backgammon was called “Tabula” and it was only played for money, with a number of famous Romans, including Emperor Claudius ranking among the enthusiastic players. It was not exactly the same as the game commonly played today. For example, Roman players needed to enter all their checkers to the board from square 1 and they had to be moved in an anti-clockwise direction. In addition, they threw three, instead of the two dice commonly used today, and up to three checkers could be moved according to the results of this throw.

As backgammon traveled from country to country, additional local variations of the game developed. For instance, Tavla, the Turkish version of backgammon shares much in common with the most commonly played backgammon game, but there is no doubling cube nor cup for throwing the dice – the dice are flicked against the wooden side of the Tavla board.

The unique contribution of online backgammon with its free backgammon software downloads has been to give access to broaden access to the game beyond what was possible in pre-Internet days. Although international backgammon competitions have been in existence for a number of years, the regularity and easy access to the tournaments offered online is a new development. Everyone who has a connection to the Internet can now download backgammon software and take part in international competitions.




The Author:

Internet backgammon professional Gene Marshall writes for several top backgammon web sites. The author contributes articles about online backgammon and recommended backgammon playing strategies. More works by Gene Marshall related to backgammon can be obtained on the net.

Choosing to Play Backgammon Online or Offline – an article by Gene Marshall

Today’s backgammon enthusiasts are presented with a wide variety of opportunities to play backgammon in a way that previous generations could never even have envisaged in their wildest dreams. For the thousands of years people have been playing backgammon, games have been commonly played in family homes, or in popular meeting places. Since most of the world’s population lived in the countryside or small villages, the likelihood was that the same players would compete against each other time after time. For players who were particularly skilled at the game, the lack of players of similar skills levels can only have served to detract from their interest in the game.

The move from the countryside to the cities, and the creation of backgammon clubs widened players’ horizons. Whether attracted by the prospects of winning at backgammon gambling or simply interested in the playing for enjoyment alone, in schools, work places and places of entertainment, people starting coming together much more to learn how to play backgammon and make new friends. This is still very much the case today. For example, it would be interesting to see what percentage of successful backgammon players learn the backgammon game at school.

Although the game has had its ups and downs in popularity in the course of its history, for instance, the introduction of the doubling cube in 1920’s America added to the appeal of backgammon as a casino game, the development of backgammon software over the last fifteen years has propelled backgammon into a new place of prominence on the international gaming scene. It seems that not only have traditional backgammon players been attracted to online backgammon but also a new generation of players are being drawn to the game. Although these players are not exclusively in the under thirty-age group, it seems a fair guess that backgammon online attracts primarily younger players. In part this can be accounted for by their greater familiarity with Internet technology, but there is also a youth culture of which the Internet has become an integral part.

Besides the factor of age, there are a number of other considerations at play in determining whether a person prefers to play with a traditional backgammon set or play with a virtual set online. For some players, there can be no substitute for a face-to-face game. Exchanging typed messages with the other players can never compete with genuine social contact. These players may well belong to a backgammon club they have been patronizing for years and feel content to keep their game at this level.

Many other players are drawn by the prospect of competing with players from around the world brought together by Internet gaming. They also enjoy the chance of testing out their skills against a backgammon computer. If they are primarily interested in gaming opportunities, the ability to play backgammon on the Internet is valued for the substantial prizes they think they have a chance of winning. Certainly the convenience factor must not be underrated, with the Internet offering games at a time and location that players find convenient.




The Author:

Supplementary readings and works that were written by Gene Marshall about online backgammon can be accessed on the internet. Online backgammon specialist Gene Marshall is commissioned by many renowned backgammon magazines. The writer focuses on writings about where to play backgammon and the backgammon game.

Backgammon Software Play and analysis

Backgammon has been studied considerably by computer scientists. Neural networks and other approaches have offered significant advances to software both for gameplay and analysis.The first strong computer opponent was BKG 9.8. It was written by Hans Berliner in the late 1970s on a DEC PDP-10 as an experiment in evaluating board positions. Early versions of BKG played badly even against poor players, but Berliner noticed that its critical mistakes were always at phase changes. He applied principles of fuzzy logic to smooth out the transition between phases, and by July 1979, BKG 9.8 was strong enough to play against the ruling world champion Luigi Villa. It won the match, 7-1, becoming the first computer program to defeat a world champion in any game. Berliner states that the victory was largely a matter of luck, as the computer received more favorable dice rolls.Berliner, Hans, et. al. "Backgammon program beats world champ", ACM SIGART Bulletin, Issue 69. January 1980. pp 6-9.

In the late 1980s, creators of backgammon software began to have more success with an approach based on neural networks. TD-Gammon, developed by Gerald Tesauro of IBM, was the first of these programs to play near the expert level. Its neural network was trained using temporal difference learning applied to data generated from self-play.Tesauro, Gerald. "Temporal difference learning and TD-Gammon", Communications of the ACM, 38:3. March 1995. pp 58-68. According to assessments by Bill Robertie and Kit Woolsey, TD-Gammon plays at or above the level of the top human players in the world.

This line of research has resulted in two modern commercial programs, Jellyfish and Snowie, as well as the shareware BGBlitz implemented in Java, and the free software GNU Backgammon. They also offer tools for analyzing games and offering detailed comparisons of individual moves. It is worth noting that without their associated "weights" tables, which represent hours or even months of tedious neural net training, these programs play no better than a human novice.

Internet play

Backgammon software has been developed not only to play and analyze games, but also to facilitate play between humans from different parts of the world over the internet. Dice rolls are provided by random or pseudorandom number generators. Real-time on-line play began with the First Internet Backgammon Server on July 19, 1992.Schneider, Andreas, et. al. "Brief history of FIBS", FIBS, the First Internet Backgammon Server. Retrieved on August 5, 2006. The server is the longest running non-commercial backgammon server and enjoys a strong international community of backgammon players. Several commercial websites also offer on-line real-time backgammon play. Yahoo! Games has offered a Java-based online backgammon game since 1997. MSN Games currently offers a backgammon game based on ActiveX. The online gambling industry began to expand its offerings to include backgammon in 2006.Lemke, Tim. "Odds favor Internet gambling — Lawmakers aim to rein in industry", The Washington Times. March 19, 2006. p. A1.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material adapted from the Wikipedia article "Backgammon".
[tags] backgammon, backgammon software, backgammon rules, backgammon game, play backgammon, internet backgammon[/tags]
 

What Backgammon Game is and a bit of Backgammon history. 

Backgammon is a board game for two players in which pieces are moved according to the roll of dice and the winner is the first to remove all his pieces from the board. Many variants have developed throughout the world, but most share the same common elements. It is a member of the tables family of games.

The game is essentially a race, and luck plays a measurable role, but Backgammon offers a significant scope for strategy. With each roll of the dice, a player must choose between numerous options for moving the checkers, and plan for possible counter-moves by his opponent. Opportunities for raising the stakes of the game introduce more strategic intricacies. Players have developed a vocabulary for common tactics and occurrences.

Like chess, Backgammon has been studied considerably by computer scientists. Research has resulted in Backgammon software that is capable of beating world-class human players.

Backgammon games hstory, sunk in 1628

The ancient Egyptians played a game called senet, which resembled Backgammon,Hayes, William C. "Egyptian Tomb Reliefs of the Old Kingdom", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series 4:7. March 1946. pp 170-178. with moves controlled by the roll of dice. The Royal Game of Ur, played in ancient Mesopotamia, is a more likely ancestor of modern tables games. Recent excavations at the "Burnt City" in Iran showed that a similar game existed there around 3000 BC. The artifacts include two dice and 60 pieces, and the set is believed to be 100 to 200 years older than the sets found in Ur. "Iran’s Burnt City Throws up World?s Oldest Backgammon." Persian Journal. December 4, 2004. Retrieved on August 5, 2006.

The ancient Romans played a number of games with remarkable similarities to Backgammon. Ludus duodecim scriptorum ("game of twelve lines") used a board with three rows of 12 points each, and the pieces were moved across all three rows according to the roll of dice. Not much specific text about the gameplay has survived.Austin, Roland G. "Roman Board Games. I", Greece & Rome 4:10, October 1934. pp. 24-34. Tabula, meaning "table" or "board", was a game mentioned in an epigram of Byzantine Emperor Zeno (AD 476?481). It was similar to modern Backgammon in that a board with 24 points was used, and the object of the game was to be the first to bear off all of one’s checkers. Three dice were used instead of two, and opposing checkers moved in opposite directions.Austin, Roland G. "Roman Board Games. II", Greece & Rome 4:11, February 1935. pp 76-82.Austin, Roland G. "Zeno’s Game of , The Journal of Hellenic Studies 54:2, 1934. pp 202-205.

In the 11th century Shahnameh, the Persian poet Ferdowsi credits Burzoe with the invention of the tables game nard in the 6th century. He describes an encounter between Burzoe and a Raja visiting from India. The Raja introduces the game of chess, and Burzoe demonstrates nard, played with dice made from ivory and teak.Wilkinson, Charles K. "Chessmen and Chess", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. New Series 1:9, May 1943. pp. 271-279

The jeux de tables, predecessors of modern Backgammon, first appeared in France during the 11th century and became a frequent pastime for gamblers. In 1254, Louis IX issued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing the games.Lillich, Meredith Parsons. "The Tric-Trac Window of Le Mans", The Art Bulletin 65:1, March 1983. pp. 23-33. Tables games were played in Germany in the 12th century, and had reached Iceland by the 13th century. While it is mostly known for its extensive discussion of chess, the Alfonso X manuscript Libro de los juegos, completed in 1283, describes rules for a number of dice and tables games.Wollesen, Jens T. "Sub specie ludi…: Text and Images in Alfonso El Sabio’s Libro de Acedrex, Dados e Tablas", Zeitschrift f?unstgeschichte 53:3, 1990. pp. 277-308. By the 17th century, tables games had spread to Sweden. A wooden board and checkers were recovered from the wreck of the Vasa among the belongings of the ship’s officers."Vasamuseet — The Swedish-Tables Association", The Vasa Museum. Retrieved on August 12, 2006.

In the 16th century, Elizabethan laws and church regulations had prohibited playing tables, but by the 18th century Backgammon was popular among the English clergy. Edmund Hoyle published A Short Treatise on the Game of Backgammon in 1743; this book described the rules of the game and was bound together with a similar text on whist.Allee, Sheila. "A Foregone Conclusion: Fore-Edge Books Are Unique Additions to Ransom Collection". Retrieved on August 8, 2006. The game described by Hoyle is, in most respects, the same as the game played today.

Backgammon Name

*In English, the word "Backgammon" is most likely derived from "back" and Middle English "gamen", meaning "game" or "play". The earliest use documented by the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1650."Backgammon", ”TheOxford English Dictionary”. Second Edition, 1989. Retrieved on August 5, 2006.

*In Arabic, the game is called tawilat el-nard or tawilat el-zahr meaning "board of dice".

*In Chinese, the game is called shuang lu meaning "double sixes".

*In Greek, it is referred to as portes and is played as one of the three games in a tavli match.

*In Hebrew, it is called shesh besh , derived from the Persian and Turkish for "six" and "five"Stahl, Avraham. Bilingual Etymological Dictionary of Spoken Israeli Arabic and Hebrew. 1995. Cited in "shesh", Balashon — Hebrew Language Detective. May 8, 2006. Retrieved on September 15, 2006.

*In Japanese, sugoroku refers to Backgammon as well as other racing games.

*In Persian, Backgammon is called takhte nard, meaning "battle on a wooden board".

*In Portuguese, Backgammon is called gam.

*In Turkish, the game is called tavla”.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material adapted from the Wikipedia article "Backgammon".
[tags] Backgammon, Backgammon game, Backgammon strategy, play Backgammon [/tags]