page_title: Backgammon
section_title: Variants
hierarchical_section_title: Backgammon / Rules / Variants
caption_attribution_description: The game of todas tablas from the Libro de los juegos. Folio 78 recto.
context_page_description: Backgammon is one of the oldest known board games. Its history can be traced back nearly 5,000 years to archaeological discoveries in Mesopotamia. It is a two-player game where each player has fifteen pieces that move between twenty-four triangles according to the roll of two dice. The objective of the game is to be first to bear off, i.e. move all fifteen checkers off the board. Backgammon is a member of the tables family, one of the oldest classes of board games.
  Backgammon involves a combination of strategy and luck. While the dice may determine the outcome of a single game, the better player will accumulate the better record over series of many games. With each roll of the dice, players must choose from numerous options for moving their checkers and anticipate possible counter-moves by the opponent. The optional use of a doubling cube allows players to raise the stakes during the game.
  Like chess, backgammon has been studied with great interest by computer scientists. Owing to this research, backgammon software has been developed that is capable of beating world-class human players.
context_section_description: There are many variants of standard backgammon rules. Some are played primarily throughout one geographic region, and others add new tactical elements to the game. Variants commonly alter the starting position, restrict certain moves, or assign special value to certain dice rolls, but in some geographic regions even the rules and directions of the checkers' movement change, rendering the game fundamentally different.
  Acey-deucey is a variant of backgammon in which players start with no checkers on the board, and must bear them on at the beginning of the game. The roll of 1-2 is given special consideration, allowing the player, after moving the 1 and the 2, to select any desired doubles move. A player also receives an extra turn after a roll of 1-2 or of doubles.
  Hypergammon is a variant of backgammon in which players have only three checkers on the board, starting with one each on the 24-, 23- and 22-points. The game has been strongly solved, meaning that exact equities are available for all 32 million possible positions.
  Nard is a traditional variant from Persia in which basic rules are almost the same except that even a single piece is 'safe'. All 15 pieces start on the 24th wedge.
  Nackgammon is a variant of backgammon invented by Nick "Nack" Ballard in which players start with one less checker on the 6-point and midpoint and two checkers on the 23-point.
  Russian backgammon is a variant described in 1895 as: "...much in vogue in Russia, Germany, and other parts of the Continent...". Players start with no checkers on the board, and both players move in the same direction to bear off in a common home board. In this variant, doubles are more powerful: four moves are played as in standard backgammon, followed by four moves according to the difference of the dice value from 7, and then the player has another turn (with the caveat that the turn ends if any portion of it cannot be completed).
  Gul Bara and Tapa are also variants of the game popular in southeastern Europe and Turkey. The play will iterate among Backgammon, Gul Bara, and Tapa until one of the players reaches a score of 7 or 5.
  Coan ki is an ancient Chinese board game that is very similar.
  Plakoto, Fevga and Portes are three versions of backgammon played in Greece. Together, the three are referred to as Tavli.
  Misere (Backgammon to Lose) is a variant of backgammon in which the objective is to lose the game.
  Tavla is a Turkish variation.
  Other minor variants to the standard game are common among casual players in certain regions. For instance, only allowing a maximum of five checkers on any point (Britain) or disallowing "hit-and-run" in the home board (Middle East).
caption: Todas tablas from the Libro de los juegos
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