backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games in the world. It is a mixture of strategy and gambling . The player who is the first to remove all of his own stones from the playing field wins.
history
Antiquity
The ancient Greeks traced the invention of the dice board game back to Palamedes , who is said to have helped the soldiers encamped in front of Troy to pass the time. Thus the myth places the origin of the game in the time of the Trojan War , i. H. in the 12th century BC Chr.
Board games and dice board games were known in the Orient for a long time before that : In “ Schahr-e Suchte ”, an archaeological site in the Iranian province of Sistan and Balochistan , a game board that is over 5000 years old was found, which was discovered in the 1920s the British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley in the city of Ur a younger game board ( Royal Game of Ur ).
Other game boards were found in Egypt in the tomb of Tutenchamun , which were made around 1300 BC. Many tomb paintings testify to the popularity of the board game among all strata of the people.
However, it would be a mistake to describe these ancient oriental board games, such as the Egyptian Senet, as early forms of backgammon, or even backgammon as a 4,000 year old game, since the rules that are given for these games are only reconstructions, and the authors these rules have used typical elements of modern dice board games in the reconstruction.
However, if one does not want to see every dice board game as a variant of backgammon, then the theory of the oriental origin of the game cannot be upheld. The first close relative of modern backgammon can be found in the Roman Duodecim Scripta or Ludus duodecim scriptorum (German for example: twelve-line game). Emperor Claudius was an avid gamer and wrote a book about this game that has unfortunately been lost. In Pompeii a two-part mural was discovered: in the first image you can see two Romans be discussed at play, in the second picture the owner of the hostel who throws the two violently from his house.
The Romans played with three instead of two dice ; The game board was strikingly similar to the modern backgammon board, you only need to replace the twelve pairs of opposing spikes with twelve lines. However, you had to go through the route marked by the twelve lines with the stones three times and not just twice.
The Romans used the names Alea (cube), Tabula (game board, board) or Tabulae . With the Romans, the game spread throughout the Roman Empire .
middle Ages
In the early Middle Ages, the game was forgotten in Western Europe until it was rediscovered at the latest by the time of the Crusades . In the Book of Games by King Alfonso X of Castile , several forerunners of backgammon are described in detail. At first it was a popular pastime of the aristocrats, but gradually it also became popular among the population.
Parts of a 12th century Tric-Trac board were found in Saint-Denis (France). The playing fields and edge pieces made of bones were embedded in a wooden board as inlays. In Freiburg im Breisgau , a completely preserved game board with game pieces came to light in the latrine of the Augustinian Hermit Monastery . The folding board comes from the 13th / 14th centuries. Century. The frame and board are made of hardwood, the playing fields are inlays made of dark precious wood.
Nowhere in the western world was backgammon played so early and so intensely as in England. According to oral tradition, Richard the Lionheart , because of his soldiers' passion for gambling, issued an ordinance that no one who was less than a knight was allowed to throw the dice for money. In the Middle Ages the game was called Wurfzabel in German and differed only slightly from today's backgammon.
Modern times
During the Thirty Years War and afterwards, backgammon experienced a period of great popularity again throughout Europe, from this era the French and German variants or names Tric Trac and Puff come. In English the game was called tables based on the Latin name until the 17th century . The name backgammon was first mentioned in literature in 1650. It is made up of the words back and gammon (an obsolete form of the noun game = game) and stems from the fact that stones that have been captured must be rolled back into the game. The English game expert Edmond Hoyle wrote a brochure in 1743 in which he described and de facto laid down the rules.
20th century
Unification of the rules
The last decisive change was the introduction of the doubling cube. In the 1920s, doubling was invented in a New York gaming club.
The rules of modern backgammon come from the Card and Backgammon Committee of the New York Racquet and Tennis Club in 1931 and were slightly modified in 1970.
The backgammon boom
The first major boom in modern backgammon came when Prince Alexis Obolensky hosted the first major international backgammon tournament in the Bahamas in 1964. From then on this tournament was organized annually: All backgammon greats at the time such as John R. Crawford , Oswald Jacoby , Walter Cooke and others. a. could perpetuate themselves in the winner lists.
Backgammon was often the game of the aristocracy and upper classes in the past, but well-known personalities such as Christina Onassis , Hugh Hefner , Jimmy Connors , Gunter Sachs etc. as well as media reports in newspapers and magazines made a significant contribution to the popularization of backgammon. The intensive occupation also accelerated the development of the theory into a game; first analytical books were written.
The first backgammon world championship was held in Las Vegas in 1967, the first backgammon world champion was Tim Holland. From 1975 to 1978 the Backgammon World Championships were held in the Bahamas, since 1979 they have been held in Monte Carlo.
After the boom of the 1960s, which continued into the 1980s, backgammon is enjoying a significant increase in popularity thanks to the possibilities offered by computer backgammon and playing on the Internet.
Rules of the game
Structure of the game
The game board consists of 24 triangles, called points or tongues , of which 12 are on one side. Between the 6th and 7th point on each side, the points are divided by the so-called bar into the home and outer board or home field and outer field. Is played z. B. with 15 white and 15 black stones, the list of which is fixed. On the first point (i.e. in the picture for white on the bottom right, for black on the top right) there are two stones, on the 12th point in the direction of play (bottom left for white and top left for black) there are five, then on the 17th point three pieces and on the 19th point again five pieces each (thus top right of the bar for white and bottom right of the bar for black).
Apart from the placement of the stones, this is only one example. Neither the colors of the stones, nor the direction of move, nor the position of the home field are given. So the home field for white z. B. are also at the top left or bottom right, so that white would then play to the left. If there is no agreement on this, these rules are rolled out. The positioning of the opponent is always a result of this: where one starts, the other can throw the dice.
Two six-sided dice are rolled .
In tournament games, the Doppler cube lies on the bar .
Goal of the game
Whoever brought all of his game pieces to the home board can then throw them out . The game is won when the opponent gives up or when there are no more stones left on the board. In tournament games and when stakes are played, the game is won early if the opponent does not agree to a doubling of the stake and thus gives up.
Game start and course of the game
On the first roll, each player uses only one die. The player who rolled the higher number goes first. He may advance his stones by his own number and by that of the opponent. After the opening roll, both players take turns rolling two dice each.
Each player places his stones according to the numbers rolled. The numbers are not added together, but set individually. However, both numbers can be set with the same stone. Which number is placed first is up to the player (if it is a valid move).
The pieces are drawn from the opponent's home field over the outer field to your own home field. The stones can only be placed on spaces that are still open, i.e. H. on which there is no more than one opposing piece. Fields that are already occupied by two or more opposing stones cannot be used by your own stones.
If possible, you must bet that both numbers are used. If this is not possible, the higher number must be used if possible. If neither of the two numbers can be used, the player skips this move.
Double
If you roll a Pasch , that is two identical numbers (eg. B. 6 and 6), the roll will be drawn twice. In this example four times the 6.
Beat
If a token is moved to a field that is occupied by a single opponent's stone, this is captured. This also happens if you only make a “stopover” in this field, i. H. sets both numbers with one stone. Captured stones are placed in the center of the playing field on the bar. The owner of this stone is only allowed to move other stones when he has brought all his stones back into play from the bar.
Bring captured stones back into play
The player throws the die as in a normal turn, but places his stones in the opponent's home field according to the number of pips. Has the player z. For example, if a 3 and a 5 are rolled, he must place a stone on the 3rd or 5th field. You count in your own direction of play. If no stone can be placed, the whole throw is forfeited and it is the opponent's turn. If several stones have been captured, they must all be put back into play before the player can move again.
roll the dice
The dice must both lie flat on the board. If a die is tipped or landed on a stone, both dice are rerolled. It is only when one player has picked up his dice after placing the dice that it is the other player's turn to roll the dice (or double). The use of dice cups is mandatory for tournaments .
Dice
If all 15 pieces are in the home field, you can start rolling the dice. The stones are removed from the home field when they can move over the last field of their own home field into the "zero" field. If a stone cannot be played directly with a throw, the throw must be drawn in one's own home field. If the throw cannot be drawn because there are only stones on lower squares, the highest stone is played. Example: When rolling the dice, the player rolls a 2 and a 4. There are still stones on space 2, but not on space 4. If there is now a stone on space 5 or 6, it must be placed regularly. If, on the other hand, fields 5 and 6 are also empty, a stone is removed from the next smaller occupied field instead of the four. The winner is the player who threw out all the stones first.
The following is also possible when throwing the dice: B. on the field 6 a single stone, the player can, if he has rolled 6 and 1, remove this stone with the 6 and then move the one with another. However, he can also move first with the one from field 6 to field 5, and then remove this stone from field 5 with the 6.
However, it is not valid to “split” the eyes that are rolled. The player must use the respective eyes, e.g. B: The player rolls a 3 and a 5. In this case it is not possible to draw 6 points with one stone and 2 points with the other stone. You have to draw a 5 with one and a 3 with the other.
Inadmissible moves
If a player makes a move that the rules do not allow , the opponent may, but does not have to, request that a legal move be made . If it is z. B. gives a better and more legal move, he therefore does not need to request a correction.
However, as soon as the opponent of the player who made the illegal move has rolled, the illegal move is approved and no further correction can be requested.
Profit levels
Simple game - Single game
If a player has removed all stones and the opponent has already thrown at least one stone of his own at this point, it simply loses .
Double game - gammon
If the opponent has not yet thrown a stone, the game is rated twice . This situation is called a gammon .
Triple game - backgammon
In the event that the opponent has not yet thrown a stone and there is also at least one of the opponent's stones on the winner's home board or on the bar, the game counts three times . This level of profit is called backgammon .
In some Mediterranean countries, a backgammon is only rated like a gammon, i.e. twice.
Doppler cube
Especially in backgammon competitions, a special dice is used, but it is not used. This cube is called the Doppler cube and is labeled with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. If one of the players gains the impression during the game that he will win the game, he can offer the opponent the doubling cube. If the opponent rejects the offer, the game will be counted as lost. If the opponent accepts the offer, however, he receives the doubling cube with the number 2 on top as an indication that the result of the game will be doubled. If this player comes to the opinion in the further course of the game that he will win the game, he in turn can offer the opponent the doubling cube. The cube is then turned so that the next higher power of two is visible.
The player who owns the doubling cube is allowed to double up before the actual roll of the dice with the two 6s. This throw may only be made when the opponent has accepted. If it has not yet been doubled, both players have the option of offering their opponent a double. If a doubling is rejected or the game ends by removing all stones, it counts with the value of the doubling cube reached up to that point, whereby the rejected doubling does not count. The value is multiplied by two or three in the case of a gammon or backgammon.
The doubling cube goes up to 64, but according to the rules further doubling is possible, but is extremely rare among top players. Even doubling up to 16 is rare. In a match up to a certain number of points (usually an odd number), further doubling is pointless above a certain value, because then the player who wins this game wins the whole match, regardless of how often the doubling is further.
The Doppler cube is mainly used to bring games to a conclusion more quickly if the outcome is predictable. Experienced players can use the position of the game to better see whether they can take the risk of doubling up or whether they are better off giving up if the opponent doubles up. In a match, the decision also depends on the score. The player behind will be more aggressive in doubling down and taking, while the leader will be more cautious.
As a rule of thumb: If you still have more than approx. 25% chance of winning, a doubling offer should be accepted ( take ); if the chances are lower, it is better to give up ( pass ).
If the player who has the advantage has a good chance of winning a gammon or even backgammon, it may be advantageous not to double down to get a bigger win. If you were to double up in such a situation, your opponent could refuse and you would only get the single bet as a win. With regard to doubling, see also Contra .
Special rules
Tournament game (match play)
Backgammon tournaments are mostly played according to the knockout system . In each round, two players play a match for a certain number of points (e.g. 11 points).
The winner of the match is the player who first reaches or exceeds the given number of points. The difference in points is insignificant; it makes no difference whether a match with z. B. 11:10 is only just won or 12: 0 (for example by doubling backgammon twice). The winner of the match reaches the next round, the loser is eliminated or continues to play in a consolation round .
This form of tournament has a great influence on the game strategy, so that one speaks of match play (as opposed to money play ). The question of how a certain move should be placed, or the decisions regarding doubling, accepting or rejecting a doubling, in tournament play not only depend on the position on the board, but in particular also on the status of the match.
In backgammon tournaments, bets are also made ; the predominant type of bet is the Calcutta auction .
To ensure that the dice numbers have the same probabilities, only so-called precision dice are used in tournaments .
Crawford rule
Crawford's rule applies in tournament play. If a player is one point before winning the match (if he has just achieved 10 points in an 11-point match), doubling is not allowed in the next game. The doubling cube can be used again in the following games. Crawford's rule is common in tournament play.
Without this rule, the player whose opponent is only one point short of winning the match would "automatically" double because he has nothing to lose, but possibly something to gain. However, if doubling were to be forbidden completely after a player had one point before the victory, it would again be unfair to those who were behind, because the leader had fought for his lead with the possibility of doubling, and so it would be unfair to those who were behind Try to catch up on this remedy to fail.
The Crawford rule is therefore a tried and tested, practical compromise.
This rule comes from John R. Crawford , who at some world championships always had the bad luck of only being runner-up.
Jacoby rule
The Jacoby rule is named after Oswald Jacoby . It says that winning a gammon or backgammon only counts if it has already been doubled. The aim is to speed up the game. However, this rule requires prior agreement; the Jacoby rule is expressly excluded from tournament play.
Beaver
According to this rule, which is also not common in tournament play, a player who has been offered the doubling can turn the cube one step higher when accepting it, so that the total game value is quadrupled. He has three options: give up (game counts with the previous game value), accept (game value is doubled) or "beaver" (game value is quadrupled). In addition, the racoon rule is sometimes used: if one player beaverts, the other who offered the double can double the value again, to a total of eight times the previous value.
Automatic double
If the players roll the same number at the beginning of the game when they roll the right of the first move, then the game value is doubled.
Rejecting the opening roll - California Rule
This rule states that any player can reject his opening roll. To do this, the Doppler cube is turned one step higher. This rule, like the automatic double, is considered dubious, since both only serve to increase the stakes.
Chouette
Chouette is a game variant for three or more participants. At the beginning the players determine a sequence by throwing a die; the player with the highest number becomes the man in the box ; the second highest captain , the next first adviser , etc.
Now the man in the box (declarer) plays against the captain and his team. If he wins, he may continue to play in the box, the first adviser becomes captain, the other members of the team move up one rank and the captain moves to the bottom of the team.
If, however, the captain wins, the defeated man in the box has to queue at the end of the team, the victorious captain becomes the new man in the box, the first adviser becomes the captain, the other members of the team move up one rank.
If the captain rejects a double in the box, he is immediately placed at the end of the team and the highest ranking player who accepts the double continues the game as the new captain. If he wins, he becomes the new man in the box; if he loses, the order remains unchanged - the player who started the game as captain is already in the last position.
If the man in the box offers a double, the players decide for themselves whether they want to accept the double or not; Acceptance or rejection of a double in the box has no effect on the ranking of the players - with the exception of the captain (see above).
So much for the basic rules of chouette. In addition, there is an abundance of very different regulations of individual clubs, e.g. B. can be played with only one doubling cube ( single cube chouette ) or each member of the team can have their own doubling cube ( multi cube chouette ).
Chouette generally refers to a method of how a two-person game can be played with three, four, etc. This principle can also be found in a modified form in écarté (see there), piquet , gin rummy , craps , baccarat , etc. . a.
notation
The moves are noted in such a way that each player is counted backwards. Field 24 of one player is therefore field 1 of the other, field 23 is field 2, field 22 is field 3, etc. A stone on the bar is noted as "bar" or field 25, stones removed are marked with "off" or field 0 marked. Hitting an opponent's stone is marked with a "*". If two or more stones are moved together in a double, their number is written after them in brackets.
More games on the backgammon board
In addition to the internationally widespread and standardized backgammon, there are also other games on the same board. These can also be called backgammon variations. Tavli ( τάβλι ) is very common in Greece . You play it in three variations. The game variant (backgammon) described above is slightly modified and is called Portes ( πόρτες ), in English "doors". The Plakoto ( πλακωτό ) and Fewga ( φεύγα ) variants are also very popular . In Turkey, where the game is also extremely popular, it is called Tavla . It is also popular in Bulgaria and is called tabla ( Табла ) there. The Persian name is Tacht-e Nard ( تخت نرد"Nardbrett"), Nard or in short also Tachte (= board).
Other variants are
- Acey Deucey (United States)
- Gioul (Turkey)
- Izmir Tavla (Turkey)
- Kotra (Iceland)
- Moultezim (Turkey)
- Sugoroku (Japan)
- Tabla / Tavla / Perzijska tabla (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Tabla (Bulgaria)
- Table (Romania)
- Tavla (Turkey)
- Tavli (Greece)
- Toccadille (Italy, Spain, France)
- Tric Trac (France)
-
Wurfzabel or Puff (Germany) in the forms
- Contrary wire or short pouf
- Langzabel or long puff (this variant is known as Brettle in the Black Forest )
Plakoto
In the Plakoto ( Greek πλακοτό depressed ) all stones are placed on position 1 of the home field. The aim is to bring the stones into the opponent's home field and to throw them out there. Hitting is not possible. However, individual opposing stones can be blocked by one or more of your own stones remaining on the opposing stone's space. Such a stone cannot be moved until the last blocking stone is moved on.
Fewga / Nardi / Langbackgammon
In Greece , Ukraine , the Caucasus , especially in Armenia , Georgia , Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan , backgammon is played as Nardi or long backgammon. In the nineties, Nardi was also very popular in Russia . All of the player's stones are placed diagonally on their last point (24) as the starting position and are played counterclockwise. The first stone draws the eyes of both dice. If a stone of the opponent has not yet crossed a 6-square, one square must be left for him. The stones cannot hit. If there is even one stone in the field, it is blocked. Otherwise, the dice are thrown out as usual.
Nack gammon
At the beginning there are two stones on field 23, but only four on fields 13 and 6. All other rules are the same as in normal backgammon. This variant is named after its inventor Nack Ballard.
Hyper backgammon
This variant, also known for short as Hypergammon , is popular on many web servers. Each player only has three stones, which are set up at the beginning on the first three fields from the perspective of the respective player. The other rules are the same.
Hit backwards
Another modern variation by David Pilz and Lutz Wening is that you can hit backwards. All other rules of classic backgammon remain in effect. A variant by René Schwab allows backwards hitting only with the smaller of the rolled numbers, which should avoid protracted blockages.
Computer backgammon
For a long time, backgammon programs did not get beyond a mediocre level in terms of their skill level. It was not until the late 1980s that Gerald Tesauro succeeded in developing TD-Gammon, a program that was roughly on a par with human experts. This was made possible with so-called neural networks that learned backgammon by playing hundreds of thousands of games against themselves and adjusting their weights using a technique called TD (Lambda).
A little later there was a first commercial program called JellyFish that used these techniques. JellyFish has not been further developed since approx. 1998. With the "3.5 light" version, a free version is also available.
The currently strongest programs are the free software from GNU called GNU Backgammon (GNUbg), the commercial programs "Snowie 4" and "eXtreme Gammon" and the shareware BGBlitz written in Java. According to Bill Robertie (two-time backgammon world champion ) and top player Neil Kazaross, their level is above that of the best human players. This software made it possible to examine complex positions and thus expand the backgammon theory.
Mathematical Analysis
From the point of view of mathematical game theory , backgammon is a two-person zero-sum game with perfect information . Each position therefore has a clearly defined value, which is the expected value of White's profit if the game is free on both sides - in backgammon this expected value is called equity . For positions very late in the finals, these values can be specifically calculated. Backgammon programs use methods for approximate estimation of the position values.
A game can theoretically last infinitely long, but only with probability 0 , as Curt McMullen proved in 1994: For every possible strategy of the two players (even if they should work together to delay the end of the game), the greater the number of moves, the probability that that the game is over after a maximum of moves, aims at 1 .
See also
literature
- Enno Heyken and Martin Fischer: The Backgammon Handbook. 1st edition. Falken-Verlag, Niedernhausen 1996, ISBN 3-8068-4422-4 .
- Enno Heyken and Martin Fischer: Backgammon for beginners. 1st edition. Falken-Verlag, Niedernhausen 1996, ISBN 3-8068-1690-5 .
- Enno Heyken and Martin Fischer: Backgammon for advanced players. 1st edition. Falken-Verlag, Niedernhausen 1997, ISBN 3-8068-1926-2 .
- Paul Magriel: Backgammon. 3. Edition. Clock & Rose Press, Harwich Port 2004, ISBN 1-59386-027-7 .
- Bill Robertie: Backgammon for Winners. 3. Edition. Cardoza Publishing, New York 2002, ISBN 1-58042-043-5 .
- Bill Robertie: Advanced Backgammon Vol. I (Positional Play). 2nd Edition. Gammon Press 2000, ISBN 1-880604-11-6 .
- Bill Robertie: Advanced Backgammon Vol. II (Technical Play). 2nd Edition. Gammon Press 2000, ISBN 1-880604-12-4 .
- Bill Robertie: 501 Essential Backgammon Problems. 3. Edition. Cardoza Publishing, New York 2004, ISBN 1-58042-138-5 .
- Walter Trice: Backgammon Boot Camp. 1st edition. Fortuitous Press, San Francisco 2004, ISBN 0-943292-32-8 .
- Oswald Jacoby and John Crawford: The Backgammon Book. 1st edition. The Viking Press, New York 1970, ISBN 0-553-22559-6 .
Web links
- World Backgammon Association
- European Backgammon Internet Federation
- German Backgammon Association
- Backgammon positions and problems (English)
- BGBlitz widely used backgammon shareware
Individual evidence
- ^ Hugo Kastner: Backgammon: History - Rules - Strategies. Verlag Schlütersche, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89994-189-0 , p. 13.
- ↑ Erwin Glonnegger : The game book. Hugendubel 1988, ISBN 3-88034-357-8 , pp. 26-37.
- ^ Oswald Jacoby , John R. Crawford , The Backgammon Book , The Viking Press, New York, 1970, p 51f.
- ^ Backgammon 1970 Rules . bkgm.com. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ↑ The backgammon world champions since 1967.
- ^ Hugo Kastner: Backgammon: History, Rules, Strategies. Verlag Schlütersche, 2nd edition 2011, ISBN 978-3-86910-186-6 , p. 231.
- ↑ JellyFish ( Memento of the original from August 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ GNU Backgammon
- ↑ Snowie
- ^ EXtreme Gammon
- ↑ http://www.hardyhuebener.de/software.html
- ↑ Jörg Bewersdorff : Luck, Logic and Bluff: Mathematics in Play - Methods, Results and Limits , Vieweg + Teubner Verlag, 5th edition 2010, ISBN 3-8348-0775-3 , doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-8348-9696 -4 , pp. 223-236
- ↑ Backgammon Ends (Douglas Zare)
