Backgammon Game Variants

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Backgammon Game Variants

Backgammon is a board game, a member of the family of skill games, along with chess and bridge. The backgammon game is played by two players; the goal of each player is to move their checkers around the board in opposite directions and to remove all of their checkers from the board as fast as they can. The first player to remove all his checkers wins the game. Therefore, backgammon is considered essentially a race.
The backgammon game variants combine both skill and luck in changing amounts. For example, the popular Acey-deucey puts a bigger emphasize on luck, while Nackgammon is an especially challenging variant of backgammon, where the skill factor has a heavier significance then the random roll of the dice.

Acey-deucey
A variant of backgammon, in which the players begin with no checkers on the board and must bear them on at the beginning of the game and then to bear them off. The “acey-deucey” roll (1-2) allows the player to select doubles of his own choice and play them, after playing the 1-2 roll. In addition to the roll of 1-2 and the selected doubles, the player is awarded with an extra turn.

For additional information, read about the history and rules of American Acey Deucey

Hypergammon
In this variant the backgammon rules state that each player has only three checkers on the board. In the starting position, the checkers are placed on each player’s 1, 2, and 3 points and from there the game runs like standard backgammon; the players are moving the checkers around the board, hitting, entering, doubling and eventually bear off. In this backgammon game, there are significantly less options in every move and luck plays a much larger role than in other backgammon games.

LongGammon
This backgammon variant is very similar to the standard backgammon game. The only exception is that in the initial setup, each player’s 15 checkers are placed on the other player’s 1 point.

TriGammon
A modern backgammon variant for 3 players. The rules are identical to the classic backgammon rules, but the tactics and strategies must be modified to suit confrontation with two opponents.

* Image source: http://sethares.engr.wisc.edu/games/trigammon.html

QuadGammon
QuadGammon is a backgammon version designed for 4 participants. Backgammon rules, set up and objective are similar to the standard classic ones. The game itself may be a little bit more challenging, since each player must face 3 opponents at the same time.

* Image source: http://sethares.engr.wisc.edu/games/quadgammon.html