Backgammon
A modern backgammon set, consisting of a board, two sets of 15 checkers, two pairs of dice, and a doubling cube
Players	2
Age range	5+
Setup time	10–30 seconds
Playing time	5–30 minutes
Random chance	Medium (Dice)
Skills required	Strategy, Probability

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.

• This page was last modified 17:46, 21 December 2006.
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