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Backgammon can be mastered by studying the various strategies involved in the game. The most popular games and strategies are discussed below.

Running Game
The objective of the running game is to move all the checkers a.k.a men into a player’s home board and bear them off the board. The player has to basically move around the board as fast as he can, just like running a race. Once a player has moved the men into his board (home) he can start bearing off. A running game can be started when the player has lesser number of men compared to his opponent. Running game involves getting a checker back to the bar, which means, to accomplish that, the player has to move the checkers to points he controls. The idea of initiating a running game is suicidal if the opponent has got lesser number of checkers in his side. Poor strategy, high risk and little chances of success it calls for.

Holding Game
Even though more of a style of playing backgammon rather than a strategy, the holding Game strategy is extremely useful to any player, especially when the player is trailing in the pipcount race. This strategy is based on the ideal of keeping a point in your control that is located highly in your opponent’s board, usually a point in his inner board or the bar point. This offers the player a positional advantage over his opponent. The best holding game anchors are the 20 point or the bar points because you can hit your opponent with maximum probability as he brings his checkers closer to home, while points further back aren’t that useful. Very important is also the ability to understand the exact times to offer the doubling cube and to accept or drop a double when playing or defending a holding game. The distribution if the opponent’s checkers is also another key element that must be taken into consideration. If he has only the 8 and 13 points made (as in the starting position), he will have to leave a shot as he brings his checkers around. If he has made additional points in his outer board, your hitting chances come down greatly.

Priming Game
This strategy involves the use of prime numbers. It is similar to a holding game and encourages you to build on primes. In this way you tend to block the opponent’s pieces from moving forward. If you are able to maintain the prime number then the piece will remain blocked. You should ideally have six points in one row. These pieces will be trapped under the prime number. This will make your opponent struggle to move about freely. The ultimate challenge is when the opponent to starts piling up his set of primes. Sometimes you both just might be hanging mid way in the game and eventually end up in a draw.

This game is one that has multiple strategies. The first is the most common one that is followed. It is easier to comprehend than the rest of the strategies. So go for it!

The game of Backgammon relates back to the Mesopotamian Empire and Persian Empire (present Iraq, Iran, and Syria). It is known to be one of the oldest games to be recorded. It was one of the first board games to be created.
This game was originally played on wooden surfaces. Stone markers were used. The dies were made of bones, wood or stone. It was popular among the people of Egypt, Greece and Rome. This game was popular among the elite classes of the ancient society.
But no one knew of such a game until artifacts were found. The remains were found in the tomb of Chaldees. A few dies and boards were excavated along with his tomb. The rules of the game were also found written on a tablet.

There was such evidence in Rome too. The ancient Romans used to play a game called, “Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum”, also known as the “game of twelve lines”. It consisted of leather boards and a set of markers made of ivory or ebony. This game later spread to Britain.

This game spread to that area because of Roman conquest. There, it was referred to as “tabula”. But the game never really survived. It was modified so much that a new kind of game evolved. This was played regularly by the Emperor Claudius. Later he wrote about the game, but the records didn’t seem to survive and were never found. His carriage always had a tabula board and dice so he could entertain himself during travel. This was the game that started the whole mania of gambling. This spread to Rome and was soon declared an illegal practice. There was also a fine imposed on those who gambled. It was four times what the gamblers earned in a game.

Later this moved on to becoming an art that only a few had mastered. The game rules were modified and it soon came to be called “backgammon”. This game spread like wild fire through out the world. Later, ethical rules came to be related to this game and it was played by quite a lot of people.

This game is Backgammon is now played in different parts of the world. And at each place there are a few variations, which one who is not too accustomed to the game would have to learn. The western version is very unique and is considered to be more challenging for players. The eastern version is similar to the game as when it was first started. This game used to be very popular among royalty in the olden days. It was considered an elite game, played only by the most respectable community. But who would have known that this game would go on to becoming so popular! It has now moved on to attract almost any one and everyone! This game is very easy to grasp and like any game of gamble, extremely addictive. It is an entertainer and is definitely worth taking a shot at.