Learn Backgammon: Step by step

Backgammon is a fairly complex game and most people are overawed by it and hence stay away. The key is to learn backgammon step by step rather than wanting to become a master overnight. The first step is to learn backgammon terminology because without understanding the backgammon language neither the rules nor the strategies will make sense. The objective of backgammon is to bear in ones checkers and then to bear them off. To bear in is to move the checkers to the inner board and to bear off is to remove them from the board.

In order to understand backgammon you must next become acquainted with the board and accessories and learn how to set up the board. The doubling cube plays a crucial role. It indicates the level of the stakes and also whose turn it is to double. Then you have to learn backgammon rules and strategies. There are many websites where these are explained. You should first become familiar with the rules. Learning strategy will be an ongoing process later on.

You can only understand backgammon by playing and that to with better players. Expert players to not like to play with novices, so finding better players used to be a problem. However today many computer programs are available for free and many can be downloaded and installed on your computer. The best thing about these programs is that they are graded in levels of difficulty based on how many moves ahead are considered by the program. Hence you can begin to learn backgammon by playing at the simpler levels and then progress to the more difficult ones. After you pick up backgammon you can log onto one of the hundreds of sites on the Internet and start playing.