Forum Archive :
Variations
Back in the days when I lived in NYC, I learned that there were any
number of games that could be played on the backgammon board. It's
just that in the US, the only games we generally play are backgammon,
and sometimes acey-duecy. So, we miss out on all of the other games.
Also, the rules vary. I have played bg with folks from Greece and
Iran, and I know the rules are different in those countries. For
example, in Iran 'pick and pass' plays within your home board are
banned. I think they stone you to death if you do that.
The rules for acey-duecy tend to vary even more. I used to play
acey-duecy with a friend in NYC during lunch. I also played against
an ex-Marine on a boat in Texas a few times on a visit, and the rules
were noticably different. I just can't remember the differences.
The international version of backgammon is the New York variant.
Based on the very early backgammon books, I get the impression that
the doubling cube was introduced in the NY Racquet club (now part of
the NY Health and Racquet Club) circa 1925. By the late 1960's, even
the world backgammon championships didn't use the cube for all levels
of play. Of course, starting in the 70's the game was revolutionized
by a group of players that used to hang out in the Mayfair, who have
sinced moved on to the Coterie. (Of course there was a West Coast
contingent as well. I don't want to offend the many excellent players
in CA, etc. ).
I have also heard from a well known Greek-American player that the
Greek backgammon players are not as good as they think they are. I
don't know if this is true of Turks or not. (and no, this
Greek-American player doesn't owe me any money).
In other words, international backgammon, aka New York backgammon, is
just one variety of the game. I prefer it, because of the
complexities introduced by the doubling cube, but that is just my
taste.
-Bob Lancaster
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Tyger writes:
The "New York Racquet Club" is in fact the very private Racquet and
Tennis Club, incorporated in 1890. It is, of course, still in existence,
but definitely NOT as part of the NY Health and Racquet Club chain.
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Variations
- Acey-deucy (J. Nagel, Dec 2004)
- Acey-deucy (Steve Ewert, June 1998)
- Acey-deucy (Lee+, Jan 1997)
- Acey-deucy (John David Galt+, Dec 1995)
- Acey-deucy (James Eibisch, Apr 1995)
- Backwards play (Colin Bell+, Feb 1996)
- Bad advice (Jason Lee+, Mar 2004)
- Best-of-n variant of match play (Tim Chow+, Feb 2009)
- Bluff Cube (Timothy Chow+, Dec 2012)
- BluffGammon (Christian Munk-Christensen, June 2009)
- Cancelgammon (Ilia Guzei+, Mar 2004)
- Domino backgammon (Laury Chizlett, Sept 1999)
- Duodecagammon (David Moeser, Dec 2000)
- Duplicate backgammon (Dean Gay+, Jan 1997)
- Duplicate backgammon (Albert Steg, Feb 1996)
- Exact bearoff (Chris Moellering+, Dec 2002)
- Fevga (George, Sept 2004)
- Fevga (or Moultezim) (Igor Sheyn+, May 1995)
- Freeze-out match (Dave Brotherton, July 1998)
- Gabgammon (jckz, Oct 2005)
- Greek backgammon (Alexandre Charitopoulos, Aug 2003)
- Greek backgammon (Alexandros Chatzipetros, June 1997)
- Greek backgammon (Marc Jacobs+, Feb 1994)
- Hit man (Matt Reklaitis, Jan 2004)
- Hyper backgammon (Gregg Cattanach+, Dec 2000)
- Hyper backgammon (Michael A Urban, Oct 1993)
- International backgammon (Bob Lancaster+, Oct 2002)
- Jacquet (Mark Driver, June 2001)
- Joker cube (Joe Russell+, May 2011)
- Khachapuri (Michael Petch+, Sept 2010)
- Kleinman's tandem backgammon (Fabrice Liardet+, May 2010)
- LongRun (Bill Hickey, Mar 2010)
- Longgammon (Michael Strato, Dec 2000)
- Low number first, fixed dice, others. (Walter Trice, Jan 1997)
- Mexican (Tom Henry, Apr 1997)
- Middle Eastern backgammon (Alan Cairns, Mar 2002)
- Misere (backgammon to lose) (Jason Lee+, July 2004)
- Misere (backgammon to lose) (Jason Lee+, Apr 1995)
- Misere, Chase, Skewed dice (Stein Kulseth, Jan 1997)
- Nackgammon (Ken Arnold, July 1996)
- Nackgammon Shuffle (Stick, Sept 2011)
- Nackgammon opening moves (Warwick+, Feb 2002)
- Narde (narde, Nov 2006)
- Nardi (KL Gerber+, Nov 2002)
- No hit (RedTop+, May 2004)
- Nuclear backgammon (Walt Swan, Apr 1997)
- Old English (Nick Wedd+, Feb 1996)
- One roll lookahead (Stephen Turner, Mar 1997)
- Opening slot rule (Gregg Cattanach, June 2006)
- Other variations (Douglas Zare, Feb 2000)
- Plakoto (Ed Dengler+, May 1995)
- Plakoto (Pasteel M., Feb 1994)
- Plakoto express (Athansios Vagias, Feb 2005)
- Portes (George, Sept 2004)
- Roll-over (Edward D. Collins, Oct 1997)
- Russian backgammon (Daavid Turnbull, Aug 1991)
- SassanGammon (Chiva Tafazzoli+, June 2009)
- Shesh Besh (G.S., May 2003)
- Simborg Rule (Scott+, Feb 2005)
- Slot backgammon (Fabrice Liardet+, Aug 2008)
- Sudden death, Woodpecker, Gerhardsen (Fredrik Dahl, Jan 1997)
- Tablestakes betting (TrueMoneygames, June 2002)
- Takhteh (Bruce Scott+, Mar 2003)
- Tandem Backgammon (Mislav Kovacic, Feb 2012)
- Tavla (Arda Findikoglu, Nov 2004)
- Tavla (ucc02cx+, Feb 1997)
- Tavli (Portes, Plakoto, and Fevga) (Jens Larsen, July 1997)
- Tavli question (Brus+, Apr 2011)
- Tracy turn around (Michael J. Zehr, Feb 1996)
- Tri-gammon (Gregg Cattanach, Sept 2000)
- Trictrac (David Levy+, May 1998)
- Trigammon (James Eibisch, Jan 1997)
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