Backgammon (Persian: تخته نرد‎ Takhte-Nard, Persian pronunciation: [tæxte-nærd])

Description:

Backgammon (Persian: تخته نرد‎ Takhte-Nard, Persian pronunciation: [tæxte-nærd]) is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and a player wins by removing all of his pieces from the board before his opponent. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits. Backgammon is a member of the tables family, one of the oldest classes of board games in the world.

Although luck is involved and factors into the outcome, strategy plays a more important role in the long run. With each roll of the dice, players must choose from numerous options for moving their checkers and anticipate possible counter-moves by the opponent. Players may raise the stakes during the game. There is an established repertoire of common tactics and occurrences.

Like chess, backgammon has been studied with great interest by computer scientists.