Backgammon Books

For just under five bucks this is the perfect book for a very basic beginner. You will learn all of the rules and understand how to play in a very simple manner. I gave it four stars instead of five due to the fact that there is actually nothing whatsoever on the doubling cube in the book. The orignal text was written in 1942 when the doubling cube hadn't yet become part of the game. But for a newbie learning the doubling cube rules and effects on the game would probably be best after one has absorbed the concepts in this book.

This book is very good for beginning players.

It gives basic rules and strategy in an easy to read format.

And the price is right.

You will want much more than this book delivers. Look for Magriel's "Backgammon" as your introductory text.

I bought it and read it during a flight from Washington to LA. Entertaining, with many good and easy to remember rules on how to improve your game. It made the trip pleasant, even though my score was low.

The authors describe themselves as world champion backgammon players. I have no reason to doubt this claim. However as expositors of backgammon, they fall fairly far from championship status.

The book presents a series of backgammon positions. Given a board position, a roll, and the cube, the reader is asked to find the best move. The authors then assign from one to five points to the reader's selection (assuming that the reader decided upon one of the authors' preselected moves, of course.)

Most of the introductory positions are uncontroversial. The authors quickly move on to more complicated board positions however, and here is where the trouble begins. In many positions, they tend to favor the safe play. Certainly a recognized style, but stating that the safe play is the best play, without a discussion of the cube, the score, or any alternatives seems like hubris.

In one problem, the authors state that "black is far enough ahead to run in this position", but they make no attempt to quantify what they mean by "far enough ahead", nor is there even any discussion of how to determine when one player is ahead. In another position, where they also advocate a safe play, they make no mention of the possibility of playing for a gammon, and the pro's and con's of that decision.

The book doesn't present enough basic principles to be of use to the novice: There are no discussions of pip counts, very little of bearing off, and only a muddled mention of hitting probabilities. The experienced player will find himself disagreeing with the authors without gaining any insight from them.

Essentially a beginner's book. Of course there are players who are beginners, yet think they are good players. This may be for them.

If you are new to the game I suggest reading, Improve Your Backgammon by Paul Lamford, first. Next read Backgammon by Paul Magriel. His book is from the 1970s and has some small errors but is still widely considered the backgammon bible.

If you really want to play well, then join a local backgammon club and play with real players.

This is a fair read, and covers all the basics. It is at least partially written by the BG master Kit Woolsey. It is a good review for a new player. However, if you play regularly at a backgammon club and compete in tournaments, you already know all this information.

Tip 1: Run. Tip 2: Block your opponent. Tip 3: Hit your opponent. Tip 4: Learn to build a prime. Tip 5: Consider all the possible plays. Tip 6: Learn the opening rolls. Tip 7: Do not play too safe. Well, you get the idea.

Also I noticed at least 4 or more mis-spellings and errors in the book such as when a picture did not match the text. If you show a diagram of a backgammon board and then describe something else, how will that help someone learning? I really should deduct another star just for those mistakes. There is little excuse for such poor proof-reading.

Backgammon is a lot of fun. It can be very social, in person or online. This book will help the newer players. Good luck and play to have fun!

Easy to read book that takes you from the very beginning of the rules on how to move the checkers to the theory on when to double, and when to accept a double. It includes a chapter on probabilities, as well as brief chapters on duplication, tournaments, and chouette play.

It is not at the level of the books by Robertie, or Woolsey (in terms of fine points of strategy) but a very solid and complete introduction.

Perry described the game of backgammon well and made it easy for even the newest player.

25 bucks for 48 pages? that's over 50 cents a page.

The author is making a killing off anyone gullible enough to buy it.

this amazing book is divided into many sections, there is nice summery and later a detailed system that seem to work. it aorked for me. i learn a lot. you can jump from informative pages to fun pages. a practical book.

Please note..this book (?pamphlet)is all of 48 pages long. It has zero helpful to say about strategy and tactics. It doesnt even list the optimal rollout moves EXCEPT FOR DOUBLES. It has a total of 2 very old backgammon problems. What little interest there is has to do with variations on the game as played in other countries.

I assume that when this book was written (1969), publishing standards in gambling theory were lower. Computers were not available to do "brute force" calculations, so no in-depth statistical analyses were expected. Gambling wasn't so mainstream as it is today, and certain myths had not been dispelled. So while I cringe at the statement "Finally, keep in mind that in all games of chance the 'feel' of the dice must be considered," I give the authors credit for at least cataloging a list of canonical opening moves. Unfortunately, they have been viciously upstaged by Wikipedia.

This book is a terrible book for a beginning backgammon player to pick-up. Although, the introduction regarding the history of backgammon is quite intersting, the instructions concerning opening moves is ridiculous. It's no wonder the author is credited with the first system of teaching backgammon--it's an awful system.

If ever there was an occasion to read the customer reviews before purchasing a book this would be it. I had bought a couple of excellent books on backgammon {so as I could learn how to make the odd good move}, and this one arrived via amazons you had bought that, so now try this. Well folks the short answer is DON'T. Could it be that -author house- the publisher is a vanity publishing house? I will content myself with the thought that I don't dislike anyone enough to give them it as a present. Nool Pwang as they used to say in the Eurovision song contest!

This book is a total joke. I cannot remember reading a more misleading title to a book. There is no mathematics in this book, unless you want to count basic arithmetic like the sum of the pips on two dice is 2(1+2+3+4+5+6) = 42, which the author informs us is the same number as the number of days in six weeks. The book is also chock full of various astrological meanings to backgammon.

If you really want to learn the mathematical theory behind backgammon, go get books written by Danny Kleinman, Bob Wachtel, Kit Woolsey, Walter Trice, Jake Jacobs, and Bill Robertie.

I'm happy I bought this book -- it was worth a good laugh, but otherwise is worthless.

I looked at this book today whilst shopping for backgammon books. Looked interesting on the cover.... inside was a bit ludicrous.
Mathematics... 24 points in a backgammon board, 24 hours in a day.
How to count PIPS! It's not even funny!

Not recommended.

This book is a bad joke. At least, it has nothing to do with backgammon.