This is the final (at least for now!) book in the Wind series of backgammon books. The book is an anthology of the final three years of Chris's columns from The Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom plus some other material produced for the United Kingdom Backgammon Federation.

“[A] timely book . . . a wonderfully entertaining trip around the board, through 4,000 years of game history.” —The Wall Street Journal Board games have been with us even longer than the written word. But what is it about this pastime that continues to captivate us well into the age of smartphones and instant gratification? In It’s All a Game, Tristan Donovan, British journalist and author of Replay: The History of Video Games, opens the box on the incredible and often surprising history and psychology of board games. He traces the evolution of the game across cultures, time periods, and continents, from the paranoid Chicago toy genius behind classics like Operation and Mouse Trap, to the role of Monopoly in helping prisoners of war escape the Nazis, and even the scientific use of board games today to teach artificial intelligence how to reason and how to win. With these compelling stories and characters, Donovan ultimately reveals why board games—from chess to Monopoly to Risk and more—have captured hearts and minds all over the world for generations. “Splendid . . . A quick and breezy read, it doesn’t just tell the fascinating stories of the (often struggling) individuals who created our favorite games. It also manages to convey the entire sweep of board game history, from the earliest forms of checkers to modern-day surprise hits like Settlers of Catan.” —Mashable “Artfully weaves together culture, business, and ways games impact society.” —Booklist “A fascinating and insightful discussion not only of games past, but the socioeconomic and historical factors that contributed to their popularity.” —Chicago Review of Books

A comprehensive and fun guide to Backgammon! Backgammon is one of the oldest games in the world, the origins of which date back some 5000 years – and it's still going strong. It enjoyed a huge resurgence in the 1970s, and then again in the 1990s with the popularity of the Internet, where millions of people play tournaments online every day. Today, backgammon's following in the UK is huge, with a dedicated British Isles Backgammon Association, and hundreds of face-to-face tournaments taking place across the UK every year. In this book, backgammon expert Chris Bray walks you through the basics of setting up a board, opening strategies, middle and end-game tactics, and tips on when to make key moves. You'll also get to grips with basic probabilities, the doubling cube and the 25% rule. And if you want to take your gaming further, there's plenty of advice to get you started in tournament backgammon, as well as playing online. Suitable for both beginners and experienced player looking for more tips and techniques, Backgammon For Dummies includes coverage on: Starting and Playing the Game Handling the Middle Game Bearing Off (The Last Lap) Varying the Play About the author

The material in this book covers not only the development of backgammon theory but also looks at the history of the game including some of its more famous and colourful players. Backgammon has never been short of interesting and colourful characters ranging from Emperor Nero to Lord Lucan. The timeless characters such as the Dowager Duchess, Quentin Quickcube, Barry Bigplay and the Enigmatic Englishman that make up Chris's menagerie continue to paint a vibrant picture of life in the high stakes chouette. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are on hand to lend instruction and Jeeves and Wooster provide some light-hearted moments. Chris's articles are targeted at a broad range of players and everyone from the casual player to the expert will improve their game by studying the diverse positions in this book.

A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.

Originally a series of articles that appeared online at GammonVillage.com. Every aspect of the game is covered, from the most fundamental to the most advanced.

Backgammon is the ultimate board game - an action-packed race to the finish with an addictive mix of luck and skill. It is easy to pick up the basics, but this is a game that continually surprises - there's always something new to learn, and the Internet has opened up a whole new world of gaming opportunities. In Backgammon to Win Chris Bray, backgammon columnist for The Independent, reveals tips and tricks needed to help you play the game like a professional, whether you want to make serious money in online tournaments or just play for fun with friends. The 2018 edition has new diagrams, a new font and has corrected some errors in the previous two versions. A couple of chapters have been updated to reflect the changes in the game since the last edition in 2012.

The game of backgammon has developed significantly over the last four to five years. It is no coincidence that this development has happened in parallel with the arrival of sophisticated computers. Chris Bray is the backgammon columnist for "The Independent" newspaper in the UK. In this anthology of his Independent articles of the last four years the arrival and influence of the silicon players can be clearly traced. The material covers not only the development of backgammon theory but also looks at the history of the game such as the advent of the doubling cube and some of the more colourful players who have played the game. A menagerie of players such as Barry Bigplay, Nigel Natural and Quentin Quickcube help to paint a graphic picture of life in the high stakes chouette - the very lifeblood of backgammon. Chris's articles are targeted at a broad range of players and everyone from the casual player to the expert will improve their game by studying the couple of hundred positions in this book.

An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.

In the tradition of The Professor and the Madman, Longitude, and The Orchid Thief, Hallman transforms an obsessive quest for obscure things into a compulsively readable and entertaining weaving of travelogue, journalism, and chess history. In the tiny Russian province of Kalmykia, obsession with chess has reached new heights. Its leader, a charismatic and eccentric millionaire/ex--car salesman named Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is a former chess prodigy and the most recent president of FIDE, the world's controlling chess body. Despite credible allegations of his involvement in drug running, embezzlement, and murder, the impoverished Kalmykian people have rallied around their leader's obsession---chess is played on Kalmykian prime-time television and is compulsory in Kalmykian schools. In addition, Kalmyk women have been known to alter their traditional costumes of pillbox hats and satin gowns to include chessboard-patterned sashes. The Chess Artist is both an intellectual journey and first-rate travel writing dedicated to the love of chess and all of its related oddities, writer and chess enthusiast J. C. Hallman explores the obsessive hold chess exerts on its followers by examining the history and evolution of the game and the people who dedicate their lives to it. Together with his friend Glenn Umstead, an African-American chessmaster who is arguably as chess obsessed as Ilyumzhinov, Hallman tours New York City's legendary chess district, crashes a Princeton Math Department game party, challenges a convicted murderer to a chess match in prison, and travels to Kalmykia, where they are confronted with members of the Russian intelligence service, beautiful translators who may be spies, seven-year-old chess prodigies, and the sad blight of a land struggling toward capitalism.