News - Local News

POSTED: Sunday, Sep. 07, 2008

Backgammon wins columnist's heart

Dear cribbage,

We've spent a lot of time together, but now I must confess that I've grown to love another board game.

It's difficult saying goodbye. I met you back when I watched my father and his buddies play cribbage during summer get-togethers. As I grew older, my dad would spot me points and still beat me, but over time I became his equal.

I remember when he and I marveled when I was dealt a perfect hand - a jack and three fives, and then I cut from the deck the five of the jack suit. I remember when my father began to miss plays and miscount points, an early sign of his Alzheimer's.

Oh, we'll still play every now and then, and I plan to participate in a cribbage tournament today, Sunday, Sept. 7, that benefits Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center.

But my heart is now with backgammon. Like you, cribbage, it takes a while to learn, but the rules aren't that complex.

The backgammon board is divided into four parts, each with six triangular points of alternating colors. Each player has a home segment, called the "home board," and an adjacent outer board.

Each player also has 15 playing pieces called checkers, although they're more solid than those cheap, plastic pieces for checkers.

The pieces are arranged mirror-image on the board in a pattern that soon becomes familiar. Players take turns rolling dice to advance their pieces to their home board, and then off the board.

You can land on any point that's not occupied by two or more of your opponent's pieces. If you land on a point with a single checker of your opponent, you knock that piece onto the middle bar. Your opponent then must re-enter the piece in your home board before proceeding.

Enough about the rules. There are more, but that's the basics.

Luck, of course, plays a part. Sometimes, hot dice enables a player to overcome an opponent's early advantage and smart play. I've been lucky that way a time or two. More often, smart play - good strategy based on the odds of various dice rolls - prevails.

That's why backgammon owns my heart - the game favors skill over luck more so than cribbage does. That creates grief when you play a foe with more skill, which has been my fate since I started playing regularly with a work colleague. That also means there's hope that I'll win more often as my skill improves.

A few other reasons I like backgammon:

-- It's time-tested. Predecessors of the game date back 5,000 years.

-- An early form in Asia was called nard, and Glen Nardi is The Herald's president and publisher. Mere coincidence?

-- Romans played the game, and they ruled the world.

-- Some experts say the name comes from the Welsh word for "little battle." Others say it's Saxon for "back game." Based on my experience playing the game, the Welsh name fits better.

-- Hieronymus Bosch's famous image of hell in his painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights" includes a backgammon board. After many tough games, I understand why it's there.