Backgammon according to the normal movement rules. The first player to bear off all fifteen of his/her own checkers wins the game. If the opponent has not yet borne off any checkers when the game ends, the winner scores a "gammon", which counts for double stakes. If the opponent has not yet borne off any checkers and has some on the bar or in the winner's home board, the winner scores a "backgammon", which counts for triple stakes. To speed up match play and to provide an added dimension for strategy, a doubling cube is usually used. The doubling cube is
Backgammon of Bosch and interior of an Inn by Jan Steen. In the 16th century, Elizabethan laws and church regulations prohibited playing tables, but by the 18th century, backgammon was popular among the English clergy. Edmund Hoyle published "A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon" in 1753; this described rules and strategy for the game and was bound together with a similar text on whist. In English, the word "backgammon" is most likely derived from "back" and Middle English ""gamen"", meaning "game" or "play". The earliest use documented by the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1650. The most recent major