How to Play Backgammon

Arman Ratip     1977     61pp
Spring Books      ISBN 0600314286

Ratip comes at ya from the Turkish point of view where the game has been played fanatically for centuries. After re-creating a particularly spectacular match, he tells you how to play backgammon. The basic rules are all covered but you can tell he is true to his heritage when he comments on doubling

Backgammon is a contest in which fortunes can be reversed even when the issue seems certain. Just one throw of the dice can change the whole course of the game. The closing stages of a backgammon game are always the most exciting and to stop short of the end is, for me, no way to play at all.

He does a quick glossover of strategies and types of games, some weak opening moves and then a sample game. The game starts out with the little used rule of passing on the first roll if you don't like it, and lacks any true insight to the game. There is however a great example game of the variant of backgammon called "Press Backgammon" followed by the rules of another variant called "Rosespring Backgammon". A greek friend in Germany taught me these two games while I was there and I enjoyed them both.

Not the best book for the beginner but it was interesting to see a different point of view and the variants are great.