Why is backgammon less popular than checkers?

Backgammon and checkers belong to the family of checkers board games. The checkers, however, was the first one to be discovered. History has it that the game of checkers was unearthed at an archaeological dig site in Iraq. The game found was almost 3,000 years old. A similar game was later found in Egypt believed to be 1,500 years old. Credit goes to the French people for modifying the games which later spread out from France to other countries.

The popularity of the checkers game continues until today. This is mainly due to the game’s simplicity which appeals to people wanting to have a relaxing yet fun game. Compared to chess and backgammon, checkers is easy to play and caters to both the young and old. Among small children, for instance, checkers is more preferred as they can easily understand the game compared to the more complex game of chess. Checkers also appeals to people who have little patience in learning a new game. In just a few minutes, you can already understand the rules and start playing the game. Surely, the game of checkers will continue to be played by people of varied culture and for many years to come. The development of its online version is only proof of the game’s popularity.

The checkers game involves two players and a board composed of 64 alternately-colored squares, eight on each side. Each player uses only a single color of squares and begins with 12 pieces of chips. The goal of the game is to get all of your opponent’s checkers before he gets yours. The chips are moved once each time in a diagonal direction. You can capture your opponent’s chips by jumping over them. The player who gets all of his opponents chips wins the game.

On the other hand, the backgammon game requires players to have a full understanding of the rules to be able to play. It is not that difficult to learn the game, though. You just need to get a clear explanation of the directions to avoid arguments with the other player concerning the game’s rules. The main goal is for a player to move all his chips into his home board and then get all of them off the board.

The primary aim of backgammon is for a player to move all of his chips to his home board and eventually get them all of the board at the same time. This can be done by rolling a pair of dice and moving the chips along the points or the triangles on the board. A player can even move two chips at a time depending on what moves he would like to take. He or she can also double the game value to gain more points and win the game.