Backgammon is a board game combining chance and strategy, and is among the eldest board games known in so far people used to play this game during Ancient Egypt. This game was also played in Ancient Greece, and by the Romans, and it was spread to Europe by the Muslim Spain.

A backgammon set is comprised of a board (on which 24 triangles, are drawn), 30 checkers in two different colors, several dice (including a doubling cube) and dice cups.

The goal of the game is to remove all one's checkers before the opponent after completing a lap around the board. To do so, each player moves his checkers according to the dice while trying to prevent his opponent to do the same by blocking or attacking his checkers. A checker can be moved on a triangle as long as it is not blocked, that is to say if there are less than two opponent checkers on the triangle.
When there is only one checker on a triangle, it can be attacked if the opponent reaches this triangle, and the checker must start over from the beginning.

Therefore, it is a chance game, but technique, strategy and odds calculation are also essential to become a good backgammon player. Besides, many players gamble through this game, and some even turned pro. It was the case for instance of the very famous Dan professional poker player Gus Hansen, who before turning pro in poker, used to earn his livings by playing backgammon, and was among the best players in the world.