Backgammon literature is older than almost everything the game now counts as modern: the rules were in print two and a half centuries before any program could check them. That gives book-reading a false bottom — part of the canon has not aged by a single page, part of it has aged whole chapters, and the cover does not tell you which is which.
What follows is where to start, what to read next, what the machine later judged differently, and where there is simply no literature at all.
Where it began
The first description everyone accepted was Edmond Hoyle’s treatise. In 1743 he published «A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon» — rules, the first thoughts on probabilities, and the basic strategic principles. It came out bound together with a treatise on whist, as one book: backgammon was not then a subject you wrote about on its own.
That date is not the only one in circulation: the history page gives three different years for Hoyle’s treatises. What matters here is a different consequence. For more than two centuries the literature stayed descriptive: it told you how the checkers move and almost never answered why one move is better than another.
Three books people start with
«The Backgammon Book», John Crawford and Oswald Jacoby, 1970. The first work to approach the game analytically: its authors were the first to try taking positions apart instead of restating the rules. It is still called a classic, though it is unlikely to raise anyone’s playing strength today — its value is elsewhere. It covers subjects that modern books almost never touch: the history of the game, conduct at the board, and how to run a tournament.
The same book explains two names you know from the rules. The Jacoby rule carries the name of its inventor — this book’s co-author. The Crawford rule belongs to John R. Crawford, and today it is used in nearly every match, tournaments included.
«Backgammon», Paul Magriel, 1976. The book most often called the game’s “bible”. It appeared as the first work in the world to introduce backgammon at the highest analytical level: what had been the intuition of strong players became explainable and teachable. The concepts and theories every player knows today were explained by this book, and as an introductory text it has passed the test of time.
The verdicts are unusually unanimous here: “the only book a player at any level will ever need”, “an indispensable guide for anyone who means to play well”, “the best beginner’s book on the market”, “a good refresher for advanced players”. A German review adds that anyone who gets hold of this 1976 book should still study it now.
«Advanced Backgammon», Bill Robertie, 1984. A milestone in the literature of its time: more than four hundred positions analysed across every phase of the game. It first appeared in one volume and was reissued in 1991, substantially revised, in two. Robertie has six other books on winning play.
What to read next
Problem sets. Robertie’s «501 Essential Backgammon Problems» is a straightforward recommendation: it was written by a two-time world champion. «New Ideas in Backgammon» is built unusually: every position in it is taken from a real tournament match where a strong expert made the wrong choice.
The opening. «Backgammon Openings: Book A» by Nack Ballard and Paul Weaver (2007) is the first book devoted entirely to the start of the game. It became possible only once strong rollout programs existed.
Working over the classics. «Classic Backgammon Revisited» goes through the mistakes in five classic books at once — Magriel, Robertie, Crawford and Jacoby, plus «Backgammon for Profit» and «Paradoxes and Probabilities». It is not an argument with the classics but a check of them against the machine.
Single subjects. Walter Trice’s «Backgammon Boot Camp» is called an excellent book by a German reference work. Chouette — the game for three or more — got its fullest treatment from Danny Kleinman in «Vision Laughs at Counting»; chouette itself has a page of its own.
The magazines that are gone
Before the internet, theory lived in magazines, and two titles come up more often than any others.
Inside Backgammon was started by Bill Robertie and Kent Goulding in 1991. It came out six times a year at first, later four, and stopped after eight years and forty-four issues. Kit Woolsey is the other name tied to this magazine: he is named as the founder and editor of the publication that pushed theory forward in the nineties.
GammOnLine, Woolsey’s internet magazine, started in July 1999.
Woolsey’s work on match equity tables, cube theory and endgame calculation set the frameworks serious players use; his match equity table is among the most referenced in the game. What equity and the take point are is on the cube page.
Live discussion of books went on in the rec.games.backgammon newsgroup: plenty of recommendations have been posted there.
What has aged in the classics
This is the thing worth knowing before you buy an old book.
The cube. Part of Magriel’s cube analysis is out of date — said of the very book that is called the bible of the game. The two are not in conflict: positional ideas and cube handling age at different speeds.
Positions. Modern programs judge some specific positions of the classics differently, but the principles underneath them have held as bedrock knowledge for the serious player.
The reason is mechanical. Robertie wrote his book without any way to check his recommendations against modern software — as did every author before the nineties. Modern play differs markedly from what the literature called correct fifteen to twenty years ago.
Hence a rule of reading: read the old book for its principles, and check the specific positions with a program. The programs themselves have their own page.
If English is not your first language
The choice outside English is thin.
In German there is little of it. Magriel’s German translation appeared only in 2012 — and not as a literal one: computer rollouts of the problems were added in an appendix. «The Backgammon Book» exists in German, but only second-hand.
Into French, Magriel (two volumes) and Marc Olsen’s first book have been translated.
In Russian there is no recommendation at all: backgammon books in Russian, if they were published, do not come up in players’ discussions.
What is left unclear
How many titles Robertie has. He is called the only two-time winner of the world championship in Monte Carlo, and also the only three-time world champion. Those are different tournaments and different counts; the cautious count of titles is on the history page.
Who founded Inside Backgammon. Robertie and Goulding began publishing it in 1991, yet Woolsey is named as founder and editor too. Most likely it is the same magazine and different roles.
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