Internet Backgammon

Computers and Backgammon

The 1960s boom in backgammon worldwide led to numerous books and magazines being published regarding backgammon. Champions and grandmasters all provided eager students with problems and guidance. However, the advent of computerised backgammon has been the most vital of all enhancements to the overall strategy of the game.

IBM engineer Gerald Tesauro developed TD Gammon - the worlds first neural networking computerised player. Subsequently the internet took backgammon into everyones homes - FIBS (The First Internet Backgammon Server) launched in 1993, hosted in Sweden. This allowed people to play each other from anywhere in the world.

Online backgammon has matured a great deal since the time of Motif Backgammon. Backgammon software was included on every copy of Microsoft Windows XP. Internet backgammon servers are now commonplace with hundreds of thousands of people playing every day.

More importantly, after Jellyfish (backgammon software) came Snowie - software that allowed beginners and grandmasters alike to train and improve. Today the world has GNUBG - an open source backgammon program that lets players analyse the games they have played to spot weaknesses in their game.