Picture in Your Mind Aspects of Backgammon that First Attracted You to the Game

Have you ever stopped to ponder what it was about the game of backgammon that attracted you to it in the first place? You might stop to give this some thought and confirm just what you fell in love with about backgammon.

Was it the first time you saw two players locked in intense study, staring down at the board, quiet but then quickly animated as they made their moves? Was it sound of the rattling dice? Was it the common thread - small that it may be - of play it has with chess or checkers? Were you mesmerized by the odd but slightly hypnotic shark-toothed (some say dagger-like) design and segmenting of the playing surface? Were you attracted to the combination of luck and skill involved, no matter your playing level? Was it the speed of the game (admit it, much faster than chess!), or its rich history? Or were you simply stunned to see that board games like backgammon still exist in the computer-electronics-video-techno world we now live in?

Whatever your attraction or reasons, it does help to stop and examine the qualities of the game that you enjoy because not only does it give you a better sense of respect for its makeup but it also can give you a better handle on where your strengths and weaknesses lie in your play (if they aren't blatantly obvious already).

How? For one example let's take "the speed of the game." If you embraced backgammon for its faster board play, you might not be giving yourself enough thought behind many of your moves, skipping some much needed strategy. You didn't stop to think about that possibility? Well, you just proved our point. Now, give yourself a little time to go deeper into the aspects of the game you fell in love with, and then learn from it.