Nackgammon is a backgammon variant played from the starting position shown. I’d never heard of it except on Richard’s PBeM server, where many people enjoy playing it by e-mail. Knowing nothing of the game’s history or merits, I asked the players at Richard’s server and received the following responses with additional information: “I don't think the game has much of a history, but I do know its creator is credited as being Nick ‘Nack’ Ballard. Besides PBeM, you can also play nackgammon at Cyberarts’ gamegrid site. I believe that in general nackgammon is a (slightly) more skillful game than backgammon; for sure the games take longer and a weaker opponent has more chances to shoot himself in the foot. I know a few tricks for early game strategy but maybe I’ll share them after the tournament.” -- D.Banks “This was invented by Nack Ballard (hence the name), to force his bg students to practice positional play. Games tend to be much longer, since you can’t easily start a race with a 65 or 66 opening-phase roll.” -- Richard’s PBeM Nackgammon FAQ “I feel that nackgammon is a good way to improve your back game.” -- Vivek Mittal |
