Russian backgammon is similar to the English game, varying in very few rules.
In the English backgammon, the player who bears off all of his men before his opponent has borne off any, his win is 'gammon' and the loser pays double the stakes.
Now, if the winner bears off all his men while his adversary still has a piece on the bar or in the winner's inner table, the game is 'backgammon' and the loser pays three times his stake.
In backgammon, a match is often played three up - three ordinary wins or 'hits,' a hit and a gammon, or a backgammon for the rubber.
The game was given a boost in the USA in the 20th century with the introduction of the 'Doubling Cube.' This has the numbers two, four, six, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and sixty-four on the six sides.
At the start of the game, the doubling cube is placed 'neutral,' and stakes are deemed to be single agreed units. To start the game, each player casts one die only and the higher thrower moves as if he had cast both dice.
If a double appears on the combined throw, each must cast again and the doubling dice is faced to 'two,' still in the mutual position. Thereafter, either player may, before throwing, offer his opponent 'double stakes' by facing the cube towards him, turned to denote the new stakes.
The opponent may accept (in which case the higher stakes apply) or reject in which case the game is won by the offerer at the stake then ruling. Thereafter, only the player to whom the cube is faced may offer a further double.
A recent variation (said to have started in Cyprus) provides for no men to be placed on the 'points' at the start of the game, but all have 15 have to enter the board in the opponent's inner table as though they were on the bar.
Since a great block becomes built in the outer tables, the average game takes about three times as long as ordinary backgammon, which averages 12 minutes.
In all forms of backgammon, it is possible for the 'weaker' player to receive a handicap (as at chess). It can be agreed that at any time during the game he can reject, or demand that his opponent reject, a cast on one (or more) occasions during the game.
As in croquet, this is known as 'bisque.'
The early 1970s saw huge interest in developing the game, and witnessed in the progress of clubs and tournaments, and even though the oldest of th4e board and dice games, it is nowadays one of the most popular, together with 'duplicate' backgammon played on the lines of duplicate contract bridge.