Signup now for the Backgammon Galaxy UK Open 2022 at Woodland Grange!
The UKBGF’s flagship event will return to Woodland Grange Hotel, Leamington Spa, over the weekend of 2-4 September 2022 with several new sponsors including Backgammon Galaxy. For full details including how to register and hotel packages click HERE
UKBGF Online League and P-40 Knockout both now in their second year!
2022 Quarter 1 of the UKBGF Online League is in progress, and the draw for the 2022 P-40 Knockout Tournament has been published here. The league is now in its fifth season with 390 players across 66 divisions! The league table is here and details of rule changes for this season are here.
COVID-19 Update, 21st July 2021
The UK government states that Coronavirus remains a serious health risk. It’s important to stay cautious and help protect yourself and others. However, restrictions are easing across the UK. You can find out the rules about what you can and cannot do at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus. For the latest guidance on how current measures affect live backgammon, and for some guidance on good practice for returning to live play, please see our dedicated COVID-19 information page.
UKBGF Code of Conduct
A new UKBGF Code of Conduct was published in 2020 to set and maintain a standard for acceptable behaviour for all players, whether playing online or live. The Code can be found here [PDF] and on the Resources page of the website under section 3. Rules and Conduct.
Links to other UKBGF pages
Backgammon is one of the world’s truly great board games. Versions of the game have been played for about 5,000 years – a testament to its enduring fascination. Hundreds of people play live games regularly in the UK and thousands play regularly online.
If you are new to backgammon you can learn how to play by downloading and reading Chris Bray’s ‘Introduction to Backgammon’ which is one of the Newcomer’s Guides on our Resources page. If you are familiar with the game, but are hesitant about visiting a club or entering a tournament, other guides in this section might also be helpful, such as A Beginner’s Introduction to Tournaments and Tournament Etiquette for the Uninitiated. The Resources page also has a link to the current version of the UKBGF Tournament Rules, as well as other useful links.
There are many live tournaments throughout the year which you can enter, either weekly or monthly, at the growing number of backgammon clubs throughout the UK. Most of these clubs submit results to the UKBGF ratings system, enabling you to keep track of your progress in relation to the 1800+ other players in the live national ratings. As you progress you may also want to enter some of the larger annual tournaments, both in the UK and abroad.
The UKBGF oversees the annual UK Open and the UK Clubs Championship and also coordinates the UKBGF Tour, comprising about a dozen tournaments around the UK. All of these can be found on our UK Backgammon Calendar. Some include both ‘Masters’ and ‘Intermediate’ flights, and some also have separate competitions for beginners and inexperienced or ‘social’ players. Live streaming of matches from UK tournaments is becoming more common, either on the UKBGF twitchtv channel or on Facebook. To see the UKBGF archive of match recordings from previous tournaments visit the UKBGF YouTube channel. A selection of photos from these and other tournaments can be found in the UKBGF Flickr account.
Backgammon is a friendly and social game. If you are new to the scene you will find a very warm welcome at any UK club night or tournament. You don’t have to be one of the 600+ UKBGF members to play in a UKBGF-affiliated club, but please consider joining to support our efforts to publicise and grow the game.
Click here for details of UKBGF membership benefits, fees and how to join. Please note that UKBGF membership is completely free for all full time students of any age and for all players under the age of 26.
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