Difference between Backgammon and Gammon
Key Difference: Gammon refers to a type of victory in which the player wins even before their opponent has had the chance to remove (borne off) even one checkers. Backgammon is a type of win in which the opponent hasn’t borne off any of their checkers and still has checkers in the winner’s home, i.e. inner quadrant or on the bar.
Backgammon and Gammon are terms that are often used while playing the game Backgammon. Backgammon is one of the oldest board games that is still played today. The game actually dates game about 5000 years. It is a 2-player game that is often played for stakes, either points or money.
The objective of the game is simple. One has to move all their checkers from their side of the board to their home, which is on the other side of the board and where the opponent starts off. The board is divided into 4 sections, known as quadrants, and is marked by 24 long triangles called points, i.e. 6 in each quadrant. Each player has 15 checker, chips or tokens, which are to be arranged as 2 on their 24-point (triangle), 3 on their 8-point, and 5 each on their 13-point and their 6-point.
Each player also has a pair of dice which must be rolled at each turn. This will determine how many points the player can move their checkers. There is also another single die which is used to increase the stakes of the game. If a player feels that they have a good chance to win, then they can introduce the die in the game and increase the stakes. The second player then has the option to accept the new stakes or deny them but be penalized. Once the second player accepts the new stakes only they can increase the stakes further.
When moving the chips around the board, the chip cannot land on a point where there are two or more of the opponent’s checkers on the point. In the player cannot make a legal move, they have to forfeit their turn. However, if only one chip is on the point, the player can land there and send the opponent’s chip to the row. Here the chip is put out of the game, and the opponent has to reenter the chip all the way from the beginning of the board.
Once all of the 15 chips or checkers have reached the home side of the board, the player can then start bearing off their checkers. In this, the player must move the checker off the board according to the number he rolls on the dice. Basically, he continues to play until the checkers travel off the board. The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins the game.
Now, there are three type of victory in the game of backgammon, one is the regular or normal victory, in which one player finishes bearing off all of their checkers before their opponent. The other two are gammon and backgammon, which are special king of victories.
Gammon refers to a type of victory in which the player wins even before their opponent has had the chance to remove (borne off) even one checkers. Another way of putting this is to say that a gammon is when a player wins when all of their opponent’s checkers intact or rather still in the game.
However, this definition of the word has fallen into disuse. It might still be used by professionals or hard core backgammon player, but for the most people the term refers to meat. Specifically, it refers to the lower end of a side of bacon.
In addition to the game itself, the term backgammon also refers to a type of win in which the opponent hasn’t borne off any of their checkers and still has checkers in the winner’s home, i.e. inner quadrant or on the bar.
Comparison between Backgammon and Gammon:
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Backgammon |
Gammon |
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Type of |
A type of win in the game of backgammon |
A type of win in the game of backgammon |
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Game |
Backgammon |
Backgammon |
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Description |
The name of the game itself and the name for the victory at the end of the game which is achieved before the loser removed a single chip and still has still has checkers on the winner’s home quadrant or on the bar. |
A type of victory in backgammon achieved before the loser removed a single chip |
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Condition |
No checkers borne off and still in the winner’s home quadrant or on the bar. |
No checkers borne off |
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Also known |
A triple game because the winner receives three times the value of the doubling cube. |
A double game because the winner receives twice the value of the doubling cube. |
Reference: Wikipedia, ZooEscape, Backgammon Galore! (Backgammon and Gammon) Image Courtesy: playgem.co
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