World
Backgammon
Association

World Backgammon Association celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2026.

The name and logo of World Backgammon Association, Backgammon World Cup, European backgammon Tour, World Backgammon Tour, are registered, copyrighted and owned. Prior written consent is needed for useage.

The tournament is set to take place from May 13th to 17th 2026, during the orange blossom season. 

21st March is "World Backgammon Day"

For over 10 years, we have been encouraging the backgammon community to celebrate the World Backgammon Day by gathering, playing, organizing tournaments and enjoying the game, especially on March 21st. An application at UNESCO  for the officialization of this "World Backgammon Day" has been made and is ongoing.

The tournament is set to take place from June 17th to 21st 2026, during the perfect season for Portugal. 

The Anniversary Tournament of ISTAVDER in Istanbul (Turkey) is a must attend in terms of space, equipment, organisation and format. It has been attracting more and more players in the history of is existence.

The number of breaks during a match has been changed.

Breaks are now added to the time bank of each player when a clock is in use. Clocks are NOT to be stopped during the breaks and the time will be running on the player on break. Please check General Rules section for the updates.

Changes have been made in the section of rolling dice and cube action in situations with and without cube.

In order to meet Falafel, the highest ranked backgammon player in the world, I took a Greyhound bus to Atlantic City, and then hopped a jitney to the Borgata Hotel. Falafel’s real name is Matvey Natanzon, but no one calls him that, not even his mother, who calls him Mike, the name that he adopted when they emigrated from Israel to Buffalo—one leg in a long journey that began in Soviet Russia. Now even Falafel calls himself Falafel...

So everyone knows backgammon, played with 2 dice. But who knows and enjoys SassanGammon, the variation played with 3 dice?

Axel Reichert, a software programmer and analytic backgammon player from Munich, has analyzed several pip-counting methods and developed a few of them for a more simple but efficient use during matches.

WBA Events in 2016 are in accordance with BMAB Partnership Program.

Recording is allowed. Matches of the players wanting to be rated and ranked for BMAB will be accepted as such in accordance with the BMAB rules.

The tournaments in Munich, Köln, Portugal, Frankfurt and Prague will be BMAB labelled.

While the passing of Matvey Mike Natanzon aka "Falafel" has got the entire backgammon community mourning, his Japanese friend and backgammon Giant Michihito Michi" Kageyama has written a wonderful tribute to the late hero.

A new variation of modern backgammon has been invented: NoCrawGammon.