Backgammon is the most highly-regarded work on the subject, often referred to as "The Bible" of the game. Written between 1973 and 1976 by Paul Magriel and Renée Magriel, Backgammon was the first book to lucidly explain the inner workings and advanced positional play of the game. The most important aspects are broken down into their component parts and then explained with a unique, easy-to understand, step-by-step building-block approach.

• Hardcover: 414 pages, with dust jacket
• Publisher: Clock & Rose Press; Second edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English

The book is enhanced by 600 clear and precise diagrams, a glossary and tables, including the betting odds. For any player who means to take the game seriously and wants to play well, Backgammon is an indispensable guide.

This new 2004 edition of Backgammon also includes a lively behind-the-scenes foreword by Renée Magriel Roberts that illuminates the man behind the name "X-22" and describes the creation of the book.

Having stood the test of time for over a quarter-century, Backgammon is still the best and most widely recommended and quoted standard instructional manual and reference work on the game for novice and expert alike.

Paul David Magriel, Jr., also known as "X-22" was World Backgammon Champion in 1978. A former New York State junior chess champion, Paul won a full scholarship to New York University in mathematics and graduated first in his class with a National Science Foundation fellowship to Princeton University in probability. He was a professor at the Newark College of Engineering, now known as the New Jersey Institute of Technology before becoming a full-time backgammon and poker player.

Paul worked for several years as The New York Times' backgammon columnist. He has competed in and won tournaments all over the world and is widely considered to be the world's best backgammon teacher, its most accomplished theorist, and one of the game's premier players.

Renée Magriel Roberts studied linguistics at New York University and comparative mediaeval literature at Columbia University and the Union Institute, and software engineering at Brandeis University. In addition to co-authoring books with Paul, she has been an educational consultant, a correspondent for The Boston Globe and a content expert in world literature for Jones International University in Colorado. She is the proprietor of Rose's Books (www.rosesbooks.com) and Clock & Rose Press.

Other books by Paul Magriel and Renée Magriel Roberts include Introduction to Backgammon and Magriel: The Lost Columns, both to be published by Clock & Rose Press.